Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact On Southern England C 800 C 1100 3rd Edition Ryan Lavelle

Full download ebook at ebookname.
com
Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact on

Southern England c 800 c 1100 3rd Edition Ryan
Lavelle
https://ebookname.com/product/danes-in-wessex-the-
scandinavian-impact-on-southern-england-c-800-c-1100-3rd-
edition-ryan-lavelle/
OR CLICK BUTTON
DOWLOAD NOW
Download more ebook from https://ebookname.com

More products digital (pdf, epub, mobi) instant
download maybe you interests ...
The Scandinavian Unemployment Relief Program C. J.

Ratzlaff
https://ebookname.com/product/the-scandinavian-unemployment-
relief-program-c-j-ratzlaff/
Freedom and Protection Monastic Exemption in France c

590 c 1100 Kriston Rennie
https://ebookname.com/product/freedom-and-protection-monastic-
exemption-in-france-c-590-c-1100-kriston-rennie/
Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia C 1100

1350 First Edition Stefka Georgieva Eriksen
https://ebookname.com/product/intellectual-culture-in-medieval-
scandinavia-c-1100-1350-first-edition-stefka-georgieva-eriksen/
The Coming Crisis The Impact of Eschatology on Theology

in Edwardian England 1st Edition Mark Chapman
https://ebookname.com/product/the-coming-crisis-the-impact-of-
eschatology-on-theology-in-edwardian-england-1st-edition-mark-
chapman/
Gender and Song in Early Modern England Leslie C. Dunn
https://ebookname.com/product/gender-and-song-in-early-modern-
england-leslie-c-dunn/
Heresy Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France 1100

1250 Walter L. Wakefield
https://ebookname.com/product/heresy-crusade-and-inquisition-in-
southern-france-1100-1250-walter-l-wakefield/
The Burden of Southern History Updated third edition C.

Vann Woodward
https://ebookname.com/product/the-burden-of-southern-history-
updated-third-edition-c-vann-woodward/
Early Yiddish Texts 1100 1750 With Introduction and

Commentary Jerold C. Frakes
https://ebookname.com/product/early-yiddish-texts-1100-1750-with-
introduction-and-commentary-jerold-c-frakes/
Reading First Impact Study 1st Edition Beth C. Games
https://ebookname.com/product/reading-first-impact-study-1st-
edition-beth-c-games/
Danes in Wessex
Danes in Wessex
The Scandinavian Impact
on Southern England, c.800–c.1100
Edited by
Ryan Lavelle
Simon Roffey
Oxbow Books
Oxford & Philadelphia
Published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by
OXBOW BOOKS
10 Hythe Bridge Street, Oxford OX1 2EW
and in the United States by
OXBOW BOOKS
1950 Lawrence Road, Havertown, PA 19083
© Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2016
Print Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-931-9

Digital Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-932-6
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lavelle, Ryan, editor, author. | Roffey, Simon, editor, author.

Title: Danes in Wessex : the Scandinavian impact on southern England,
c.800-c.1100 / edited by Ryan Lavelle, Simon Roffey.
Description: Philadelphia : Oxbow Books, 2015. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015031241 | ISBN 9781782979319 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Danes--England--Wessex--History. | Wessex (England)--History.
| Great Britain--History--Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066. |
Scandinavians--England--Wessex--History. | Vikings--England--Wessex. |
Wessex (England)--Antiquities.
Classification: LCC DA670.W48 D36 2015 | DDC 942.201--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015031241
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher
in writing.
Printed in the United Kingdom by Short Run Press, Exeter
For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact:
UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Oxbow Books Oxbow Books
Telephone (01865) 241249, Fax (01865) 794449 Telephone (800) 791-9354, Fax (610) 853-9146
Email: oxbow@oxbowbooks.com Email: queries@casemateacademic.com
www.oxbowbooks.com www.casemateacademic.com/oxbow
Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate group
Front cover: Winchester Cathedral, the north screen of the presbytery, 1525, with the tomb of Harthacnut, looking south-east.
(Photograph © John Crook); inset: ‘King Alfred and the Danes’ by Andrew Brown Donaldson, c.1890 (Courtesy
of Winchester City Museums Art Collection).
Back cover: Trefoil brooch from Longbridge Deverill, Wiltshire, provided courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Contents
Editorial Preface vii

Foreword ix
Barbara Yorke
List of Contributors x
List of Abbreviations xi
List of Illustrations xiii
1. Introduction: Danes in Wessex 1

Ryan Lavelle and Simon Roffey
2. West Saxons and Danes: Negotiating Early Medieval Identities 7

Simon Roffey and Ryan Lavelle
3. The Place of Slaughter: Exploring the West Saxon Battlescape 35

Thomas J. T. Williams
4. A Review of Viking Attacks in Western England to the Early Tenth Century:

Their Motives and Responses 56
Derek Gore
5. Landscapes of Violence in Early Medieval Wessex: Towards a Reassessment

of Anglo-Saxon Strategic Landscapes 70
John Baker and Stuart Brookes
6. Scandinavian-style Metalwork from Southern England: New Light

on the ‘First Viking Age’ in Wessex 87
Jane Kershaw
7. Death on the Dorset Ridgeway: The Discovery and Excavation

of an Early Medieval Mass Burial 109
Angela Boyle
vi Contents
8. Law, Death and Peacemaking in the ‘Second Viking Age’: An Ealdorman, his King,
and some ‘Danes’ in Wessex 122
Ryan Lavelle
9. Thorkell the Tall and the Bubble Reputation: The Vicissitudes of Fame 144
Ann Williams
10. A Place in the Country: Orc of Abbotsbury and Tole of Tolpuddle, Dorset 158
Ann Williams
11. Danish Landowners in Wessex in 1066 172

C. P. Lewis
12. Danish Royal Burials in Winchester: Cnut and his Family 212
Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle†
13. Some Reflections on Danes in Wessex Today 250

Lillian Céspedes González
Select Bibliography 263

Index 269
Editorial Preface
This volume stems from a conference of the same Editing this book has incurred a number of
title, which we ran at the University of Winchester further debts of gratitude: Michael Hicks, David
as part of the Wessex Centre for History and Hinton, and Barbara Yorke were instrumental in
Archaeology’s programme in September 2011. their encouragement and advice when organising
New work on the early middle ages, not least the the original conference, and we are especially
excavations of mass graves associated with the grateful to Barbara Yorke for her advice at many
Viking Age in Dorset and Oxford, was beginning points during the gestation of this volume and for
to draw attention to the gaps in our understanding kindly providing a foreword. Clare Litt and her
of the wider impact of Scandinavians in areas of colleagues at Oxbow Books have been extremely
Britain not traditionally associated with them, and accommodating in helping bring this volume
that a multidisciplinary – at times interdisciplinary together, and in answering many technical queries.
– approach to the problems of their study was Our colleague Kate Weikert provided an invaluable
required to be applied to the Wessex region. Our final reading of the complete manuscript, which
tentative plans to publish the papers delivered at saved us from a number of infelicities. We also wish
the conference were given a boost when Martin to record our thanks to Richard Abels, John Crook,
Biddle was able to confirm that he and Birthe Carey Fleiner, Charles Insley, Janine Lavelle,
Kjølbye-Biddle’s English translation of their Duncan Probert, David Score, Sarah Semple,
contribution to Danske Kongegrave – a major work Gabor Thomas, Nick Thorpe, Katie Tucker, and
on Danish royal graves, due to go to press at the Andrew Wareham.
time of writing – could be made be available for Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the financial
our volume. We are delighted that all those who support of the Hampshire Field Club and
spoke at the conference have been able to present Archaeological Society – whose generous grant has
versions of their papers as chapters here but we allowed a number of illustrations in this volume to
have solicited further contributions, especially from be reproduced in colour – as well as the financial
those who, for a variety of reasons, were unable and institutional support of the Archaeology
to speak at the conference. We are grateful to all and History Departments of the University of
of the contributors for their hard work, as well as Winchester.
their copious quantities of patience, good humour
and forebearance. Ryan Lavelle
Simon Roffey
Winchester, September 2015
Foreword
There have been many studies of the Scandinavians in Wessex. Multi-disciplinary approaches mean
in Britain, but this, so far as I know, is the first that Vikings and Danes are evoked not just through
collection of essays to be devoted solely to their the written record, but through their impact on real
engagement with Wessex. It must be welcomed and imaginary landscapes and via the objects they
as an important contribution to wider debates owned or produced. Some never returned home,
concerning Anglo-Scandinavian relations in the with, at one extreme, the executed Scandinavians of
ninth to eleventh centuries. While there may not the Dorset Ridgeway, and, at the other, the burials
have been the same degree of impact, discernable of Cnut and members of his family and court in
particularly in place-names and archaeology, as in Winchester. The papers raise wider questions which
those areas of Britain which had substantial influxes the editors explore in their joint contribution.
of Scandinavian settlers, Wessex was a major theatre When did aggressive Vikings morph into more
of the Viking wars in the reigns of Alfred and acceptable Danes, and what issues of identity were
Æthelred Unræd. The succession of Cnut brought there for natives and incomers in a province whose
the Danish king and his court into the heart of founders were believed to have also come from
Wessex, with some of his countrymen becoming North Sea areas, if not from parts of Denmark
major landowners and royal agents. These two major itself? Readers can continue for themselves aspects
topics, the Viking wars and the Danish landowning of these broader debates that will be stimulated
elite, figure strongly in the collection, but are not by this fascinating and significant series of studies
its exclusive concern, nor the sole reasons for the by both established scholars and new researchers.
presence of Danes, or items associated with them, Read, enjoy and think!
Barbara Yorke
Professor Emeritus
University of Winchester
and
Honorary Professor
Institute of Archaeology
University of London
List of Contributors
John Baker Jane Kershaw

