The Dragon and The Raven: Or The Days of King Alfred

G >> G. A. Henty >> The Dragon and The Raven: Or The Days of King Alfred

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

The proposal led to a long discussion, as some thought
that there was no occasion as yet to take such a measure; but
the thanes finally agreed to carry out Edmund's proposal.

CHAPTER IV: THE INVASION OF WESSEX

Edmund and Egbert devoted most of their time to
the building of the new fort, living very simply, and
expended the whole of the revenues of the lands on
the payment of the freemen and masons engaged upon the
work. The Roman fort was a parallelogram, the sides being
about 200 yards long, and the ends half that length. It was
surrounded by two earthen banks with wide ditches. These
were deepened considerably, and the slopes were cut down
more sharply. The inner bank was widened until it was 15
feet across the top.

On this the wall was built. It was faced on both sides
with square stones, the space between filled up with rubble
and cement, the total thickness being 4 feet. The height of
the wall was 8 feet, and at intervals of 30 yards apart towers
were raised 10 feet above it, one of these being placed at
either side of the entrance. Here the bank was cut away, and
solid buttresses of masonry supported the high gates. The
opening in the outer bank was not opposite to the gate in the
inner, being fifty yards away, so that any who entered by it
would have for that distance to follow the ditch between the
two banks, exposed to the missiles of those on the wall
before arriving at the inner gate.

Five hundred men laboured incessantly at the work. The stone
for the walls was fortunately found close at hand, but,
notwithstanding this, the work took nearly six months to
execute; deep wells were sunk in the centre of the fort,
and by this means an ample supply of water was secured,
however large might be the number within it.

A very short time after the commencement of the work
the news arrived that King Edmund of East Anglia had
gathered his forces together and had met the Danes in a great
battle near Thetford on Sunday the 20th of November, and
had been totally defeated by them, Edmund himself having
been taken prisoner. The captive king, after having been for
a long time cruelly tortured by the Danes, was shot to death
with arrows. It was not long after this that news came that
the whole of East Anglia had fallen into the hands of the
Danes.

Early in the month of February, 871, just as the walls of
his fort had begun to rise, a messenger arrived from the king
bidding Edmund assemble all the men in his earlship and
march at once to join him near Devizes, as the news had
come that a great Danish fleet had sailed up the Thames and
had already captured the royal town of Reading.

Messengers were sent out in all directions, and early the
next morning, 400 men having assembled, Edmund and his
kinsman marched away with them towards Devizes. Upon
their arrival at that town they found the king and his brother
with 8000 men, and the following day the army moved east
towards Reading.

They had not marched many miles before a messenger
arrived saying that two of the Danish jarls with a great
following had gone out to plunder the country, that they had
been encountered by Aethelwulf, Earl of Berkshire, with his
men at Englefield, and a fierce battle had taken place. The
Saxons had gained the victory, and great numbers of the
Danes had been slain, Sidroc, one of their jarls, being among
the fallen.

Three days later the royal army arrived in sight of Reading,
being joined on their march by Aethelwulf and his men.
The Danes had thrown up a great rampart between the
Thames and the Kennet, and many were still at work on this
fortification. These were speedily slain by the Saxons, but
their success was a short one. The main body of the invaders
swarmed out from the city and a desperate engagement took
place.

The Saxons fought valiantly, led by the king and Prince
Alfred; but being wholly undisciplined and unaccustomed to
war they were unable to withstand the onslaught of the Danes,
who fought in better order, keeping together in ranks: after
four hours' hard fighting the Saxons were compelled to fall
back.

They rallied again a few miles from Reading. Ethelred
and Alfred went among them bidding them be of good cheer,
for that another time, when they fought in better order, they
would gain the victory; and that their loss had not been greater
than the Danes, only that unhappily the valiant Ealdorman
Aethelwulf had been slain. Fresh messengers were sent
throughout the country bidding all the men of Wessex to
rally round their king, and on the fourth morning after the
defeat Ethelred found himself at the head of larger forces
than had fought with him in the last battle.

The Danes had moved out from Reading and had taken
post at Ashdown, and as the Saxon army approached they
were seen to be divided into two bodies, one of which was
commanded by their two kings and the other by two jarls.
The Saxons therefore made a similar division of their army,
the king commanding one division and Prince Alfred the
other.

