CHAPTER III.

11“Palæographia Sacra Pictoria.”12“Leland’s laboryouse journey and serche for Englandes antiquities, given as a newe years gifte to King Henry VIII., enlarged by John Bale.” London. 1549.13This is curiously confirmed by the discovery of Waldhere, described below.14As this fire is one that the student is only too often reminded of, a few details may be acceptable. A committee was appointed by the House of Commons to view the Cotton Library after this disaster, and we learn from their Report (1732, folio) that “114 volumes are either lost, burnt, or entirely spoiled, and 98 others damaged so as to be defective; so that the said library at present consists of 746 entire volumes and 98 defective ones.” The collection when purchased had contained 958 volumes. Of late years great pains have been taken for the preservation of the fragments by careful mounting.15Photographed by the Early English Text Society, 1883.16“Die Sprache des Kentischen Psalters,” von Rudolf Zeuner. Halle, 1882. Referring to Mr. Sweet, in Transactions of Philological Society, 1875-6.17“The Gospels of the fower Evangelistes, translated in the olde Saxons tyme out of Latin into the vulgare toung of the Saxons, newly collected out of Auncient Monumentes of the sayd Saxons, and now published for testimonie of the same.” At London. Printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, 1571.18See Scrivener, “Introduction to Criticism of New Testament,” ed. 2, p. 147.19“Harmonia Symbolica,” Oxford, 1858, p. 61.20Westwood, “Facsimiles,” p. 123.21It was to have been edited by Professor Buckley for the Ælfric Society, but that society closed its career too soon.22They were arranged by Kemble; and have recently been facsimiled by the Ordnance Survey, under the editorship of Mr. W. Basevi Sanders.23Fully described by Mr. W. B. Sanders in the “Annual Report for 1873 of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records,” p. 271 ff.24See the particulars in “Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel.” Clarendon Press, 1865. Introduction, pp. vii., xxv., xxviii.25Stubbs, “Memorials of Saint Dunstan,” p. xxx.26“The Englishman and the Scandinavian,” by Frederick Metcalfe, M.A., 1880, p. 11.27In 1880 these Homilies were edited by Dr. Morris, for the Early English Text Society, under the name of “The Blickling Homilies.”28Hübner, 197.29Hübner, 179, 180, 181.30Kemble, “Archæologia,” Anno 1843; Stephens, “Runic Monuments,” p. 405.31Westwood, “Palæographia Sacra Pictoria,” and “Facsimiles of Miniatures from Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts.”32Beda, “Church History,” i., 33.33“The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral,” 1845, p. 27.34“The church at Brixworth has plainly had its walls raised, and a clerestory with windows added, even in the Saxon period; assuming that midwall baluster-shafts are to be received as characteristics of this period, for a triple window with such shafts was inserted in the western wall when the walls were so raised.”Ibid., p. 30. See also Haddan and Stubbs, i., 38.35Some of the churches in which these features may be observed are Deerhurst in Gloucestershire; Earl’s Barton, Northants; Benet church in Cambridge; Sompting in Sussex. Figured illustrations may be seen in Parker’s “Introduction to Gothic Architecture.”36Freeman, N. C., ii., 605; “Reign of Rufus” i., 49.37These are described and figured in Bryan Faussett’s “Inventorium Sepulchrale,” ed. Roach Smith; Wylie, “Fairford Graves”; Neville, “Saxon Obsequies”; Akerman, “Pagan Saxondom”; Kemble, “Horæ Ferales.”38“The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon,” by T. Wright, p. 424.

11“Palæographia Sacra Pictoria.”

12“Leland’s laboryouse journey and serche for Englandes antiquities, given as a newe years gifte to King Henry VIII., enlarged by John Bale.” London. 1549.

13This is curiously confirmed by the discovery of Waldhere, described below.

14As this fire is one that the student is only too often reminded of, a few details may be acceptable. A committee was appointed by the House of Commons to view the Cotton Library after this disaster, and we learn from their Report (1732, folio) that “114 volumes are either lost, burnt, or entirely spoiled, and 98 others damaged so as to be defective; so that the said library at present consists of 746 entire volumes and 98 defective ones.” The collection when purchased had contained 958 volumes. Of late years great pains have been taken for the preservation of the fragments by careful mounting.

15Photographed by the Early English Text Society, 1883.

16“Die Sprache des Kentischen Psalters,” von Rudolf Zeuner. Halle, 1882. Referring to Mr. Sweet, in Transactions of Philological Society, 1875-6.

17“The Gospels of the fower Evangelistes, translated in the olde Saxons tyme out of Latin into the vulgare toung of the Saxons, newly collected out of Auncient Monumentes of the sayd Saxons, and now published for testimonie of the same.” At London. Printed by Iohn Daye, dwelling ouer Aldersgate, 1571.