Institute of Name Studies, School of English, University College London Institute of Archaeology,
University of Nottingham, University Park, University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square,
Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK London, WC1H 0PY, UK
John.Baker@nottingham.ac.uk J.Kershaw@ucl.ac.uk
Martin Biddle Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle† was the excavator of the Old

Director of the Winchester Research Unit, Emeritus and New Minsters at Winchester, 1964–70, and
Professor of Medieval Archaeology, University of Research Director of the Winchester Research Unit,
Oxford, Hertford College, Oxford, OX1 3BW, UK 1972–2010.
Martin.Biddle@hertford.ox.ac.uk
Ryan Lavelle
Angela Boyle History Department, University of Winchester,
Consultant for Oxford Archaeology, Janus House, Winchester, Hants, SO22 4NR, UK
Osney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0ES, UK Ryan.Lavelle@winchester.ac.uk
Ange.Boyle@tiscali.co.uk
www.burialarchaeologist.co.uk C. P. Lewis
Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet
Stuart Brookes St, London, WC1E 7HU, UK
University College London Institute of Archaeology, Chris.Lewis@sas.ac.uk
University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square,
London, WC1H 0PY, UK Simon Roffey
S.Brookes@ucl.ac.uk Archaeology Department, University of Winchester,
Winchester, Hants, SO22 4NR, UK
Lillian Céspedes González Simon.Roffey@winchester.ac.uk
Department of History, University of Winchester,
Winchester, Hants, SO22 4NR, UK Ann Williams
L.Cespedes@winchester.ac.uk Independent Scholar, Wanstead, London, UK
Derek Gore Thomas J. T. Williams

