gold, though the commonest sort of drinking-cups were horns, for glass was still very scarce. They had not yet learnt to use forks. 32. Though we still call our days of the week by the same names our forefathers did, we have left off their names for the months, and taken up with Latin ones instead. The following is a list of the old names said to have been given to the months by the Anglo-Saxons, and if it is a correct one it gives us many picturesque little hints of the state of the country and ways of the people at that time : JANUARY. Wolf-month; "because people are wont always in that month to be in more danger to be devoured of wolves than in any season else of the year; for that through the extremity of cold and snow these ravenous beasts could not find sufficient to feed on." FEBRUARY. Sprout-kail (or cabbage). MARCH. Lent-month. "Lent" or "lenz,” an old German word for spring, and which we give to the forty days of fasting, because they fall in the spring. APRIL. Easter or Oster-month. MAY. Tri-milki; because in that month they began to milk their cows three times a day. JUNE. Weid-month or Pasture-month. JULY. Hay-month. AUGUST. Barn-month; because they filled their barns with corn. SEPTEMBER. Barley-month; either barley-harvest or brewingmonth. OCTOBER. Wine-month; when they still attempted to make wine. DECEMBER. Winter-month, or Holy-month, in honour of Christ mas. Note to Witan, p. 87: The number of signatures of the Witan was generally from 90 to 100. Note to Witenagemot, p. 90: This is inferred from the signatures of Queens and Abbesses, appended to certain documents drawn up by the Gemot. LECTURE XI.-DUNSTAN. The kings after Ethelstane. Edgar the Peaceable. The wolf-tribute. The vassal-kings. St. Dunstan. The religion of the period. Superstitions-witches-the ordeal. 940. Edmund. 1. AFTER the death of Ethelstane, his two younger brothers, Edmund the Magnificent (or the doer of great deeds) and Edred the Excellent, were kings in turn. Judging by their surnames, there seems some reason for thinking that Alfred's grandsons were worthy of him; but they, and most of the other kings of their line, had very short lives, and all through their reigns we find the principal interest centres in one man, a priest named Dunstan. Unlike the kings, Dunstan had a long life, and we read of him in six reigns in succession. 2. It is very difficult to form a just opinion about Dunstan, because different writers give such very different accounts of him. One writes of him thus: "See how he hath been honoured, whom God thought worthy of honour! See in what manner he hath entered into the joy of his Lord, who was found faithful over the talents committed to his charge." Another (our old friend Fuller), after mentioning that Dunstan caused some one to do penance for seven years, goes on: "All that I will add is this; if Dunstan did septenary penance for every mortal sin he committed, he must have been a Methuselah, extremely aged, before the day of his death." A modern writer calls him "the villain Dunstan," and says he was "an imperious, audacious, ill-conditioned priest." 3. Now what shall we judge about this man? We shall perhaps agree that it is rather like the story of the gold and silver shield that he was neither all good nor all bad; it depends upon what point of view we look at him from. It is very unfair, though it seems a great temptation, and is very common, to judge of a man's character according as he agrees or does not agree with our opinions. If he believes exactly what we believe, we are inclined to think he is a good man; though his actions may not be good at all. But if he believes something different from what we believe, we perhaps think him very bad, and do not like to give him credit for his good actions. Unfortunately, this is the commonest of all in matters of religion, and we can partly see why. We care most about our religion because that is the root of everything else; but we forget that religion does not lie so much in our opinions as in our love. The more love we have, the more we can understand and see the goodness of other people's characters, and the more glad we can be that they are not all alike, but different. The more humble we are, the more we shall feel that we do not know and cannot know all; that we see but a part, while others see other parts, and that only God sees all and understands all. 4. This tendency perhaps explains why people think so differently about Dunstan. He was very strong in his religious opinions, and some people agree with him; these are inclined to think him quite right, and a saint. Other people differ from him, and these are inclined to think him all wrong, and, instead of a saint, a villain. We are also almost sure that some of the stories told of Dunstan, both good and bad, on which people have partly founded their opinions, were not true. Now though in many ways we may disagree with his religious views, we will nevertheless try to be candid, and to see truly what he did, and what he wished and intended. 5. First, then, we certainly find that in the governing of the country Dunstan gave very good advice, and the kings who took him for their counsellor, ruled well and wisely. 