Edmund with the men of Sherborne was in the division
of Alfred. The Danes advanced to the attack and fell with
fury upon them. It had been arranged that this division
should not advance to the attack until that commanded by
the king was also put in motion. For some time Alfred and
his men supported the assaults of the Danes, and then, being
hardly pressed, the prince sent a messenger to his brother
to urge that a movement should be made. The Saxons were
impatient at standing on the defensive, and Alfred saw that
he must either allow them to charge the enemy or must retreat.

Presently the messenger returned saying that the king
was in his tent hearing mass, and that he had given orders
that no man should move or any should disturb him until
mass was concluded. Alfred hesitated no longer; he formed
his men into a solid body, and then, raising his battle cry,
rushed upon the Danes. The battle was a furious one. The
Danes were upon higher ground, their standard being planted
by the side of a single thorn-tree which grew on the slopes of
the hill. Towards this Alfred with his men fought their way.

The lesson of the previous battle had not been lost, the
Saxons kept together in a solid body which made its way with
irresistible weight through the ranks of the Danes. Still the
latter closed in on all sides, and the fight was doubtful until
the king, having finished his devotions, led his division into
the battle. For a long time a desperate strife continued and
great numbers on both sides were killed; but the Saxons,
animated at once by love of their country and hatred of the
invaders and by humiliation at their previous defeat, fought
with such fury that the Danes began to give way. Then the
Saxons pressed them still more hotly, and the invaders
presently lost heart and fled in confusion, pursued in all
directions by the exulting Saxons.

The Danish king Bergsecg and five jarls, the two Sidrocs,
Osbearn, Frene, and Hareld, were slain, and many thousands
of their followers. Great spoil of arms and armour fell into
the hands of the victors.

Edmund had fought bravely in the battle at the head of
his men. Egbert had kept beside him, and twice, when the
lad had been smitten to his knees by the enemy, covered him
with his shield and beat off the foe.

"You are over-young for such a fight as this, Edmund,"
he said when the Danes had taken to flight. "You will need
another four or five years over your head before you can stand
in battle against these fierce Northmen. They break down
your guard by sheer weight; but you bore yourself gallantly,
and I doubt not will yet be as famous a warrior as was your
brave father."

Edmund did not join in the pursuit, being too much
bruised and exhausted to do so; but Egbert with the men of
Sherborne followed the flying Danes until nightfall.

"You have done well, my young ealdorman," Prince
Alfred said to the lad after the battle. "I have been wishing
much that you could be with me during the past month, but
I heard that you were building a strong fort and deemed it
better to let you continue your work undisturbed. When it is
finished I trust that I shall have you often near me; but I fear
that for a time we shall have but little space for peaceful
pursuits, for the Danes are coming, as I hear, in great troops
westward, and we shall have many battles to fight ere we clear
the land of the them."

In those days a defeat, however severe, had not the same
decisive effect as it has in modern warfare. There were no
cannons to lose, no great stores to fall into the hands of the
victors. The army was simply dispersed, and its component
parts reassembled in the course of a day or two, ready, when
reinforcements arrived, to renew the fight. Thus, decisive as
was the victory of Ashdown, Prince Alfred saw that many
such victories must be won, and a prolonged and exhausting
struggle carried on before the tide of invasion would be
finally hurled back from Wessex. The next few days were spent
in making a fair distribution of the spoil and arms among
the conquerors. Some of the thanes then returned home
with their people; but the remainder, on the king's entreaty,
agreed to march with him against the Danes, who after the
battle had fallen back to Basing, where they had been joined
by others coming from the coast. The royal army advanced
against them, and fourteen days after the battle of Ashdown
the struggle was renewed. The fight lasted for many hours,
but towards nightfall the Saxons were compelled to retreat,
moving off the field, however, in good order, so that no spoil
fell into the hands of the Danes.

This check was a great disappointment to the Saxons,
who after their late victory had hoped that they should
speedily clear the kingdom of the Danes. These, indeed, taught
prudence by the manner in which the West Saxons had fought,
for a while refrained from plundering excursions. Two
months later the Saxons were again called to arms. Somerled,
a Danish chieftain, had again advanced to Reading, and had
captured and burned the town. The king marched against
him, and the two armies met at Merton. Here another
desperate battle took place.