Honorary Fellow, University of Exeter, College of University College London Institute of Archaeology,
Humanities, Department of Archaeology, Laver University College London, 31–34 Gordon Square,
Building, Exeter, EX4 4QE, UK London, WC1H 0PY, UK
D.A.Gore@exeter.ac.uk T.Williams09@ucl.ac.uk
List of Abbreviations
AB Annales Bertiani, ed. G. Waitz, MGH Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum 5 (Hannover, 1883);
trans. J. L. Nelson, The Annals of St Bertin (Manchester, 1991); cited by annal year
Æthelweard, Chronicon Chronicon Æthelweardi: The Chronicle of Æthelweard, ed. and trans. A. Campbell (London, 1962)
ANS Various editors, Proceedings of the Battle Conference on Anglo-Norman Studies 1978 etc.
(Woodbridge, 1979 etc.); cited by volume number and conference year
ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Text edited in The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Edition,
general eds D. N. Dumville and S. D. Keynes (Woodbridge, 9 vols published, 1983–present).
Unless otherwise noted, translations are cited from D. Whitelock, D. C. Douglas and S. I.
Tucker, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: a Revised Translation (London, 1961; rev. 1965); entries
are cited by MS where versions differ substantially and, unless otherwise noted, the corrected
annal year assigned by Whitelock et al.
ASE Anglo-Saxon England; cited by volume and year
Asser Asser’s Life of King Alfred Together with the Annals of Saint Neots Erreoneously Ascribed to Asser,
ed. W. H. Stevenson (Oxford, 1906); cited by chapter and page
ASSAH Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History; cited by volume and year
BAR British Archaeological Reports
Bede, HE Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed.
and trans. B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969); cited by book, chapter and page
BL British Library
CG Continental Germanic
DB Domesday Book Phillimore county edition (J. Morris [general ed.], Chichester, 1975–86);
referred to by county volume and cited by entry number
EETS Early English Text Society
EHR English Historical Review
EMC Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds; Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, hosted by the
Department of Coins and Medals, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge <http://www-cm.
fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/emc/>
EME Early Medieval Europe
Exon Exon Domesday, in Libri Censualis, vocati Domesday Book, Additamenta ex Codic. Antiquiss.
Exon Domesday; Inquisitio Eliensis; Liber Winton; Boldon Book, ed. H. Ellis (London, 1816);
entries cited according to folio, with a or b (for recto or verso) and the number accorded to
the entry on that page
GDB Great Domesday Book, in Great Domesday, general ed. R. W. H. Erskine, Alecto Historical
Editions (London, 1986–92); reference given by folio, column, and, where appropriate, cited
place-name
JW The Chronicle of John of Worcester: Volume II: The Annals from 450–1066, ed. and trans. R. R.
Darlington and P. McGurk (Oxford, 1995); cited by annal and page
LDB Little Domesday Book, ed. A. Williams and G. H. Martin, Alecto Historical Editions (London,
6 vols, 2000).
xii Abbreviations
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica
NMR English Heritage National Monuments Record <http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/nmr/>
OE Old English
ON Old Norse
O.S. Ordnance Survey
PAS Portable Antiquities Scheme <http://finds.org.uk>
PASE King’s College London and University of Cambridge, Prosopography of Anglo-Saxon England
<http://www.pase.ac.uk>
PDE King’s College London, Profile of a Doomed Elite: The Structure of English Landed Society in
1066 research project; results integrated into PASE database
RFA ‘Royal Frankish Annals’: Annales Regni Francorum, ed. F. Kurze, MGH Scriptores Rerum
Germanicarum (Hannover, 1895); trans. P. D. King, Charlemagne: Translated Sources (Kendall,
1987)
RS Rolls Series
Sawyer, Charters Citation of charter, catalogued in Anglo-Saxon Charters: An Annotated List and Bibliography,
ed. P. H. Sawyer, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks 8 (London, 1968); revised
version ed. S. E. Kelly, R. Rushforth et al., for the Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of
Anglo-Saxon Charters website, King’s College London <http://www.esawyer.org.uk>
TRE Tempore Regis Edwardi (‘at the time of King Edward [the Confessor]’)
TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society
VCH Victoria County History (London, 1901–); volumes cited according to county and volume
number
WM, De ant. Glas. William of Malmesbury, De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesie, in The Early History of Glastonbury:
an Edition, Translation, and Study of William of Malmesbury’s ‘De antiquitate Glastonie ecclesie’,
ed. and trans. J. Scott (Woodbridge, 1981)
WM, GRA William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum: The History of the English Kings, Volume 1,
ed. and trans. R. M. Thomson, M. Winterbottom and R.A.B. Mynors (Oxford, 1998); cited
by chapter, passage and page number; Volume II: Introduction and Commentary, ed. R. M.
Thomson (Oxford, 1999) is cited as ‘Vol. 2’
List of Illustrations
Figures
2.1. Grave Slab (CG WS 104.2) and marker (CG WS 6.1. Trefoil brooch from Longbridge Deverill,
104.1) over the grave of Gunni, as found during Wiltshire. (Image courtesy of the Portable
the Old Minster excavations, looking north-east. Antiquities Scheme)
(Photograph by J. W. Hopkins III, © Winchester 6.2. Strap-slide from Hannington, Hampshire. (Image
Excavations Committee) courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme)
