The impression which this secondary poetry leaves is, that the old ancestral form could no longer furnish an adequate poetry for the growing mind of the nation. In contrast with the expanding prose, itseems to shrink and fade before our eyes. Its only means of enlargement seems to be in forgetting its own traditions and assimilating itself to the prose. Moreover, we have traces of various tentative sallies; one poet trying rhymes,143another trying hexameters,144which reminds us of the efforts and essays of the unsatisfied poetic genius in the middle of the sixteenth century. The Benedictine revival had drawn off the interest from the old native themes of song to subjects less fitted for poetry, or with which the poetry of the time was not yet skilled to deal. The old poetry fitted the old heroic themes with which it had grown up; and now it throve better on apocryphal and legendary fables than on the verities of the faith which were rather beyond its strength. In the new zeal the old vein of poetry was lost or neglected, and its place was not yet appropriately filled.
For this want a provision was already making in the south. A fresh spirit of poetry had risen in the region where Roman and Arabic fancy met, and, after kindling France, was coming to England on the wings of the French language. With the new romances came new models of poetic form. A long struggle ensued between the native garb of English poetry and that of the French. Both lived together until the fourteenth century, when the victory of the French form was finally determined in Chaucer; and France set the fashion in poetry to England, as it did generally to modern Europe.
131In Wright’s “Biographia Literaria,” Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502,seq., these three Runic passages are collected and translated. In Bosworth’s “Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,” ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runic passage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet’s Runic device affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume of Coleridge’s poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:—“Stop, Christian passer-by!—Stop, child of God!And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sodA poet lies, or that which once seem’d he—Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.!”132In Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” ix.133We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that a bookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws of Alfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as an appendix to the new.—But there is also something on the other side. In the after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charade upon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This has naturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with the riddles than simply to preface them in his own honour.134Thus:—“ofer ealne yrmenne grund.” Julianainit.; and in the same poem we find “bealdor” used of a woman!135All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him as having trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off before he had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I know nothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, the comparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known and supposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond.136“Dorsum immane mari summo.” Æneid i.137Milton has set this to his own deep music:—“Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam,The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiffDeeming some island, oft, as seaman tell,With fixed anchor....”138The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in a narrative where a speaker in Helena’s time is a brother of the protomartyr.139Kemble, “Runes of the Anglo-Saxons,” pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. ii., p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413.140It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word; and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: “Win worp oder Wind-worp,der Maulwurf.” Bremisch-Niedersachsisches Wörterbuch.141See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” xi.142Prof. Stephens, “Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte,” Kiobenhavn, 1853.143“The Riming Poem,” Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, p. 352.144Stubbs, “St. Dunstan,” Preface.
131In Wright’s “Biographia Literaria,” Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502,seq., these three Runic passages are collected and translated. In Bosworth’s “Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,” ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runic passage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet’s Runic device affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume of Coleridge’s poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:—“Stop, Christian passer-by!—Stop, child of God!And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sodA poet lies, or that which once seem’d he—Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.!”
131In Wright’s “Biographia Literaria,” Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502,seq., these three Runic passages are collected and translated. In Bosworth’s “Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,” ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runic passage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet’s Runic device affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume of Coleridge’s poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:—
“Stop, Christian passer-by!—Stop, child of God!And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sodA poet lies, or that which once seem’d he—Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.!”
“Stop, Christian passer-by!—Stop, child of God!And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sodA poet lies, or that which once seem’d he—Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.!”
132In Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” ix.
132In Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” ix.
133We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that a bookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws of Alfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as an appendix to the new.—But there is also something on the other side. In the after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charade upon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This has naturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with the riddles than simply to preface them in his own honour.
133We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that a bookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws of Alfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as an appendix to the new.—But there is also something on the other side. In the after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charade upon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This has naturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with the riddles than simply to preface them in his own honour.
134Thus:—“ofer ealne yrmenne grund.” Julianainit.; and in the same poem we find “bealdor” used of a woman!
134Thus:—“ofer ealne yrmenne grund.” Julianainit.; and in the same poem we find “bealdor” used of a woman!
135All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him as having trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off before he had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I know nothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, the comparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known and supposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond.