During the first part of the day the Saxons were victorious
over both the divisions of the Danish army, but in the
afternoon the latter received some reinforcements and
renewed the fight. The Saxons, believing that the victory had
been won, had fallen into disorder and were finally driven
from the field. Great numbers were slain on both sides.
Bishop Edmund and many Saxon nobles were killed, and
King Ethelred so severely wounded that he expired a few days
later, April 23rd, 871, having reigned for five years. He was
buried at Wimbourne Minster, and Prince Alfred ascended
the throne.

Ethelred was much regretted by his people, but the accession
of Alfred increased their hopes of battling successfully
against the Danes. Although wise and brave, King
Ethelred had been scarcely the monarch for a warlike people
in troubled times. Religious exercises occupied too large a
share of his thoughts. His rule was kindly rather than strong,
and his authority was but weak over his nobles. From Prince
Alfred the Saxons hoped better things. From his boyhood
he had been regarded with special interest and affection by
the people, as his father had led them to regard him as their
future king.

The fact that he had been personally consecrated by
the pope appeared to invest him with a special authority.
His immense superiority in learning over all his people greatly
impressed them. Though gentle he was firm and resolute,
prompt in action, daring in the field. Thus, then, although
the people regretted King Ethelred, there was a general feeling
of hope and joy when Alfred took his place on the throne.
He had succeeded to the crown but a month when the Danes
again advanced in great numbers. The want of success which
had attended them in the last two battles had damped the
spirit of the people, and it was with a very small force only
that Alfred was able to advance against them.

The armies met near Wilton, where the Danes in vastly
superior numbers were posted on a hill. King Alfred led his
forces forward and fell upon the Danes, and so bravely did
the Saxons fight that for some time the day went favourably
for them. Gradually the Danes were driven from their post
of vantage, and after some hours' fighting turned to fly; but,
as at Merton and Kesteven, the impetuosity of the Saxons
proved their ruin. Breaking their compact ranks they scattered
in pursuit of the Danes, and these, seeing how small
was the number of their pursuers, rallied and turned upon
them, and the Saxons were driven from the field which they
had so bravely won.

"Unless my brave Saxons learn order and discipline,"
the king said to Edmund and some of his nobles who gathered
round him on the evening after the defeat, "our cause is
assuredly lost. We have proved now in each battle that we are
superior man to man to the Danes, but we throw away the
fruits of victory by our impetuosity. The great Caesar, who
wrote an account of his battles which I have read in Latin,
described the order and discipline with which the Roman
troops fought. They were always in heavy masses, and even
after a battle the heavy-armed soldiers kept their ranks and
did not scatter in pursuit of the enemy, leaving this task to
the more lightly armed troops.

"Would that we had three or four years before us to teach
our men discipline and order, but alas! there is no time for
this. The Danes have fallen in great numbers in every fight,
but they are ever receiving reinforcements and come on in
fresh waves of invasion; while the Saxons, finding that all
their efforts and valour seem to avail nothing, are beginning
fast to lose heart. See how small a number assembled round
my standard yesterday, and yet the war is but beginning. Truly
the look-out is bad for England."

The king made strenuous efforts again to raise an army,
but the people did not respond to his call. In addition to the
battles which have been spoken of several others had been
fought in different parts of Wessex by the ealdormen and
their followers against bodies of invading Danes. In the space
of one year the Saxons had engaged in eight pitched battles
and in many skirmishes. Great numbers had been slain on
both sides, but the Danes ever received fresh accessions of
strength, and seemed to grow stronger and more numerous
after every battle, while the Saxons were dwindling rapidly.
Wide tracts of country had been devastated, the men slaughtered,
and the women and children taken captives, and the
people, utterly dispirited and depressed, no longer listened
to the voices of their leaders, and refused again to peril their
lives in a strife which seemed hopeless. Alfred therefore called
his ealdormen together and proposed to them, that since
the people would no longer fight, the sole means that remained
to escape destruction was to offer to buy off the Danes.