2.2. Photograph and drawing of fragment with runic 6.3. Tongue-shaped brooch from Prestegården,
inscription of the word ‘Huskarl’, re-used in the Vestfold, Norway. (After E. Wamers, ‘Eine
tower of St Maurice’s, Winchester (H: c.92 mm, Zungenfibel aus dem Hafen von Haithabu’, fig.
W: c.177 mm, L: c.185 mm, Diam. of curve: 11, 1)
c.430 mm). (Courtesy of Winchester Excavations 6.4. Strap-slide and strap-end from Wharram Percy,
Committee and Winchester City Council) Yorkshire. (After A. R. Goodall and C. Paterson,
2.3. Queen Emma and King Cnut presenting a gold ‘Non-ferrous Metal Objects’, figs 61, 22 and 23)
cross, in the early eleventh-century Liber Vitae of 6.5. Strap-end from Mudford, Somerset. (Image
New Minster, Winchester (BL MS Stowe 944, fol. courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme)
6r.). (© British Library Board. All Rights Reserved) 6.6. Tongue-shaped brooch from Eketorp, Sweden.
3.1. Map of the region around Edington and Bratton, (© Stockholm Historiska Museet)
Wiltshire, from the first edition Ordnance Survey 6.7. Strap-end from St Leonards and St Ives, Dorset.
County Series 1:10560 (1889). (© Crown (Image courtesy of the Portable Antiquities
Copyright and Database Right 2013. Ordnance Scheme)
Survey (Digimap Licence)) 6.8. Finger-ring found near Shaftesbury, Dorset.
3.2. Bratton Camp. Detail of the environs of Bratton (Image courtesy of the Portable Antiquities
Camp and Warden’s Down. Scheme)
3.3. Edington Hill. Detail of the region around 6.9. Silver ingot from Headbourne Worthy,
Edington Hill. Hampshire. (Image courtesy of the Portable
4.1. Places in western England discussed in the text. Antiquities Scheme)
5.1. The Vikings in England as revealed in narrative 6.10. Silver ingot from Over Compton, Dorset. (Image
sources. courtesy of Dorset County Museum)
5.2. Named herepaðas in the Avebury region, Domesday 6.11. Inset lead weight from Kingston, Dorset. (© The
settlement pattern and sites mentioned in the text. Trustees of the British Museum)
5.3. Occurrences of herepæð and related compounds 6.12. Enamel offcut from Winterbourne Zelston,
in England. Dorset. (Image courtesy of the Portable Antiquities
5.4. Yatesbury, Wiltshire. Photograph of the west- Scheme)
facing section of the ditch cut around the modified 6.13. Carolingian sword belt mount from Wareham,
Bronze Age mound. (Image courtesy of Andrew Dorset. (© The Trustees of the British Museum)
Reynolds) 6.14. Bridle mount from Ashburton, Devon. (Image
5.5. Possible late Anglo-Saxon mustering sites in courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme)
England. 6.15. Distribution of Scandinavian-type metalwork in
5.6. Plan of the ‘hanging promontory’ site by Moot Wessex. (© Jane Kershaw)
Hill adjacent to the shire boundary of Dorset and 6.16. All early medieval metal work from the south-
Somerset, with photograph of the views south west recorded by the PAS, shown against modern
from the meeting-place over northern Dorset. constraints on metal-detecting. (© Jane Kershaw)
xiv List of Illustrations
7.1. Location of the Ridgeway Hill site. (Image 12.6. Winchester Cathedral: (A) The Norman presbytery
courtesy of Oxford Archaeology) as built 1079–93, showing the suggested positions
7.2. The full extent of the skeletal deposit within the of the Anglo-Danish royal graves. (B) The
pit. (Image courtesy of Oxford Archaeology) presbytery after the reconstruction of c.1310–15,
7.3. An eleventh-century depiction of Abraham’s showing the same graves in their new positions.
intended sacrifice of his son, Isaac (BL MS Cotton (Drawn by Hamish Roberton and Simon
Claudius B.IV, fol. 38r.). (© British Library Hayfield. © Winchester Excavations Committee)
Board. All Rights Reserved) 12.7. Winchester Cathedral, looking west from the
7.4. The Harley Psalter’s depiction of torture and a retrochoir towards the early fourteenth-century
mound apparently containing decapitated corpses screen commemorating benefactors at the east end
(BL MS Harley 603, fol. 67r.). (© British Library of the presbytery. The entrance to ‘The Holy Hole’
Board. All Rights Reserved) is in the middle. (Photograph © John Crook)
7.5. Skeleton 3806: the decapitated skeleton of the 12.8. The south screen of the presbytery, 1525, with
individual who was probably the first to be the tomb of Earl Beorn and Richard son of
executed and deposited in the pit. (Image courtesy William the Conqueror under the further of the
of Oxford Archaeology) two arched niches, looking north-east. On top of
8.1. View of Portland and its harbour from Ridgeway the screen are two of Bishop Fox’s chests of 1525,
Hill. (Photograph © Bob Ford 2004, http://www. the further one containing the supposed bones
natureportfolio.co.uk) of King Edmund (d.1016). (Photograph © John
10.1 Map of Lands of Orc and Abbotsbury, in their Crook)
respective hundreds. (Map drawn by Ryan Lavelle 12.9. The tomb of Earl Beorn and Richard son of
with boundaries of the hundreds redrawn from William the Conqueror, c.1525 and earlier. The
the Alecto Domesday Map, with permission of Latin inscription of 1525 wrongly identifies
Alecto Historical Editions) Richard as BEORNIE DVCIS, ‘Duke of Beornia’.
11.1. Landed estates of selected magnates. (Map drawn (Photograph © John Crook)
by Duncan Probert) 12.10a. The second half of the inscription on the later
11.2. Landed estates of selected great landowners. (Map twelfth-century Purbeck marble tomb-slab of
drawn by Duncan Probert) Earl Beorn and Richard, son of ‘King William the
12.1. Winchester Cathedral from the air. The excavation Elder’, reading REGI] S : FILI’ : ET : BEORN :
of the Anglo-Saxon Old Minster in progress, DVX : [floral scroll] (Photograph © John Crook)