135All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him as having trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off before he had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I know nothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, the comparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known and supposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond.
136“Dorsum immane mari summo.” Æneid i.
136“Dorsum immane mari summo.” Æneid i.
137Milton has set this to his own deep music:—“Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam,The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiffDeeming some island, oft, as seaman tell,With fixed anchor....”
137Milton has set this to his own deep music:—
“Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam,The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiffDeeming some island, oft, as seaman tell,With fixed anchor....”
“Him haply slumb’ring on the Norway foam,The pilot of some small night-founder’d skiffDeeming some island, oft, as seaman tell,With fixed anchor....”
138The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in a narrative where a speaker in Helena’s time is a brother of the protomartyr.
138The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in a narrative where a speaker in Helena’s time is a brother of the protomartyr.
139Kemble, “Runes of the Anglo-Saxons,” pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. ii., p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413.
139Kemble, “Runes of the Anglo-Saxons,” pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. ii., p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413.
140It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word; and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: “Win worp oder Wind-worp,der Maulwurf.” Bremisch-Niedersachsisches Wörterbuch.
140It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word; and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: “Win worp oder Wind-worp,der Maulwurf.” Bremisch-Niedersachsisches Wörterbuch.
141See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” xi.
141See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt’s “Zeitschrift,” xi.
142Prof. Stephens, “Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte,” Kiobenhavn, 1853.
142Prof. Stephens, “Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte,” Kiobenhavn, 1853.
143“The Riming Poem,” Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, p. 352.
143“The Riming Poem,” Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, p. 352.
144Stubbs, “St. Dunstan,” Preface.
144Stubbs, “St. Dunstan,” Preface.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND AFTER THAT.
Thefirst of these chapters took a brief survey of the literature that preceded and elevated the Anglo-Saxon literature: this concluding chapter must be still briefer in sketching the manner of its decline. It would be true to say that the Norman Conquest dealt a fatal blow to Anglo-Saxon literature; but it would also be true to say that the cultivation of Anglo-Saxon literature never came to an end at all. I will presently endeavour to reconcile this seeming contradiction; but first I have some little remainder to tell of the main narrative.
There are two small sets of writings which have not yet been described. These are the liturgical and scientific remains. Of liturgical, we have the “Benedictionale of Æðelwold,”145and we have the so-called “Ritual of Durham,” with its interlinear Northumbrian gloss. But the most famous book of this kind is that which is called “The Leofric Missal,” becauseLeofric, the first Bishop of Exeter (of Crediton, 1046-1050; of Exeter, 1050-1072) gave it to his cathedral. It is now in the Bodleian Library. “It is one of the only three surviving Missals known to have been used in the English Church during the Anglo-Saxon period,” the other two being the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, Archbishop of Canterbury, now in Rouen Library, and the “Rede Boke of Darbye,” in the Parker Library at Cambridge.146
It may seem almost idle to talk of the “scientific” remains of Anglo-Saxon times. For Science, in its grandest sense,—the recognition of constant order in nature and the reign of law,—had not yet dawned upon the world. Science, in this sense, dates only from the seventeenth century, and its patriarchal names are Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. But, nevertheless, the earlier and feebler efforts at the explanation of phenomena have a real and a lasting value for human history, and what they lack in scientific quality has somehow the effect of throwing them all the more into the arms of the literary historian.
There is, however, one small Anglo-Saxon writing which needs not this apology, and which may be considered as a real contribution even to science. I mean the Geography which King Alfred inserted into his translation of Orosius. All our other scientific relics are but compilation and translation in the primitive paths of Medicine, and Botany, and Astronomy.