18See Scrivener, “Introduction to Criticism of New Testament,” ed. 2, p. 147.

19“Harmonia Symbolica,” Oxford, 1858, p. 61.

20Westwood, “Facsimiles,” p. 123.

21It was to have been edited by Professor Buckley for the Ælfric Society, but that society closed its career too soon.

22They were arranged by Kemble; and have recently been facsimiled by the Ordnance Survey, under the editorship of Mr. W. Basevi Sanders.

23Fully described by Mr. W. B. Sanders in the “Annual Report for 1873 of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records,” p. 271 ff.

24See the particulars in “Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel.” Clarendon Press, 1865. Introduction, pp. vii., xxv., xxviii.

25Stubbs, “Memorials of Saint Dunstan,” p. xxx.

26“The Englishman and the Scandinavian,” by Frederick Metcalfe, M.A., 1880, p. 11.

27In 1880 these Homilies were edited by Dr. Morris, for the Early English Text Society, under the name of “The Blickling Homilies.”

28Hübner, 197.

29Hübner, 179, 180, 181.

30Kemble, “Archæologia,” Anno 1843; Stephens, “Runic Monuments,” p. 405.

31Westwood, “Palæographia Sacra Pictoria,” and “Facsimiles of Miniatures from Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts.”

32Beda, “Church History,” i., 33.

33“The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral,” 1845, p. 27.

34“The church at Brixworth has plainly had its walls raised, and a clerestory with windows added, even in the Saxon period; assuming that midwall baluster-shafts are to be received as characteristics of this period, for a triple window with such shafts was inserted in the western wall when the walls were so raised.”Ibid., p. 30. See also Haddan and Stubbs, i., 38.

35Some of the churches in which these features may be observed are Deerhurst in Gloucestershire; Earl’s Barton, Northants; Benet church in Cambridge; Sompting in Sussex. Figured illustrations may be seen in Parker’s “Introduction to Gothic Architecture.”

36Freeman, N. C., ii., 605; “Reign of Rufus” i., 49.

37These are described and figured in Bryan Faussett’s “Inventorium Sepulchrale,” ed. Roach Smith; Wylie, “Fairford Graves”; Neville, “Saxon Obsequies”; Akerman, “Pagan Saxondom”; Kemble, “Horæ Ferales.”

38“The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon,” by T. Wright, p. 424.

THE HEATHEN PERIOD.

For many a petty king ere Arthur cameruled in this isle, and ever waging wareach upon other, wasted all the land;and still from time to time the heathen hostswarm’d over seas, and harried what was left.And so there grew great tracts of wilderness,wherein the beast was ever more and more,but man was less and less, till Arthur came.For first Aurelius lived and fought and died,and after him king Uther fought and died,but either fail’d to make the kingdom one.And after these king Arthur for a space,and thro’ the puissance of his Table round,drew all their petty princedoms under him,their king and head, and made a realm, and reign’d.Alfred Tennyson,The Coming of Arthur.

Alfred Tennyson,The Coming of Arthur.

Forthe first hundred and fifty years of their life in this island our ancestors were heathens. This time has no place in the English memory through any legendary or literary tradition that is associated with the Saxons. The legends of this time which retain a place in literature are not Saxon but British. This is the era of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. There is no book or piece of Saxon literature that can in any substantial sense be ascribed to the heathen period; for I cannot go with those who assign this high antiquity to the “Beowulf.”

There is a book that claims to be a product of this time, but it is neither Saxon nor heathen. It bears the name of Gildas, a Briton, and it is a fervently Christian book, written in Latin. It has two parts, one being a Lament of the Ruin of Britain, the other a Denunciation of the conduct of her princes. Its genuineness has been questioned, and it has also been ably defended.39The strong point in favour of the book is, that it existed and was reputed genuine before the time of Bede, who used it as an authority, and cited it by the author’s name, saying that “Gildas, their [the Britons’] historian,” describes such and such evils in his “lamentable discourse.”40Through Bede the information of Gildas has fallen into the stream of English history, and we cease to be aware of the original source. For example, the familiar tradition of the Saxons coming over in “three keels,” ordinarily ascribed to Bede, is taken from Gildas. The date of this author and his work, as now generally accepted, is this:—That he was born in 520, the year of the battle of Mons Badonicus, and that he wrote about 564. But this rests on an ill-jointed and uncertain passage, which was misunderstood by Bede, if the modern interpretation is right.