1966, looking east. (Photograph R. C. Anderson. 12.10b. The second half of the inscription on the later
© Winchester Excavations Committee) twelfth-century Purbeck marble tomb-slab of
12.2. Looking west down the axis of the plan of Old Edmund Ironside, reading [Eþ]ELDREDI :
Minster laid out in modern brickwork along the REGIS : FILIVS : (Photograph © John Crook)
north side of the nave of Winchester Cathedral. 12.11. The tomb of Earl Beorn and Richard son of
(Photograph © John Crook) William the Conqueror, original drawing by
12.3. Winchester in 1093: Old Minster, New Minster, F. J. Baigent when their tomb was opened on
and the east end of the new Norman cathedral, 27 May 1887. Winchester Cathedral Archives
as they were on 15 July 1093, the day before the (Photograph © John Crook)
start of the demolition of Old Minster. (Drawn 12.12. The inscription on the lead coffin of Earl Beorn
by Nicholas Griffiths. © Winchester Excavations and Richard son of William the Conqueror,
Committee) facsimile made by F. J. Baigent when their tomb
12.4. Old Minster: reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon was opened on 27 May 1887. (From Warren,
cathedral as it was between 992–4 and 1093, Illustrated Guide to Winchester (1909), p. 65)
axonometric view, looking north-west. (Drawn 12.13. Winchester Cathedral, the northernmost niches
by Simon Hayfield. © Winchester Excavations of the early fourteenth-century screen, with bases
Committee) for the statuettes of King Æthelred, King Edward
12.5. Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture from Old Minster the Confessor, King Cnut, and King Harthacnut.
showing what may be the episode of Sigmund and (Photograph © John Crook)
the Wolf from Volsungasaga. (Photograph R. C. 12.14. Winchester Cathedral, inscriptions identifying
Anderson. © Winchester Excavations Committee) the bases of lost statuettes of ‘Cnutus Rex’ and
List of Illustrations xv
‘Hardecnutus Rex, filius eius’ in the northernmost 13.2. A Southampton-based depiction of Viking
niche of the early fourteenth-century screen. culture: Skragbeard and the Vikings (Void Studios),
(Photograph © John Crook) by Tim Hall. (© Tim Hall; reproduced with
12.15. Winchester Cathedral, the mortuary chest of 1661 permission)
on top of the south screen of the presbytery, beside 13.3. Thorkell the Tall’s force heading across Wessex,
the bishop’s throne, looking south-west. The chest, from Vinland Saga vol. 3, by Makoto Yukimura.
a replacement of 1661 following the sack of 1642, (Vinland Saga © Makoto Yukimura/Kodansha,
is said to contain the remains of Cnut and Emma. Ltd., All rights reserved)
(Photograph © John Crook) 13.4. Words chosen for their associations with Vikings
12.16. The north side of the northern mortuary chest from online survey, recorded by frequency of
of 1661, showing the inscription added between response.
1684 and 1692. (Photograph © John Crook) 13.5. A summary of issues cited in survey respondents’
12.17. Winchester Cathedral, the mortuary chests on views of Vikings (from online survey, recorded by
top of the north screen of the presbytery, looking frequency of response)
north-east. The nearest chest, a replacement of
1661 following the sack of 1642, is said to contain
the remains of Cnut and Emma. (Photograph Tables
copyright © John Crook) 10.1. Lands of Orc and Abbotsbury, with total holdings
12.18. The north side of the southern mortuary chest in hides and virgates.
of 1661, said in the inscription to contain the 11.1. The Danish magnates of Wessex TRE.
remains of the bones of Kings Cnut and Rufus, 11.2. TRE holdings of Azur son of Thorth.
of Queen Emma, and Bishops Wine and Ælfwine. 11.3. TRE holdings of Bondi the staller.
(Photograph © John Crook) 11.4. TRE holdings of Carl.
12.19. The northern mortuary chest of 1661, showing the 11.5. TRE holdings of Mærleswein.
bones, said to include those of Cnut and Emma, 11.6. TRE holdings of Saxi the housecarl.
placed in the oak chest provided in 1932, looking 11.7. TRE holdings of Wigot of Wallingford.
west. (Photograph © John Crook) 11.8. TRE holdings of Esgar the staller.
12.20. The southern mortuary chest of 1661, showing the 11.9. TRE holdings of Siward Barn.
bones, said to include those of Cnut and Emma, 11.10. TRE holdings of Aki the Dane.
placed in the pine chest provided in 1932, looking 11.11 TRE holdings of Osgot of Hailes.
east. (Photograph © John Crook) 11.12. The Danish great landowners of Wessex TRE.
12.21. The north screen of the presbytery, 1525, with 11.13. The Danish greater thegns of Wessex TRE.
the tomb of Harthacnut, looking south-east. 11.14. The Danish lesser thegns of Wessex TRE.
(Photograph © John Crook) 11.15. The Danish rich peasants of Wessex TRE.
12.22. The tomb of Harthacnut, c.1525. (Photograph © 11.16. TRE holdings of Tholf the Dane.
John Crook) 11.17. TRE holdings of John the Dane.
13.1. Tableau from the Alfredian millenary celebrations 12.1. The burial places of the rulers of Wessex and
of 1901, depicting Anglo-Saxons and Vikings at England, 899–1100, and of Denmark, c.986–1042.
the Battle of Edington (878). (Reproduced from 12.2. Genealogy of the houses of England, Denmark,
A. Bowker, The King Alfred Millenary (London, and Normandy, 959–1135.
1902), facing p. 178)
Chapter One
Introduction: Danes in Wessex
Ryan Lavelle and Simon Roffey
In many ways the title of this volume draws attention ‘Viking’ warbands and settlers who may not just
to the problems associated with the perception of have come from Scandinavia, let alone Denmark;
the Viking Age in the south of England. While such groups of ‘Danes’ are likely to have included
scholars commonly deal with the vocabulary of other Scandinavians (especially Norwegians, as