We have some considerable lists of Anglo-Saxon Botany. The vernacular names of plants, many of them, seem to indicate a Latin tradition dating from Roman times.147In the medical treatises we see the practice of medicine greatly mingled with superstition. Witchcraft is reckoned among the causes of disease, and formulæ are provided for breaking the spell. The “Leech Book” contains a series of prescriptions for divers ailments, with directions for preparation and medical treatment. One batch of these prescriptions is said to have been sent to King Alfred by Elias, Patriarch of Jerusalem. A very popular book was the Herbarium of Apuleius. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon, and four manuscripts of this translation are still extant.148
On astronomical and cosmical matters there exists a well-written little treatise of unknown authorship. It has been attributed to Ælfric, and it is most likely a work of his time. It seems to have been very popular.149It is, as it professes to be in the prologue, a popular abridgment of Beda, “De Natura Rerum.” It begins with a succinctabstract of the creation, the sixth day being thus rendered:—
On ðam syxtan dæge he gescop eall deor cynn,⁊ealle nytena þe on feower fotum gað,⁊þa twegen menn Adam⁊Efan.
On the sixth day he created all animal-kind, and all the beasts that go on four feet, and the two men Adam and Eve.
The eclipse of the moon is well explained. After saying that Night is the shade of the earth when the sun goes down under it, before it comes up the other side,—
Woruldlice uðwitan sædon, {þæt} seo sceadu astihð up oð ðæt heo becymð to þære lyfte ufeweardan, and þonne be yrnð se mona hwiltidum þonne he full byð on ðære sceade ufeweardre, and faggeteð oððe mid ealle asweartað, for þam þe he næfð þære sunnan leoht þa hwile þe he þære sceade ord ofer yrnð oð ðæt þære sunnan leoman hine eft onlihton.
Worldly philosophers said, that the shadow mounts up until it arrives at the top of the atmosphere, and then sometimes the moon when he is full runs into the upper part of the shadow, and is darkened or utterly blackened, forasmuch as he hath not the sun’s light so long as he traverses the shadow’s point until that the sun’s rays again enlighten him.
The Norman Conquest gave the death-blow to our old native literature, in the sense that the use of the literary Anglo-Saxon in its first integrity, as at once a learned language and a spoken language, did not extend beyond the generation that witnessed that great dynastic change. In this strict sense we might point to the close of the Worcester Chronicle in 1079 as the termination of Anglo-Saxon literature. There is, indeed, a Saxon Chronicle that was even begun after that date, one which comprises the whole Saxonperiod, and was continued by original writers down to 1154, but it is not written in normal Anglo-Saxon. It represents the flectional decay which the living and popular English was undergoing.
It exhibits, also, something of that new growth which was to compensate for the loss of flection. And it already bears marks of that French influence which was so largely to affect the whole complexion of the language. I quote from the last Annal in the Saxon Chronicle of Peterborough:—
1154. On þis gær wærd þe King Stephan ded and bebyried þer his wif and his sune wæron bebyried æt Faures feld, þet minstre hi makeden . Þa þe King was ded, þa was þe eorl beionde sæ . and ne durste nan man don oþer bute god for þe micel eie of him . Þa he to Engle land com . þa was he under fangen mid micel wurtscipe . and to king bletcæd in Lundene on þe Sunnen dæi be foren midwinter dæi . and held þær micel curt.
In this year was King Stephen dead and buried where his wife and his son were buried at Feversham, the minster he made. When the King was dead, then was the earl beyond sea, and no man durst do other than good for the great awe of him. When he came to England, then was he received with great worship, and consecrated king in London on the Sunday before Christmas Day; and he held there a great court.
Here, then, at the very latest, we must close the canon of Anglo-Saxon literature. And here our subject branches in two; we have to follow with a brief glance what happened in two divergent lines of succession. As when, in the early mountainous course of some growing river, a broken hill has fallen across its bed, the old water-way is choked, and the descending waters make new channels to the right and to theleft; so it was with the fortunes of our native language and literature after the Norman Conquest. The stream of largest volume was the spontaneous and popular utterance which amused in hall and taught in church; the lesser stream was the artificial maintenance of Anglo-Saxon literature which went on in the old seats of religion and learning.