And when we come to look into that Saxon literature which was subsequently developed, the traces of the heathen period are unexpectedly scanty, and the very remembrance of heathenism though not abolished seems already wonderfully remote. But notwithstanding all this, we cannot treat the subject of Anglo-Saxon literature in any satisfactory manner without some consideration of the heathen period. For, on the one hand, history requires it as a background, and the only appropriate background to our story of the subsequent culture; and, on the other hand, we shall find, by putting the scattered fragments together, that such an impression may be gained as is at least sufficient for a subsidiary purpose.

Among the extant Saxon writings there is one and only one book, in which we detect some possible work of this period. This is in the Chronicles. BetweenA.D.450 and 600 we have a sprinkling of curious annals that are naturally calculated to rivet the attention. They are certainly of a very distinct and peculiar cast, and it has been thought that they may possibly represent (through much disguise of transcription) some kind of contemporary records of the heathen period, whether the original shape was that of ballads, or of annals kept in Runes.

These annals are characterised by an occasional touch of poetic fervour, and by several local details which are stimulating to modern curiosity. A few examples may be useful:—

455. Here41Hengest and Horsa fought against Wyrtgeorn, the king, in the place that is called Agælesthrep; and his brother Horsa was slain; and after that Hengest took to the kingdom, and Æsc, his son.457. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against theBrettas in the place that is called Crecganford; and there they slew 4,000 men; and the Brets then abandoned Kentland, and in great terror fled to Londonbury.473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Walas: and they took countless spoil: and the Walas fled the Engles like fire.491. Here Ælle and Cissa beset Andredescester, and slew all those that therein dwelt: there was not so much as one Bret remaining.571. Here Cuthwulf fought with the Bretwalas at Bedcanford, and took four towns: Lygeanburg and Ægelesburg (Aylesbury), Bænesingtun (Bensington) and Egonesham (Ensham).584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the Brettas, in the place that is named Fethanleag; and Cutha was slain. And Ceawlin took many towns and countless spoils; and in wrath he returned thence to his own.

457. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against theBrettas in the place that is called Crecganford; and there they slew 4,000 men; and the Brets then abandoned Kentland, and in great terror fled to Londonbury.

473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Walas: and they took countless spoil: and the Walas fled the Engles like fire.

491. Here Ælle and Cissa beset Andredescester, and slew all those that therein dwelt: there was not so much as one Bret remaining.

571. Here Cuthwulf fought with the Bretwalas at Bedcanford, and took four towns: Lygeanburg and Ægelesburg (Aylesbury), Bænesingtun (Bensington) and Egonesham (Ensham).

584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the Brettas, in the place that is named Fethanleag; and Cutha was slain. And Ceawlin took many towns and countless spoils; and in wrath he returned thence to his own.

There is about these entries something remote and primitive, and something, too, of a contemporaneous form, that penetrates even through the folds of a modern dress.

If we would gather an idea of the religious sentiments of that heathen time, two sources are open to us:—1. Classical authors, especially Cæsar and Tacitus; 2. Incidental notices in domestic writings after the establishment of Christianity. In regard to both these sources we must regulate our expectations in accordance with the circumstances.

1. Cæsar and Tacitus wrote of Germany at large, and not of our particular tribes in the north-west;yet they naturally touch some leading points which are of interest for us here. As to their religion, Cæsar formed a totally different opinion from Tacitus. According to the former, the Germans knew only those visible and palpably useful gods, the Sun and the Moon, and Fire; they had never even heard of any others by report. Tacitus, on the contrary, says, that they worship Hercules and Mars, and, above all, Mercury; that, at the same time, their religious sense is eminently spiritual, for they repudiate the thought of enshrining the celestials within walls, or representing them by the human form; that they venerate groves and forest-glades, and that by the names of their gods they understand mysterious beings visible only to the inward and reverential sight. These estimates are diametrically opposed, and they have been used by an eminent writer to illustrate the difficulty of getting at the truth about the religion of barbarians. But it should be remembered that a long interval had elapsed between Cæsar and Tacitus; an interval, moreover, that was likely to work some, if not all, of the changes required to make these estimates compatible with one another.