‘the Danelaw’ and ‘Anglo-Scandinavian England’ noted in Lavelle’s own contribution (Chapter 8),
when discussing the east Midlands and northern but also those from north of the Arctic Circle),
England, Wessex, for understandable reasons, is those from the ‘Danelaw’ regions of Britain and
an area which is often treated as remaining ‘Anglo- other areas associated with the Viking diaspora such
Saxon’ throughout the later Anglo-Saxon period. as the Baltic states and Belarus, as well as those who
This is hardly surprising. The narrative of the ninth actually came from the provinces of the Danish
and tenth centuries is one of the resistance of the polities (notwithstanding that these were somewhat
rulers of Wessex against Viking invaders and the different from the twenty-first-century Kongeriget
eventual imposition of a notion of an ‘English’ Danmark).2 Again, this is probably understandable,
identity, that of the Angelcynn, over parts of the as the volume covers three centuries of early
rest of England.1 medieval history, during which one could hardly
The survival of the West Saxon dynasty is one of expect notions of identity to remain static. (We
the ‘great’ themes of early medieval English history might note too that notions of ‘Wessex’ could
and it would be perverse if the title of this book were vary; this is an issue which is touched on in our
to have been something like Anglo-Scandinavian own contribution to this volume but we have not
Wessex or even Viking Wessex (to our publisher’s proscribed our contributors’ definitions of the
credit, this title was never suggested to us). The region/s, as its geographical variations over three
notion of ‘Danes in Wessex’, which was the title centuries are not insignificant.)
of the conference from which many of the papers ‘Danes’ were in Wessex, then, and while there was
in this volume are drawn, is deliberately unspecific, no ‘Danish’ Wessex, there were close links between
reflecting the range of ways in which the papers in West Saxons and Danes in the early middle ages.
this volume have interpreted its theme. The lack of These links were not necessarily hostile. The earliest
a definite article in the title is intentional: we cannot known reference to Denmark, as Denamearc, is,
speak of the Danes in Wessex because the notion of famously, in a vernacular West Saxon version
‘Danes’, as discussed in our other joint contribution of the work of the late Roman historian Paulus
to this volume (Chapter 2), often seems to have Orosius, The Seven Books of Histories against the
been semantically fluid, encompassing members of Pagans, amongst added details of northern voyages,
2 Ryan Lavelle and Simon Roffey
recounted at the West Saxon court by a Norwegian of Æthelred II (‘the Unready’), during which a series
chieftain, Ohthere (ON Óttarr).3 Before the of brief ‘hit and run’ raids rapidly gave way to a
Viking Age, as Barbara Yorke noted, the presence series of longer campaigns, with tragic consequences
at Hamwic (Anglo-Saxon Southampton) of eighth- for the king and his kingdom. Depending on their
century ‘Wodan/monster’ sceattas – coins which relative temperaments, modern commentators have
‘may’ have been minted in Ribe, Denmark – ‘imply been more or less vituperative in their criticism for
that the Norwegian marauders [of c.789] may not Æthelred and high-flown in their praise for Alfred,
have been the first Scandinavian ships to land in but it should be noted that there is continuity to the
Wessex’.4 Still, it is the influences of the ‘Viking Viking Age in Wessex that we should acknowledge.
Age’ in Wessex which ensure that the topic of this Alfred may have been successful in the campaigns
book is a valid one, determined by two ‘Viking of the late ninth century but the Viking impact
Ages’ in the region:5 the ‘First Viking Age’ in the was not without significance. There were a small
second half of the ninth century, traditionally seen number of ‘Danes’ who lived peacefully in Wessex
to have tailed off in southern England in the early as a consequence of the actions of the ninth century,
tenth century as the successor of King Alfred, whose presence should not be forgotten,7 but lest
Edward the Elder, took the initiative – perhaps this consideration be seen as a radical attempt
through the support of his sister, Æthelflæd, ‘Lady to unpick a neatly sewn West Saxon history, it
of the Mercians’ – by seizing control of areas of the is perhaps better to consider the impact itself,
former Danelaw. (Inside the frontiers of Wessex for which the broader themes of the two Viking
itself the first Viking Age might be said to have Ages emerge. The Old Minster in Winchester’s
ended with the whimper of the night flight of lease of some of its land and stock to the king, at
the renegade member of the West Saxon dynasty, what appears to have been unfavourable terms,8
dubbed the ‘king of the pagans’ (rex paganorum) provides a parallel with the actions of ecclesiastical
because of his alliances with Danes, Æthelwold, landholders in the reign of Æthelred II, during
from Wimborne, Dorset, in 899 or 900, though which land was, somewhat more infamously, sold
Wessex was hardly unaffected in the aftermath.6) by the likes of Christ Church Canterbury in order
The activities of the ‘Second Viking Age’ in the to raise money to pay geld.9 Although the parallel
later tenth century, which had a direct impact is not a new one, it is worth bearing in mind the
on Wessex, led to the establishment of a Danish larger number of surviving charters from the late
dynasty in England, centred on Winchester, as a tenth and early eleventh centuries in comparison
consequence of the conquest of Cnut ‘the Great’, to those of the late ninth and early tenth, so those