The Norman Conquest brought in a vast body of romantic literature. Heroic or entertaining tales in a ballad form were at that time highly popular; and a peculiar talent for this sort of narrative was developed in France and among the Normans. The oldest French romances were those of which the central figure was Charles the Great. It was one of these, the “Song of Roland,” that animated the conquering Normans at Senlac. According to high authorities, it was in the next generation after the Conquest that the “Chanson de Roland” took that final epic form which now it bears, and probably the poet’s home was in England.150For a long time the speech of the upper society was wholly French. The two languages quickly met one another in the market, and in all the necessary business of life; but in respect of literature they long stood apart. Such was the state of things in this island during the time in which the Carling cycle prevailed. With that cycle the English language never came into contact at all in its palmy days; and the few Carling poems that exist in English are of later date, and are of a mixed nature. When at length, towards the close of the twelfth century, a literaryintercourse had sprung up between the two languages, the hero of popular song was no longer Charles, but Arthur. In the English poetry of Layamon (1205), founded upon the French of Robert Wace, we see the story of Arthur in that early stage where it still purports to be history rather than romance. Layamon represents the first great step from the old literature to the new; and he is the first to give an English home to that ideal king who was to be the chosen theme of Spenser and of Tennyson. We will quote the death of Arthur and his funeral cortège:—
THE PASSING OF ARTHUR.
Line 28,582.
Tha nas ther na mare,i than fehte to laue,of twa hundred thusend monnen,tha ther leien to-hawen;buten Arthur the king one,and of his cnihtes tweien.Arthur wes forwundedwunderliche swithe.Ther to him com a cnaue,the wes of his cunne;he wes Cadores sune,the eorles of Cornwaile.Constantin hehte the cnaue;he wes than kinge deore.Arthur him lokede on,ther he lai on folden,and thas word seide,mid sorhfulle heorte.Constantin thu art wilcume,thu weore Cadores sune:ich the bitache here,mine kineriche:and wite mine Bruttes,a to thines lifes:and hald heom alle tha laȝen,tha habbeoth istonden a mine daȝen:and alle tha laȝen gode,tha bi Vtheres daȝen stode.And ich wulle uaren to Aualun,to uairest alre maidene;to Argante there quene,aluen swithe sceone:and heo scal mine wunden,maiken all isunde,al hal me makien,mid haleweiȝe drenchen.And seothe ich cumen wulleto mine kineriche:and wunien mid Brutten,mid muchelere wunne.Æfne than worden,ther com of se wenden,that wes an sceort bat lithen,sceouen mid vthen:and twa wimmen therinne,wunderliche idihte:and heo nomen Arthur anan,and aneouste hine uereden,and softe hine adun leiden,and forth gunnen hine lithen.Tha wes hit iwurthen,that Merlin seide whilen;that weore unimete care,of Arthures forth-fare.Bruttes ileuethȝete,that he beo on liue,and wunnie in Aualun,mid fairest alre aluen:and lokieth euere Bruttesȝete,whan Arthur cume lithen.
Tha nas ther na mare,i than fehte to laue,of twa hundred thusend monnen,tha ther leien to-hawen;buten Arthur the king one,and of his cnihtes tweien.Arthur wes forwundedwunderliche swithe.Ther to him com a cnaue,the wes of his cunne;he wes Cadores sune,the eorles of Cornwaile.Constantin hehte the cnaue;he wes than kinge deore.Arthur him lokede on,ther he lai on folden,and thas word seide,mid sorhfulle heorte.Constantin thu art wilcume,thu weore Cadores sune:ich the bitache here,mine kineriche:and wite mine Bruttes,a to thines lifes:and hald heom alle tha laȝen,tha habbeoth istonden a mine daȝen:and alle tha laȝen gode,tha bi Vtheres daȝen stode.And ich wulle uaren to Aualun,to uairest alre maidene;to Argante there quene,aluen swithe sceone:and heo scal mine wunden,maiken all isunde,al hal me makien,mid haleweiȝe drenchen.And seothe ich cumen wulleto mine kineriche:and wunien mid Brutten,mid muchelere wunne.Æfne than worden,ther com of se wenden,that wes an sceort bat lithen,sceouen mid vthen:and twa wimmen therinne,wunderliche idihte:and heo nomen Arthur anan,and aneouste hine uereden,and softe hine adun leiden,and forth gunnen hine lithen.Tha wes hit iwurthen,that Merlin seide whilen;that weore unimete care,of Arthures forth-fare.Bruttes ileuethȝete,that he beo on liue,and wunnie in Aualun,mid fairest alre aluen:and lokieth euere Bruttesȝete,whan Arthur cume lithen.