959. Edgar especially, who reigned longer than some of Edgar the Peaceable. them, and who made Dunstan almost what we should now call his "prime minister," had a very glorious reign. We will leave the religious part aside for the present, and observe how Edgar governed. 6. His very surname is a fine one, for he was called Edgar the Peaceable. There were no foreign invasions, and scarcely any fighting at all throughout his reign. After all the ravages and wars we have heard of, we can imagine the blessing this time of peace must have been to the country. It was not gained without trouble. Edgar, following Alfred's example had a fine fleet of ships, which every year sailed round the whole island. Very often the king went with it, and the Danes were prevented from ever landing. When he was not with his ships, Edgar spent a great deal of time in travelling about the country, and seeing that the judges and magistrates did their duty, and that order and justice were preserved. Thus the country was peaceful and pros perous, and long afterwards the people looked back upon Edgar and Edgar's law, and longed to have them again. 7. Though no fresh invasion of the Danes took place, there were, it will be remembered, a great many of them settled down in the land. Edgar treated these very well; he allowed them to be governed by laws of their own choosing, and in every respect made them equal to the English. dom. The thing most needful of all for the strengthening and prosperity of the kingdom was that it should be consolidated; that is, that all the different provinces and sub-kingdoms, which owed a sort of obedience to the king, should Consolidation of the kingreally obey him, should be really attached to him and to his rule, and more and more come to feel themselves one nation. This was the great aim of Edgar's reign; and in all he did Dunstan was his principal helper and adviser. All the different under-kings grew very submissive, and he had hardly ever any need to fight for his supremacy. We read that he was rowed on the river Dee at Chester by eight of these vassal kings, while he himself steered the boat. That must have been a proud day for the King of England. Of the eight, one was the King of Scotland, one of Strathclyde, one of the Isles (Fuller says this one was a great sea-robber, who may pass for the prince of pirates"), and five were princes of different parts of Wales. 66 The wolf tribute. 8. One of these Welshmen is said to have had to pay a tribute to the king, instead of in money, in wolves' heads. If this story is true, it certainly shows that Edgar cared for the good of the people more than for getting money himself, as the wolves' heads would not be of much use to him. They say that 300 wolves' heads were paid every year for three years, and that after that time they could not find wolves enough to pay it again. But they did not really extirpate or put an end to the wolves for a long time after that. In the poem of the chronicler on Ethelstane's battle of Brunanburh we hear of the wolves. After the victory was won, it says— with goodly plumage, the greedy war-hawk, the wolf of the weald." Did any one of us ever see a wild raven, or a wild eagle, or a grey wild wolf? Nor, let us thankfully add, have we ever seen a field of battle in our own land, with the pale carcases to be devoured by them. 9. A great many different tales are told about Edgar's private life and character; it is to be feared he may not have been so good a man as he was a great king. There is a curious and romantic old story about his second marriage to Elfthryth or Elfrida,* but it seems very uncertain whether it is true. It is, at any rate, true that he married Elfrida, and there seems little doubt that, though very beautiful, she was a wicked woman. the Church. 10. We must now give some attention to the state of religion at this time, and to Dunstan's plans with respect to it. We have already seen that in those days any one who wished The state of to further religion thought that he could do it in no better way than by founding or enriching monasteries; and we read the description of the monastery in which Bede lived and died as a sort of ideal. There were piety and learning, praises of God, teaching of men, writing and translating good books; and, again, cultivating the ground, tending the garden, orchard, and dairy. But even in Bede's time things were not always like this; many monks were idle and wicked; many monasteries could not be said to be houses of God. This is an account which he gives of one. The speaker (whom Bede quotes) says, "I, having now visited all this monastery regularly, have looked into every one's chambers and beds, and found none of them all, besides yourself, busy about the care of his soul; but all of them, both men and women, either indulge themselves in slothful sleep, or are awake in order to commit sin; for even the little houses that were built for praying and reading are now converted into places of feasting, drinking, talking, and other delights; the very virgins, dedicated to God, laying aside the respect due to their profession, when soever they are at leisure apply themselves to weaving fine garments, either to use them in adorning themselves like brides, to the danger of their condition, or to gain the friendship of strange men." These people being thus warned in a vision, "were for a few days in some little Told in Freeman's 'Old English History,' p. 178. |