Tacitus informs us about the god Tuisco, whose name we still keep in Tuesday;42about the supremacy of Mercurius,43that is, of Woden; and about the form of the boar as a sacred symbol, which was worn on the person for a charm against danger.44He also relates the hideous ceremony of a goddess Nerthus, or Mother Earth, who makes her occasionalprogresses in a wagon drawn by cows, the attendants being slaves who, when the rite is done, are all drowned in a mysterious lake.45

2. From the second source we might have expected more than we find. Knowing that the new religion was not established without struggles and delays and relapses, we might have expected that the traces of the dying superstition would have been numerous in Anglo-Saxon literature. And if we had the domestic writings that were produced in the first Christian ardour, such an expectation might have been partially fulfilled. But in any case we should not expect too much from early and unformed literature. It is the mature fruit of long cultivation to produce a literature that reflects the present. Almost all early literature is conventional, because the spontaneous is not esteemed and is not preserved. But whatever might have happened under other conditions, the fact now is that the literature of our first Christian era is almost entirely lost. It perished in the Danish invasions. The works of Beda are, indeed, preserved, and in one sense they make a large exception to the general statement, yet the exception is not one that is of great import for our immediate purpose. His works, even when he is upon a local subject, breathe little of local curiosity or interest. His was a cloistered life, his view was ever directed through the vista of books and learned correspondence towards the central heart of Christianity, and he deigned but rarely to cast a look behind him at the old superstitions of his people.His writings, which are all in Latin, contribute something, but it is little, towards our knowledge of Saxon heathendom. We are indebted to him for an explicit statement about the meaning of the word “Easter.” It is as follows:—“Rhedmonathis so called from their goddessRheda, to whom in that month they sacrificed.... With the people of my nation, the old folk of the Angles, the month of April, which is now styled Paschal Month, had formerly the name ofEsturmonath, after a goddess of theirs who was calledEostra, and whose festival is kept in that month; and they still designate the Paschal Season from her name, by force of old religious habit keeping the same name for the new solemnity.”46This is a sample of what Beda might have told us about the old heathendom, if he had made it a subject of inquiry. The information is the more valuable because it was not forthcoming from any other source. The Germans have an obscure trace ofRetmonat; and theirôstarmânoth, which remains as a German name for April (Ostermonat) to the present day, is found as early as Eginhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. But of the deities there is no information anywhere but in Beda. The name of Easter appears related to “East” and the growing strength of the sun. In the Edda a male being, a spirit of light, bears the name ofAustri: the German and Saxon tribes seem to have known only a female divinity in this sense. A being with attributes taken from the Dawn and from the Spring of the year, so full of promise and of blessing, mightwell be tenaciously remembered and retained for Christian use.

We will now proceed to notice the sources which preserve some relics of the old heathenism.

bear the greatest testimony to the former dignity of Woden’s name. The royal houses of Kent, Essex, Deira, Bernicia, Wessex, East Anglia, Mercia,—all trace up to Woden. Some go up far above Woden, who has a series of mythological progenitors, the oldest of whom appears to be Scyld, the name which forms the starting-point of the “Beowulf.”

In the Kentish code of Wihtræd (d. 725) there are penalties set down for those who sacrifice to devils, meaning heathen gods.

But, on the whole, it is remarkable how little is found on this subject in the codes before Alfred. In the Introduction to Alfred’s Laws idolatry is forbidden in two places, not in words of the time, but with the sanction of Scripture texts.

In the Laws of Edward and Guthrum heathenism is denounced with penalties; in the Codes of Æthelred it is forbidden in a hortatory way; but the most explicit prohibition is that of Canute:—

“5. Of Heathenism. And we strictly forbid all heathenism. It is heathenism for a man to worship idols,—that is, to worship heathen gods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, water-wells or stones, or anykind of wood-trees, or practise witchcraft, or contrive murder by sorcery.”

The latter words seem to point to that form of sorcery known asdefixio, wherein an effigy was maltreated, and incantations were used to direct the injury against the life or health of some private enemy, whom the image was taken to represent.

In the Canons of Ælfric, c. 35, priests are not to attend funereal festivities unless they are invited; and if they are invited, they are to forbid the heathen songs of the lewd men, and their loud cachinnations; and they are not to eat or drink where the corpse is deposited (thær thæt lic inne lith), lest they be partakers of the heathen rite which is there celebrated. This seems to be illustrated by a prohibition found in the Capitularies of Charlemagne against eating and drinking over the mounds of the dead; and also by a passage of Boniface (Epist. 71), who says that the Franks immolated bulls and goats to the gods, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. It has been supposed that a number of teeth, of oxen and sheep or goats, which were found among heathen Saxon graves at Harnham, near Salisbury, might be evidence of this practice.47

In the “Laws of the Northumbrian Priests,” c. 48, it is enacted:—“If there be a sanctuary (frith-geard) in any one’s land, about a stone, or a tree, or a wall, or any such vanity, let him that made it pay a fine(lah-slit), half to Christ, half to the landlord (land-rica); and if the landlord will not aid in executing the law, then let Christ and the king receive the mulct.”