Then was there no morein that fight left alive,out of 200,000 men,that there lay cut to pieces;but Arthur the King onlyand two of his knights.Arthur was woundeddangerously much.There to him came a youthwho was of his kin;he was son of Cador,the earl of Cornwall.Constantine hight the youth;to the king he was dear.Arthur looked upon him,where he lay on the ground,and these words said,with sorrowful heart.Constantine thou art welcomethou wert Cador’s son:I here commit to thee,my kingdom;and guide thou my Britonsaye to thy life’s cost;and assure them all the laws,that have stood in my days:and all the laws so good,that by Uther’s days stood.And I will fare to Avalon,to the fairest of all maidens;to Argante the queen,elf exceeding sheen:and she shall my wounds,make all sound;all whole me make,with healing drinks.And sith return I will,to my kingdom:and dwell with Britons,with mickle joy.Even with these words,lo came from sea wending,that was a short boat moving,driving with the waves:and two women therein,of marvellous aspect:and they took Arthur anon,and straight him bore awayand softly down him laid,and forth with him to sea they gan to move away.Then was it come to passwhat Merlin said whilome;that there should be much curious care,when Arthur out of life should fare.Britons believe yet,that he be alive,and dwelling in Avalonwith the fairest of all elves:still look the Britons for the dayof Arthur’s coming o’er the sea.
Then was there no morein that fight left alive,out of 200,000 men,that there lay cut to pieces;but Arthur the King onlyand two of his knights.Arthur was woundeddangerously much.There to him came a youthwho was of his kin;he was son of Cador,the earl of Cornwall.Constantine hight the youth;to the king he was dear.Arthur looked upon him,where he lay on the ground,and these words said,with sorrowful heart.Constantine thou art welcomethou wert Cador’s son:I here commit to thee,my kingdom;and guide thou my Britonsaye to thy life’s cost;and assure them all the laws,that have stood in my days:and all the laws so good,that by Uther’s days stood.And I will fare to Avalon,to the fairest of all maidens;to Argante the queen,elf exceeding sheen:and she shall my wounds,make all sound;all whole me make,with healing drinks.And sith return I will,to my kingdom:and dwell with Britons,with mickle joy.Even with these words,lo came from sea wending,that was a short boat moving,driving with the waves:and two women therein,of marvellous aspect:and they took Arthur anon,and straight him bore awayand softly down him laid,and forth with him to sea they gan to move away.Then was it come to passwhat Merlin said whilome;that there should be much curious care,when Arthur out of life should fare.Britons believe yet,that he be alive,and dwelling in Avalonwith the fairest of all elves:still look the Britons for the dayof Arthur’s coming o’er the sea.
In this poetry there is a new vein of popularity. Since we left the primary poetry we have been on the track of a literature whose spring was in book-learning. A foreign erudition had thrown the lore of the native minstrel into the shade. But some relics of domestic material reappear with the new gush of popular song in the 13th century. Among the mass of stories which fill that time, we find here and there an old English tale, and sometimes it is a translation back from the French. The romance of King Horn is one of these. The names of the personages, and the general course of the plot—the Saracens notwithstanding—are essentially Saxon. There are lines which are almost pure Saxon poetry, and there are incidents that recall the Beowulf.
The story is as follows:—Horn was the son of the King of Suddene; he was of matchless beauty, and he had twelve companions, among whom two were specially dear to him; they were Athulf and Fikenild, the best and the worst. The land was conquered by Saracens, who slew the king, but sent off Horn and his twelve in a ship to perish at sea. They came to a land where the king was Aylmar, who thus addressed them:—
Whannes beoȝe, faire gumes,That her to londe beoth icume,Alle throtteneOf bodie swithe kene.
Whannes beoȝe, faire gumes,That her to londe beoth icume,Alle throtteneOf bodie swithe kene.
“Whence be ye, fair gentlemen, that here to land are come? All thirteen of body very keen. By him that made me, so fair a band saw I at no time; say what ye seek?” Horn tells his story, and Aylmar likes him, and bids Athelbrus, his steward, teach him woodcraft, and the harp and song, and also to carve and be cupbearer:—
Bifore me to kerveAnd of the cupe serve.