The proposal was agreed to, for although none of them
had any hope that the Danes would long keep any treaty they
might make, yet even a little respite might give heart and
spirit to the Saxons again. Accordingly negotiations were
entered into with the Danes, and these, in consideration of a
large money payment, agreed to retire from Wessex. The
money was paid, the Danes retired from Reading, which they
had used as their headquarters, and marched to London.
King Burhred, the feeble King of Mercia, could do nothing
to oppose them, and he too agreed to pay them a large annual
tribute.

From the end of 872 till the autumn of 875 the country
was comparatively quiet. Alfred ruled it wisely, and tried to
repair the terrible damages the war had made. Edmund
looked after his earldom, and grew into a powerful young
man of nineteen years old.

King Alfred had not deceived himself for a moment as
to the future. "The Danes," he said, "are still in England.
East Anglia and Northumbria swarm with them. Had this
army, after being bought off by us and my brother of Mercia,
sailed across the seas and landed in France there would have
been some hope for us, but their restless nature will not
allow them to stay long in the parts which they
have conquered.

"In Anglia King Guthrum has divided the land among
his jarls, and there they seem disposed to settle down; but
elsewhere they care not for the land, preferring to leave it in
the hands of its former owners to till, and after to wring from
the cultivators the fruits of the harvest; then, as the country
becomes thoroughly impoverished, they must move elsewhere.
Mercia they can overrun whensoever they choose, and after
that there is nothing for them to do but to sweep down again
upon Wessex, and with all the rest of England at their feet it
is hopeless to think that we alone can withstand their united
power."

"Then what, think you, must be the end of this?" Edmund
asked.

"'Tis difficult to see the end," Alfred replied. "It would
seem that our only hope of release from them is that when
they have utterly eaten up and ravaged England they may
turn their thoughts elsewhere. Already they are harrying
the northern coasts of France, but there are richer prizes on
the Mediterranean shores, and it may be that when England
is no longer worth plundering they may sail away to Spain
and Italy. We have acted foolishly in the way we have fought
them. When they first began to arrive upon our coasts we
should have laboured hard to build great fleets, so that we
could go forth and meet them on the seas.

"Some, indeed, might have escaped our watch and
landed, but the fleets could have cut off reinforcements
coming to them, and thus those who reached our shores could
have been overwhelmed. Even now, I think that something
might be done that way, and I purpose to build a fleet which
may, when they again invade us, take its station near the
mouth of the Thames and fall upon the vessels bringing stores
and reinforcements. This would give much encouragement
to the people, whose hopelessness and desperation are caused
principally by the fact that it seems to be of no use killing
the enemy, since so many are ready constantly to take
their places."

"I will gladly undertake to build one ship," Edmund said.
"The fort is now finished, and with the revenues of the land
I could at once commence a ship; and if the Danes give us
time, when she is finished I would build another. I will the
more gladly do it, since it seems to me that if the Danes
entirely overrun our country we must take to the sea and so in
turn become plunderers. With this view I will have the ship
built large and strong, so that she may keep the sea in all
weathers and be my home if I am driven out of England.
There must be plenty of ports in France, and many a quiet
nook and inlet round England, where one can put in to refit
when necessary, and we could pick up many a prize of Danish
ships returning laden with booty. With such a ship I could
carry a strong crew, and with my trusty Egbert and the best
of my fighting men we should be able to hold our own, even
if attacked by two or three of the Danish galleys."

"The idea is a good one, Edmund," the king said, "and I
would that I myself could carry it into effect. It were a thousand
times better to live a free life on the sea, even if certain
at last to be overpowered by a Danish fleet, than to lurk a
hunted fugitive in the woods; but I cannot do it. So long as I
live I must remain among my people, ready to snatch any
chance that may offer of striking a blow against the invader.
But for you it is different."

"I should not, of course, do it," Edmund said, "until all is
lost here, and mean to defend my fort to an extremity; still
should it be that the Danes conquer all our lands, it were well
to have such a refuge."