preserves many traces of heathendom. The unconscious relics of old mythology that are imbedded in the recurrent formulæ of the heroic diction is one of our strongest proofs that this diction was already matured in heathen times. A very prominent term is Wyrd = Destiny, Fate; which is the same as the Urðr of the Scandian mythology, one of the three fates, Urðr, Werðandi, Skuld = Past, Present, Future. In Wyrd, the whole of the attributes are included under one name; and it counts among the marks of affinity between the Heliand and our Anglo-Saxon literature, that the same thing is observed there also, though in a less distinct manner. In the “Beowulf” it is said:—“Wyrd often keeps alive the man who is not destined to die, if his courage is equal to the occasion.” Wyrd is said to weave, to prescribe, to ordain, to delude, to hurt. In Cædmon she is wælgrim = bloodthirsty. And the heathen association may still be felt, even when the name of Wyrd is displaced by a name of the Christian’s God, as in “Beowulf” where we read:—“The Lord gave him webs to speed in war.”48In the Heliand the attributes are less varied,the vaticination is wanting, andWurðseems almost the same as Death.

But the old tradition of the three mysterious women lived on in this island. It is now best known to us through the German Fairy Tales, where we have the three spinning women. In the Middle Ages there was a remembrance of these mysterious visitants in a certain ceremony of spreading a table for three, whether for protection to the house at night, or to bring good luck to the children born in that house. In the Penitential of Baldwin, Bishop of Exeter (twelfth century), this superstition is noted, and the latter motive assigned.

The monks of Evesham kept up a tradition which traced the origin of their house to a vision of three beautiful maidens, in heavenly garments, sweetly singing. They were seen by a swineherd in the forest, when he was in search of a lost swine, and he went to Bishop Ecgwine and told him. The bishop arrived at the place, was favoured with the same vision, and founded the monastery there. The device on the abbey seal represented this vision.

A less pleasing vision of the Three Sisters is narrated by Wulfstan of Winchester, a poet of the tenth century, who has left us a Latin poem of the Miracles of St. Swithun. In it he tells how, coming back one evening towards Winchester, he was met by two hideous females, who commanded him to stop, but he ran away in terror; he was then met and stopped by a third, who struck him a blow from which he suffered for the remainder of his life; but the three women plunged into the river and disappeared.

The same three appear inMacbethas the Weird Sisters; and it is probably from this connexion thatweirdhas become an adjective for all that savours of heathenism.

A frequent word for battle and carnage iswæl, and the root idea of this word is choice, which may be illustrated from the Germanwählen—to choose. The heathen idea was that Woden chose those who should fall in battle to dwell with him in Walhalla, the Hall of the chosen. In the exercise of this choice, Woden acted by female messengers, called in the Norse mythologyvalkyrja, pl.valkyrjor.49

All superior works in metal, as swords, coats of mail, jewels, are the productions of Weland, the smith. His father is called Wudga, and his son is called Wada; and with this child on his shoulder Weland strides through water nine yards deep. This was matter of popular song down to Chaucer’s time:—

He songe, she playede, he told a tale of Wade.“Troylus and Crescyde,” iii., 615.

He songe, she playede, he told a tale of Wade.

“Troylus and Crescyde,” iii., 615.

He had by Beadohild another son, in German named Witeche, who inherited his father’s skill and renown. For his violence to Beadohild, Weland was lamed; but he made for himself a winged garment, wherewith he took his flight through the air. He isat once the Daidalos and the Hephaistos of the Greeks. The translator of the Boethian Metres has taken occasion to bring in this heathen god, whose cult (it seems) was still too active. In Metre ii., 7, where Boethius has the line—

Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent?

under colour offaber= smith, which the name Fabricius suggests, Weland is made a fruitful text:—

Hwær sind nu thæs wisanWelandes ban,thæs goldsmithesthe wæs gio mærost?Forthy ic cwæth thæs wisanWelandes ban,forthy ængum ne mægeorthbuendra,se craft losianthe him Crist onlænth.Ne mæg mon æfrethy eth ænne wræccanhis craftes benimanthe mon oncerran mægsunnan on swifanand thisne swiftan rodorof his riht rynerinca ænig.Hwa wat nu thæs wisanWelandes ban,on hwelcum hi hlæwahrusan theccen?

Where now are the bonesof Weland the wise,that goldsmithso glorious of yore?Why name I the bonesof Weland the wise,but to tell you the truththat none upon earthcan e’er lose the craftthat is lent him by Christ?Vain were it to try,e’en a vagabond manof his craft to bereave;as vain as to turnthe sun in his courseand the swift wheeling skyfrom his stated career—it cannot be done.Who now wots of the bonesof Weland the wise,or which is the barrowthat banks them?