Bifore me to kerveAnd of the cupe serve.
The Princess Rymenhild falls in love with Horn, and this is an occasion to prove the loyalty of Athulf. She orders Athelbrus to send Horn to her; but he, fearing the consequences, and being specially responsible for Horn, sends Athulf instead. Athulf finds that the princess has been deceived, and declares at once that he is not Horn. When at length Horn does meet Rymenhild, he points out to her the inequality of his rank. She gets her father to knight him. She also gives him a ring, in which the stones are of such virtue that if he looks on them and thinks of her he need fear no wounds:—
The stones beoth of suche graceThat thu ne schalt in none placeOf none duntes beon of drad.
The stones beoth of suche graceThat thu ne schalt in none placeOf none duntes beon of drad.
He rides forth in search of adventures to prove his knighthood. He falls in with a crew of Saracens, slays 100 of them, and brings the head of the master Saracen on the point of his sword to the king, where he sits in hall among his knights, and presents it in acknowledgment of his dubbing (compare p.130above). Fikenild tells Aylmar of Horn’slove for his daughter, and Aylmar banishes Horn. Departing, he promises Rymenhild to return in seven years or she shall be free to marry another. He leaves the faithful Athulf behind to look after Rymenhild.
He arrives at the court of King Thurston, and there he calls himself Cutberd. The land is infested by pagan invaders. Cutberd slays a giant and many of the Saracens who were with him. Thurston offers him his daughter and the kingdom with her. Cutberd tells the king that it must not be so, but that he will claim his reward when he has relieved the king of all his troubles, which will be at seven years’ end (compare p. 131 above).
Meanwhile, Rymenhild is sought in marriage by King Modi, and the day is fixed. In her distress she sends in all directions to seek Horn; her messenger finds Horn and delivers his message, but he never returns to the princess, because he is drowned. Now Horn tells King Thurston his story, and entreats his help. He adds that he will provide a worthy husband for his daughter, namely, Athulf, one of the best and truest of knights. Thurston assembles his men and they go with Horn. Horn leaves them under the wood while he goes towards the palace. He meets a palmer and changes clothes with him. In the palace he takes his place with the beggars, and when Rymenhild rises to offer wine to the guests he gets speech of her and lets her see the ring she had given him. This leads to a full recognition and the betrothal of Horn with Rymenhild. Such is the tale of King Horn.
But, of all the old native stories that crop up inthis later time, the most remarkable is the “Lay of Havelok the Dane,” a large subject which we can only just indicate here.151
Of the learned branches a good deal continued unbroken by the Conquest. Such was mostly the case with Homilies and Lives of saints, and Poetry of the allegorical and instructive kind.
In the Exeter Song-book we saw pieces that had been taken from the old book “Physiologus.” This allegorical poetry retained its place through all the changes.152Here is a passage from the “Whale,” in the language of the thirteenth century:—
Wiles that weder is so ille,the sipes that arn on se fordriven(loth hem is deth, and lef to liven)biloken hem and sen this fis;an eilond he wenen it is.Thereof he aren swithe fagen,and mid here migt tharto he dragen,sipes onfesten,and alle up gangen.Of ston mid stel in the tunderwel to brennen one this wunder,warmen hem wel and heten and drinken;the fir he feleth and doth hem sinken,for sone he diveth dun to grunde,he drepeth hem alle withuten wunde.
Wiles that weder is so ille,the sipes that arn on se fordriven(loth hem is deth, and lef to liven)biloken hem and sen this fis;an eilond he wenen it is.Thereof he aren swithe fagen,and mid here migt tharto he dragen,sipes onfesten,and alle up gangen.Of ston mid stel in the tunderwel to brennen one this wunder,warmen hem wel and heten and drinken;the fir he feleth and doth hem sinken,for sone he diveth dun to grunde,he drepeth hem alle withuten wunde.
