Alfred the great

849-901

On the death of Æthelred in 871, Alfred succeeded to the throne. In seven years the Danes had been forced by the Treaty of Wedmore (878) to leave Wessex to the West Saxons and stay on the farther side of the famous old Watling Street, the Roman road from London to Chester. The remaining years of his life and reign seem to have been fairly quiet expect for a resurgence of the Danes from 893 to 897. He was thus enabled to turn to the arts of peace among which the pursuit of education seemed to him most important. We have no evidence as to the state of learning when Alfred died, but we know what he tried to do. He undertook or supervised, we don’t know which, the translation into English of the four most authoritative works of the period, as he conceived them: Boethius’ (470? - 525?) “Consolation of Philosophy”, a philosophical work of the early sixth century based largely on Platonic doctrine; Bede’s (673-375) “Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation”; Orosius’s (500A.D.) “Compendious History of the World”; and Gregory the Great’s (Pope 590-604) “Pastoral Care”, on the duties and responsibilities of the episcopal office.

Not the least important of Alfred’s endeavours was the systematizing of the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”, a kind of national diary, to the point where it became a year-by-year account of important events in the kingdom, an invaluable source of information for historians of the period. We find there the heroic song: “The Battle of Brunanburh” and others.¹

The translation of Orosius’s “Compendious History of the World” is especially valuable for Alfred’s own insertions which contain exceedingly interesting geographical information of these times and narrate of Ohthere’s and Wulfstan’s voyages. The first voyage of Ohthere, a rich Norwegian from Helgeland was to the White Sea, and his second voyage to Schleswig. Wulfstan (a Dane ?) sailed in the Baltic sea from Schleswig to Frische Haff.

Wulfstan’s narrative is presented in a modern English interpretation. Ohthere’s account will be analyzed and translated by the students.

Wulfstan’s narrative

From Orosius’ “Compendious History”.

Wulfstan² said that he went from Haethum to Truso³ in seven days and nights, that the ship was running under sail all the way. Wendland⁴ was on his right, but Langaland, Lelland, Falster and Skaane⁵ on his left, and all these lands belong to Denmark, and then Bornholm, was on our left, which has a king of his own. Then after Bornholm, the land of Blekinge, Meore, Oland and Gothland⁶ were first on our left, and these lands belong to Sweden; and Wendland was all the way on our right, to the Vistula’s mouth. The Vistula is a very large river, and it separates Witland⁷ from Wendland; and Witland belongs to the Esthonians⁸, and the Vistula flows out of Wendland, and flows into the Estmere⁹ which is at least fifteen miles broad. Then comes the Elbing¹⁰, from the east into the Estmere from the lake on the shore of which stands Truso, and the Elbing flows down from the east from Estland, and the Wistula deprives the Elbing of its name, and runs out that mere westward, and north into the sea; therefore it is called the Vistula’s mouth. Estland is very large and there are in it many towns and in every town is a king; and there is also a great quantity of honey and fishing, and the king and the richest men drink mares milk, and the poor and the slaves drink mead. They have many contests among themselves, and there is no ale brewed among the Esthonians, for there is mead enough.

And there is the custom among the Esthonians, that when any one is dead there, he lies unburnt with his relatives and friends for a month, sometimes two, and the kings and other great men, as much longer, as they have more wealth; sometimes it is half a year that they are unburnt, and lie above ground in their houses. And all the while that the corpse is in the house there is drinking and sports till the day on which it is burnt. Then the same day that they carry it to the pyre, they divide his property which is left, after these drinking bouts and sports; into five or six, sometimes into more, according to the value of the property. Then they lay the largest part about a mile from the dwelling, then another, then a third, until it is all laid within the mile; and the least portion must be nearest to the dwelling in which the dead man lies.

Then shall be assembled all men who have the swiftest horses in that country, that is, within five or six miles from the property. They then all run towards the property; then he who has the swiftest horse comes to the first and largest portion, and each after other, till the whole is taken, and he takes the least portion who takes that which is nearest the dwelling, and then everyone rides away with the property, and they may have it all; and, on this account, swift horses are there excessively dear. And when his wealth is thus disperses, then they carry him out and burn him, with his weapons and clothes; and chiefly they spend the whole wealth of the deceased, by the dead man’s continuing so long in the house, and because they lay on the way that to which the strangers run and take.

And it is the custom among the Esthonians that people of every language shall be burnt after death; and if any one finds a bone unconsumed, one must make compensation with a large sum. And there is among the Esthonians a tribe, that can produce cold, and therefore the dead, in whom they produce the cold, lie so long there and do not putrefy; and if any one sets two vessels full of ale or water, they contrive that one shall be frozen, be it summer or be it winter.

From “the Literature of England“, Woods, Watt, Anderson, New York 1936, pp. 73-74; translated into modern English by George K. Anderson.