One of the most striking points of contact between our relics of mythology and those of the Edda occurs in the “Beowulf,” where mention is made of thefamous necklace of the Brosings (or, as Grimm would correct, Brisings).

In the Edda the goddess Freyja is the owner of a precious necklace, calledBrîsinga men. She had acquired this jewel from the dwarfs, and she kept it in an inaccessible chamber, but, nevertheless, it was stolen from her by Loki. Therefore Loki isBrîsings thiofr, the thief of the Brising necklace; and Heimdallr fought with Loki for it. When Freyja is angry the heaving of this ornament betrays her emotion. When Thôrr, to get his hammer back, disguises himself as Freyja, he fails not to put on her famous necklace. From its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry, Grimm would infer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the whole story.50

But what adds vastly to the interest of this legend is that we find it in Homer. It is essentially the same with the belt of Aphrodite (Hymn, l. 88). In Iliad xiv., 214, Aphrodite takes it off and lends it to Hêrê to charm Zeus withal. When we add that just above in the same context (Iliad xiv., 165) Hêrê also has a curiously contrived chamber, made for her by Hephaistos (Vulcan), the parallel is too close to be mistaken.

Of the old heathen theogony we have a remarkable document in the names of the days of the week; andthese names are best preserved to us in the rubrics of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. These names are supposed to have come from the western shores of Asia, and to have pervaded the nations of Europe, both Roman and barbarian, in the first and second centuries. By a comparison of the sets of names in the two families of nations, we gain certain leading facts about the chief deities of our heathen ancestry, which all the rest of the scattered evidence tends to confirm. Thus our Tuesday, A.-S. Tywes-dæg, compared with the French Mardi and its Latin original Martis dies, teaches us that the old god Tiw (who was also called Tir) was recognised as the analogue of the Roman Mars, the god of war. So Wednesday, A.-S. Wodnes-dæg, compared with the French Mercredi and its Latin form Mercurii dies, gives us proof that the god Woden answered to the Roman Mercurius. So, too, Thursday, A.-S. Thunres-dæg, compared with French Jeudi and Latin Jovis dies, shows that Thunor (whom the Scandinavians call Thor) is the god of thunder, like the Latin Jupiter. So again, Friday, A.-S. Frige-dæg, compared with Vendredi and Veneris dies, gives us the analogy of Frige with Venus.51Saturday, A.-S. Satærnes-dæg, seems like a borrowed name from the Latin Saturnus.

Kemble maintained the probability that Sætere was a native divinity, and considered that the localnames of Satterthwaite (Lanc.), and Satterleigh (Devon), offered some probable evidence in that direction. More distinct are the local namesakes of Woden. Kemble adduces repeated instances of Wanborough, formerly Wodnesbrook (Surrey, Wilts, Hants), Woodnesborough (Kent), Wanstrow, formerly Wodnestreow = Woden’s tree (Somerset), Wansdike, and others.

occasionally denounce and describe the prevalent forms of heathenism still surviving. Thus Ælfric (i., 474):—“It is not allowed to any Christian man, that he should recover his health at any stone, or at any tree.” Wulfstan preaches thus:—“From the devil comes every evil, every misery, and no remedy: where he finds incautious men he sends on themselves, or sometimes on their cattle, some terrible ailment, and they proceed to vow alms by the devil’s suggestion, either to a well or to a stone, or else to some unlawful things....”52

In an alliterative homily of the tenth century, the heathen gods that are combated are Danish:—53

Thes Jovis is arwurthostealra thæra goda,The tha hæthenan hæfdonon heora gedwilde,and he hatte Thorbetwux sumum theodum;thone tha Deniscan leodelufiath swithost....Sum man was gehatenMercurius on life,he was swithe facenfuland swicol on dedum,and lufode eac stalaand leasbrednysse;thone macodon tha hæthenanhim to mæran gode,and æt wega gelætumhim lac offrodon,and to heagum beorgumhim on brohton onsegdnysse.Thes god was arwurthrabetwux eallum hæthenum,and he is Othon gehatenothrum naman on Denisc.

This Jove is most worshippedof all the godsthat the heathens hadin their delusion;and he hight Thorsome nations among;him the tribes of the Danesespecially love....There once lived a manMercurius hight;he was vastly deceitfuland sly in his deeds,eke stealing he lovedand lying device;him the heathens they madetheir majestical god,and at the cross roadsthey offered him gifts,and to the high hillsbrought him victims to slay.This god was main worthyall heathens among,and his name when translatedin Danish is Odin.