These examples may suffice to represent that new literature which began to rise after the violent removal of the old. They do not belong to the history of Anglo-Saxon literature except indirectly as a foil and a contrast. They show how ready were new forms to take the place of the old. But while the English language was thus following the natural and spontaneous course of its development, there still survived a powerful interest in the old classical Englisc. The seat of this literature was in the old monasteries, which became strongholds of ancient culture and tradition. The old books were perused and re-copied, and a scholarly knowledge of the old language was made an object of study. This was sustained not only by sentiment, and curiosity, and literary taste, but also by a sense of corporateinterest. The titles of the old monasteries to their lands were wholly or very largely contained in Saxon writings, and these grew in importance with the growing habits of documentary legality under Norman rule. A language which was at once native and recondite, far more recondite than the Latin of the ordinary scholar, could not but be impressive as a documentary medium. The number of extant Saxon books and deeds which were either originally composed after the Conquest, or at least re-copied and re-edited, is quite enough to prepare us to receive what Matthew Parker said in the Latin preface to his edition (1574) of “Asser”:—
“Furthermore; inasmuch as the medium of many legal documents and venerable memorials and royal charters preserved in archives, dating, some before, some after, the coming of the Normans into England, is Saxon both in language and in writing, I will advise all who study the institutions of this realm, to undergo the slight and insignificant labour which is necessary to make themselves masters of this language. If they will but do this, they will doubtless make discoveries daily, and will bring to light things which now lie hidden and remote; yea, they will without effort clear up the intricacies and perplexities of a great number of things. And in ages past there were societies of religious persons who were ordered by our forefathers for this work, that some among them might be trained in the knowledge of this tongue, and might transmit the same in succession to those who came after. To wit, in Tavistock Abbey, in the county of Devon, and in many other fraternities (within my memory) this was an established thing; to the end, as I suppose, that acquaintance with a literature whose language is antiquated might not perish for lack of use.”
“Furthermore; inasmuch as the medium of many legal documents and venerable memorials and royal charters preserved in archives, dating, some before, some after, the coming of the Normans into England, is Saxon both in language and in writing, I will advise all who study the institutions of this realm, to undergo the slight and insignificant labour which is necessary to make themselves masters of this language. If they will but do this, they will doubtless make discoveries daily, and will bring to light things which now lie hidden and remote; yea, they will without effort clear up the intricacies and perplexities of a great number of things. And in ages past there were societies of religious persons who were ordered by our forefathers for this work, that some among them might be trained in the knowledge of this tongue, and might transmit the same in succession to those who came after. To wit, in Tavistock Abbey, in the county of Devon, and in many other fraternities (within my memory) this was an established thing; to the end, as I suppose, that acquaintance with a literature whose language is antiquated might not perish for lack of use.”
Thus we see that in the centuries between the Conquest and the Reformation the oldEngliscwasa recognised subject of study; and that it enjoyed, as the Latin did, the honours of an ancient language which was too much esteemed to be allowed to perish. And, therefore, it was said above that the Anglo-Saxon language and literature never died out; for the knowledge of it was kept up till the time when, through the general Revival of learning, new motives were supplied for its diligent study, and the very man in whom the new movement is impersonated is he who testifies that the study had lasted down to a time within his own memory.
145Written and illustrated with miniatures by order of Æðelwold, Bishop of Winchester,A.D.963-984. Hexameter verses in a superior style of penmanship, namely, the old Latin rustic, record the history of the book, and give the scribe’s name as Godeman, perhaps the Abbot of Thorney, who beganA.D.970. The illuminations are engraved in “Archæologia,” xxiv.146The “Leofric Missal,” edited by F. E. Warren, B.D., Clarendon Press, 1883.147Particulars may be found in my “English Plant Names from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century,” Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880.148The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (Rolls Series) by Mr. Cockayne, under the title of “Saxon Leechdoms.”149There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one in Cambridge University library; some also in other collections. It has been printed from a Cotton manuscript written, the editor says, aboutA.D.990. “Popular Treatises on Science,” edited by T. Wright, 1841.150“La Chanson de Roland,” par Léon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), Introduction.151This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long been given up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and was accidentally discovered in a Bodleian manuscript, latent amidst legends of saints. From this unique MS. it was edited by Sir F. Madden; and again (1868) by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, who says in his preface:—“There can be little doubt that the tradition must have existed from Anglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us in the French version of the Romance.... The story is in no way connected with France; ... From every point of view, ... the story is wholly English,” p. iv.152An old English Miscellany, containing a “Bestiary,” &c., ed. R. Morris (E.E.T.S.), 1872, p. 17. The “Phisiologus” is quoted in Chaucer, apparently from this very “Bestiary”; and Dr. Morris says that scraps of it are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of the piece quoted:—“Whilst that weather is so bad, the ships that are driven about on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about them and see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, and with all their might they draw towards it, make the ships fast, and all go ashore. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire on this monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whale feels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, he kills them all without wound.”