Edmund talked the matter over with Egbert, who warmly
entered into the plan. "So long as I have life I will fight against
the Danes, and in a ship at least we can fight manfully till the
end. We must not build her on the sea-coast, or before the
time when we need her she may be destroyed by the Danes.
We will build her on the Parrot. The water is deep enough
far up from the sea to float her when empty, and if we choose
some spot where the river runs among woods we might hide
her so that she may to the last escape the attention of the
Danes.

"We must get some men crafty in ship-building from
one of the ports, sending down a body of our own serfs to do
the rough work. We will go to Exeter first and there choose
us the craftsman most skilled in building ships, and will take
council with him as to the best form and size. She must be
good to sail and yet able to row fast with a strong crew, and
she must have room to house a goodly number of rowing and
fighting men. You, Edmund, might, before we start, consult
King Alfred. He must have seen at Rome and other ports on
the Mediterranean the ships in use there, which are doubtless
far in advance of our own. For we know from the Holy Bible
that a thousand years ago St. Paul made long voyages in
ships, and doubtless they have learned much since those days."

Edmund thought the idea a good one, and asked the
king to make him a drawing of the vessels in use in the
Mediterranean. This King Alfred readily did, and Egbert and
Edmund then journeyed to Exeter, where finding out the man
most noted for his skill in building ships, they told him the
object they had in view, and showed him the drawings the
king had made. There were two of them, the one a long
galley rowed with double banks of oars, the other a heavy
trading ship.

"This would be useless to you," the shipwright said, laying
the second drawing aside. "It would not be fast enough
either to overtake or to fly. The other galley would, methinks,
suit you well. I have seen a drawing of such a ship before. It
is a war galley such as is used by the Genoese in their fights
against the African pirates. They are fast and roomy, and
have plenty of accommodation for the crews. One of them
well manned and handled should be a match for six at least
of the Danish galleys, which are much lower in the water and
smaller in all ways. But it will cost a good deal of money to
build such a ship."

"I will devote all the revenues of my land to it until it is
finished," Edmund said. "I will place a hundred serfs at your
service, and will leave it to you to hire as many craftsmen as
may be needed. I intend to build her in a quiet place in a
deep wood on the river Parrot, so that she may escape the
eyes of the Danes."

"I shall require seasoned timber," the shipwright urged.

"That will I buy," Edmund replied, as you shall direct,
and can have it brought up the river to the spot."

"Being so large and heavy," the shipwright said, "she will
be difficult to launch. Methinks it were best to dig a hole or
dock at some little distance from the river; then when she is
finished a way can be cut to the river wide enough for her to
pass out. When the water is turned in it will float her up
level to the surface, and as she will not draw more than two
feet of water the cut need not be more than three feet deep."

"That will be the best plan by far," Edmund agreed, "for
you can make the hole so deep that you can build her entirely
below the level of the ground. Then we can, if needs be, fill
up the hole altogether with bushes, and cover her up, so that
she would not be seen by a Danish galley rowing up the river,
or even by any of the enemy who might enter the wood, unless
they made special search for her; and there she could lie
until I chose to embark."

The shipwright at once set to work to draw out his plans,
and a week later sent to Edmund a messenger with an account
of the quantity and size of wood he should require.
This was purchased at once. Edmund and Egbert with their
serfs journeyed to the spot they had chosen, and were met
there by the shipwright, who brought with him twenty craftsmen
from Exeter. The wood was brought up the river, and
while the craftsmen began to cut it up into fitting sizes, the
serfs applied themselves to dig the deep dock in which the
vessel was to be built.

CHAPTER V: A DISCIPLINED BAND

The construction of the ship went on steadily. King
Alfred, who was himself building several war vessels
of ordinary size, took great interest in Edmund's craft
and paid several visits to it while it was in progress.

"It will be a fine ship," he said one day as the vessel was
approaching completion, "and much larger than any in these
seas. It reminds me, Edmund, not indeed in size or shape,
but in its purpose, of the ark which Noah built before the
deluge which covered the whole earth. He built it, as you
know, to escape with his family from destruction. You, too,
are building against the time when the deluge of Danish
invasion will sweep over this land, and I trust that your
success will equal that of the patriarch."

"I shall be better off than Noah was," Edmund said, "for
he had nothing to do, save to shut up his windows and wait
till the floods abated, while I shall go out and seek my
enemies on the sea."

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18