An interesting example of the methods used to wean our simple forefathers from their old heathen practices may be seen in a “Spell to restore fertility to land.”54The preamble sets forth:—“Here is the remedy whereby thou mayest restore thy fields, if they will not produce well, or where any uncanny thing has befallen them, like magic or witchcraft.” Four turfs are to be cut before dawn from four corners of the land, and these are to be stacked in a heap, and upon them are to be dropped drops of an elaborate preparation whereof one ingredient is holy water; and over them are to be said words of Scripture and Our Father. And then the turfs are taken to church, and prayers are said by the priest while the green of theturfs is turned altarwards; and then, before sun-down, the turfs are returned to their own original places: but first, four crosses, made of quickbeam, with the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, written on their four ends, are to be put, one in the bottom of each pit, and as each turf is restored to its native spot, and laid on its particular cross, say thus:—“Crux, Mattheus; Crux, Marcus; Crux, Lucas; Crux, Joannes.”55Then the supplicant turns eastward, bows nine times, and says a rhythmic form of prayer, in which some heathen elements are just discernible. Then he turns three times towards the sun in its course, and sings Benedicite, Magnificat, and Pater Noster, and makes a gracious vow, in the friendly comprehension of which all the neighbourhood is included, gentle and simple.

This being done, strange seed must be procured, and this must be got from poor “almsmen”; and the supplicant must give them a double quantity in return; and then he must collect together all his plough-gear and tackle, and say over them a poetic formula which has fragments that look very like the real old heathen charm. It begins with untranslatable words:—

Erce, erce, erce,eordan modor.

Erce, erce, erce,mother of earth.

Then go to work with the plough, and open the first furrow, and say:—

Hál wes thu, folde,fira modor;beo thu growende,on Codes fæthme;fodre gefylled,firum to nytte.

Soil I salute thee,mother of souls;be thou growingby God’s grace;filled with fodderfolks to comfort.

Then a loaf is to be kneaded and baked, and put into the first furrow, with yet another anthem:—

Ful æcer fodresfira cinne,beorht-blowendethu gebletsod weorth.

A full crop of foddermay the folks see;brightly blossoming,blessed mote thou be.

Then follows a chaplet of three repetitions, twice repeated, and this long day’s orison is done.

Here we have a fair example of the artifice used by the clergy in transforming old heathen charms into edifying ceremonies. Men are here led to pray; to exercise themselves in some of the chief liturgical formularies of the Catholic Church; to accept Christian versions of their old incantations; to profess good will to their neighbours, high and low; and to exercise some bounty towards the poor. Natural means are not neglected; a change of seed is made a part of the ceremonial.

Such are some of the traces we can gather from the expiring relics of heathenism. They all come from the Christian period, as was natural, seeing that the national profession of heathenism ended before our literature began, unless the annals mentionedat the beginning of this chapter are exceptions. The facilities of writing must have been very limited if the only alphabet in use was the Runic. It is, perhaps, a little too rigid to assume that the use of the Roman alphabet is to be dated strictly from the Conversion. As the use of Runes did not then suddenly terminate, but gradually receded before the superior instrument, so perhaps it is most reasonable to suppose that the adoption of the Roman alphabet was very gradual, and that the Saxons may have begun to use it, at least in Kent, before the reign of Æthelberht.56

39T. Wright, “Celt, Roman, and Saxon,” p. 389; J. R. Green, “Short History,” i., 2.40“Ecclesiastical History,” i., 22.41It is the manner of the Saxon chronicles to attach each annal to its year-date by an adverb of locality—“Here.”42“Germania,” c. 2.43Id., c. 9.44Id., c. 45.45“Germania,” c. 40.46“De Temporum Ratione,” c. 13.47“Archæologia,” vol. xxxv., p. 259.48Compare with this the “Spaedom of the Norns,” in Dasent’s “Burnt Njal”; also Gray’s “Fatal Sisters,” which is another version of the same original, one remove further off, as Gray knew the poem only through the Latin of Torfæus.49The second part of this compound repeats the idea of the first, namely, choice: it is from the verb to choose, for in certain tenses this verb changedstor, just as from the verb tofreezewe havefrore(Milton), and fromlosewe have a participlelorn. The Anglo-Saxon form iswælcyrige. Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythol.” tr. Stallybrass, p. 418. Kemble, “Saxons,” i., 402.50The same keen discoverer scents an old heathen reminiscence also when the poet of the Heliand makes that holy thing which is not to be cast before dogs (Matthew vii. 6) ahêlag halsmeni= holy necklace.51For the distinct attributes of this goddess, who was the wife of Woden, the reader may consult Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythology,” who quotes Paulus Diaconus (eighth century), saying that the Langobards called Woden’s wifeFrea, and Saxo, p. 13, saying, “Frigga Othini conjux.”52“Über die Werke des altenglischen Erzbischofs Wulfstan,” von Arthur Napier. Weimar, 1882, p. 33.53Printed in Kemble’s “Solomon and Saturn,” p. 120.54Printed in Thorpe’s “Analecta” (1846), p. 116.55This recalls the charm that within living memory was used on Dartmoor as an evening prayer:—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,Bless the bed that I lie on;Two to head and two to feet,And four to keep me while I sleep.56Some Runic alphabets may be seen in my “Philology of the English Tongue,” § 96 (ed. 3, 1879). The best collection of Runic monuments is in the two folio volumes of Professor George Stephens.