145Written and illustrated with miniatures by order of Æðelwold, Bishop of Winchester,A.D.963-984. Hexameter verses in a superior style of penmanship, namely, the old Latin rustic, record the history of the book, and give the scribe’s name as Godeman, perhaps the Abbot of Thorney, who beganA.D.970. The illuminations are engraved in “Archæologia,” xxiv.
145Written and illustrated with miniatures by order of Æðelwold, Bishop of Winchester,A.D.963-984. Hexameter verses in a superior style of penmanship, namely, the old Latin rustic, record the history of the book, and give the scribe’s name as Godeman, perhaps the Abbot of Thorney, who beganA.D.970. The illuminations are engraved in “Archæologia,” xxiv.
146The “Leofric Missal,” edited by F. E. Warren, B.D., Clarendon Press, 1883.
146The “Leofric Missal,” edited by F. E. Warren, B.D., Clarendon Press, 1883.
147Particulars may be found in my “English Plant Names from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century,” Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880.
147Particulars may be found in my “English Plant Names from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century,” Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880.
148The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (Rolls Series) by Mr. Cockayne, under the title of “Saxon Leechdoms.”
148The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (Rolls Series) by Mr. Cockayne, under the title of “Saxon Leechdoms.”
149There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one in Cambridge University library; some also in other collections. It has been printed from a Cotton manuscript written, the editor says, aboutA.D.990. “Popular Treatises on Science,” edited by T. Wright, 1841.
149There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one in Cambridge University library; some also in other collections. It has been printed from a Cotton manuscript written, the editor says, aboutA.D.990. “Popular Treatises on Science,” edited by T. Wright, 1841.
150“La Chanson de Roland,” par Léon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), Introduction.
150“La Chanson de Roland,” par Léon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), Introduction.
151This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long been given up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and was accidentally discovered in a Bodleian manuscript, latent amidst legends of saints. From this unique MS. it was edited by Sir F. Madden; and again (1868) by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, who says in his preface:—“There can be little doubt that the tradition must have existed from Anglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us in the French version of the Romance.... The story is in no way connected with France; ... From every point of view, ... the story is wholly English,” p. iv.
151This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long been given up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and was accidentally discovered in a Bodleian manuscript, latent amidst legends of saints. From this unique MS. it was edited by Sir F. Madden; and again (1868) by the Rev. W. W. Skeat, who says in his preface:—“There can be little doubt that the tradition must have existed from Anglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us in the French version of the Romance.... The story is in no way connected with France; ... From every point of view, ... the story is wholly English,” p. iv.
152An old English Miscellany, containing a “Bestiary,” &c., ed. R. Morris (E.E.T.S.), 1872, p. 17. The “Phisiologus” is quoted in Chaucer, apparently from this very “Bestiary”; and Dr. Morris says that scraps of it are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of the piece quoted:—“Whilst that weather is so bad, the ships that are driven about on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about them and see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, and with all their might they draw towards it, make the ships fast, and all go ashore. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire on this monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whale feels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, he kills them all without wound.”
152An old English Miscellany, containing a “Bestiary,” &c., ed. R. Morris (E.E.T.S.), 1872, p. 17. The “Phisiologus” is quoted in Chaucer, apparently from this very “Bestiary”; and Dr. Morris says that scraps of it are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of the piece quoted:—“Whilst that weather is so bad, the ships that are driven about on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about them and see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, and with all their might they draw towards it, make the ships fast, and all go ashore. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire on this monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whale feels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, he kills them all without wound.”