39T. Wright, “Celt, Roman, and Saxon,” p. 389; J. R. Green, “Short History,” i., 2.

40“Ecclesiastical History,” i., 22.

41It is the manner of the Saxon chronicles to attach each annal to its year-date by an adverb of locality—“Here.”

42“Germania,” c. 2.

43Id., c. 9.

44Id., c. 45.

45“Germania,” c. 40.

46“De Temporum Ratione,” c. 13.

47“Archæologia,” vol. xxxv., p. 259.

48Compare with this the “Spaedom of the Norns,” in Dasent’s “Burnt Njal”; also Gray’s “Fatal Sisters,” which is another version of the same original, one remove further off, as Gray knew the poem only through the Latin of Torfæus.

49The second part of this compound repeats the idea of the first, namely, choice: it is from the verb to choose, for in certain tenses this verb changedstor, just as from the verb tofreezewe havefrore(Milton), and fromlosewe have a participlelorn. The Anglo-Saxon form iswælcyrige. Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythol.” tr. Stallybrass, p. 418. Kemble, “Saxons,” i., 402.

50The same keen discoverer scents an old heathen reminiscence also when the poet of the Heliand makes that holy thing which is not to be cast before dogs (Matthew vii. 6) ahêlag halsmeni= holy necklace.

51For the distinct attributes of this goddess, who was the wife of Woden, the reader may consult Grimm’s “Teutonic Mythology,” who quotes Paulus Diaconus (eighth century), saying that the Langobards called Woden’s wifeFrea, and Saxo, p. 13, saying, “Frigga Othini conjux.”

52“Über die Werke des altenglischen Erzbischofs Wulfstan,” von Arthur Napier. Weimar, 1882, p. 33.

53Printed in Kemble’s “Solomon and Saturn,” p. 120.

54Printed in Thorpe’s “Analecta” (1846), p. 116.

55This recalls the charm that within living memory was used on Dartmoor as an evening prayer:—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,Bless the bed that I lie on;Two to head and two to feet,And four to keep me while I sleep.

55This recalls the charm that within living memory was used on Dartmoor as an evening prayer:—

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,Bless the bed that I lie on;Two to head and two to feet,And four to keep me while I sleep.

56Some Runic alphabets may be seen in my “Philology of the English Tongue,” § 96 (ed. 3, 1879). The best collection of Runic monuments is in the two folio volumes of Professor George Stephens.

THE SCHOOLS OF KENT.

Itis a debatable question whether any Roman culture lived through the Saxon conquest.

The Saxon conquest of Britain was certainly, on the whole, a destructive one, and it has been justly contrasted with the Frankish conquest of Gaul; where the conquerors quickly assimilated with the conquered. The relics of Roman civilisation which the Saxons adopted, were indeed few. This is true, as a general statement. But there is some ground for regarding Kent as a case apart. Here all accounts seem to indicate a gradual and less violent intrusion of the new race, and to suggest the possibility that there was not for that area a complete break in the traditions and customs of life. The capital city itself, Dorobernia (Canterbury), whatever revolution it may have suffered, was at least not destroyed. There is nothing that requires us to assume the extinction of the schools of grammar which existed presumably in Kent as in Gaul.

The foundation of schools by the Roman mission is not recorded, nor does Bede say anything to imply it when thirty years later he describes the foundation of schools in East Anglia. These were foundedby king Sigberct because he desired to have good institutions such as he had seen in Gaul, and his wishes were carried into effect by bishop Felix, after the pattern of the schools of Kent.57Whether it would be possible to trace the study of Roman law as a scholastic exercise through these obscure times, is very doubtful.58But certainly there is something about the Latinity of our earliest legal documents, that has a local and even a vernacular aspect. Slight as these traces may be, they are interesting enough to merit consideration.

In the Kentish laws are preserved our oldest extant relics of ancestral custom. The first code is that of Æthelberht, with this title:—“This be the Dooms that Æthelbriht, king, ordained in Augustine’s days.” It is much concerned with penalties for personal injuries. These are some of the “Dooms”:—

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