son of the Danish ruler Swein Forkbeard, in 1016, earlier examples from Winchester may represent a
with the further influence of Danes in Wessex for much wider phenomenon.
at least the next thirty years, arguably the next fifty. Another theme is of course that of Alfred and
Those two Viking Ages have tended to shape his sons’ emergence as a powerful dynasty. While
our perceptions of Danish influence in Wessex, comparisons with Æthelred here are – as has been
and they have often been treated separately, or with noted – the stock-in-trade of the late Anglo-
the sense that the resistance successfully put up by Saxonist, parallels with the dynasty of Cnut are
Alfred the Great as a consequence of campaigns less common in terms of consideration of Wessex.
across Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire With a sense of the primacy of Winchester within
during the 870s and other campaigns on the outer Wessex, as we shall see in the following chapter,
parts of what might be termed ‘Greater Wessex’ in Cnut may have underwritten the history of the
Kent in the 890s can be contrasted with the less English dynasty in the early eleventh century, at a
successful resistance of the English during the reign time when, under Æthelred, London had become
more important.10 Although we should probably Such assertions of control within West Saxon
exercise some caution in reading Alfred’s direct political frameworks and the demonstration of
role in the importance of Winchester, there may control in a range of ways by ruling elites, are
be something of a parallel in the manner in which at the heart of this volume. Though there is,
the ninth-century decline of Hamwic, perhaps understandably, no consensus of opinion amongst
under the pressure of its vulnerability to Viking the contributors as to the most significant of the
raids, allowed its smaller neighbour to emerge as assertions of control in the Viking Age (or the
an administrative and cultural centre during the two ‘Viking Ages’) there is a degree of unity of
course of the ninth century.11 purpose in the contributions. These encompass the
Indeed, it may be noted that while we may political and social manifestations of ‘Danishness’
still not talk in terms of an Anglo-Scandinavian in Wessex, as well as Anglo-Saxon responses to
society in Wessex prior to 1016 (although, as Jane it. Studies of the Viking Age are often nuanced,
Kershaw shows in chapter 5, Scandinavian material focusing on the cultural, social and economic
influences were greater than was once thought), effects of the Viking impact in a manner that
the very fact that Alfred and his successors’ hands requires necessary oversight (or at least pausing)
were strengthened makes late Anglo-Saxon Wessex of the view of excesses of violence,14 but an
itself a direct product of the Viking Age. There is understanding of the violence that underlies that
a certain dichotomy between the written sources, Viking impact remains crucial. While this volume
which portray Alfred as a pious Christian and Cnut does not hold up an unreconstructed ‘back to
as a Viking warrior, a dichotomy which should be basics’ reading of the relentless violence of hairy
borne in mind when considering their respective barbarians, the place of Viking Age violence and,
impacts upon Wessex and England. Arguably of course, violence perpetrated by Vikings should
these figures had much more in common than is not be underestimated. Two of the contributions
often acknowledged. Where West Saxon elites had to this volume, by Thomas Williams (Chapter 3),
asserted themselves over Britons in the earlier ninth and by John Baker and Stuart Brookes (Chapter
century and Alfred the warrior king had made far 5), specifically address the military dimensions of
more use and reference to the Anglo-Scandinavian responses to the Viking threat, using the region of
roots of his dynasty than the image makers who Wessex as the focus for the study of wider-ranging
shaped our picture of the ‘Alfredian court’ would phenomena, and fulfil something of the expectation
have him doing,12 Cnut and some Danish elites of what might be seen in a volume titled Danes in
whose positions stemmed from his rule asserted Wessex. If any doubt remained as to the violence
themselves as lords over English men and women, of the age, Angela Boyle’s report on Vikings as
while emphasising their Christian culture. In victims of violence (Chapter 7) is invaluable.15
the employment of a Danish elite culture in the Derek Gore’s consideration of the South-West in
eleventh century, the language of assertion had the ninth and early tenth centuries (Chapter 4),
changed but the political and social frameworks Ryan Lavelle’s discussion of West Saxon ealdormen
in which it was employed remained, in some in the late tenth century (Chapter 8), the first of
ways, very much the same as they had been during Ann Williams’s papers, on the career of a ‘Viking’
the ninth century. Thus, a parallel may be made in the early eleventh century (Chapter 9), and
between West Saxon control in the South-West in indeed some of what follows in our own discussion
the ninth century, recently imposed and at times of manifestations of ethnic identity in Chapter
tenuous, and the attention given to the region by 2 are discussions conceived around the violence
Cnut in the early years of his reign, as he strove to of Scandinavian actions, though the violence –
ensure loyalty there in the wake of revolt.13 whether real or threatened – of incursions, and
the violence of responses underlies each of the provinces of Wessex during the Viking period
papers in this volume. Readers of military history, through to the early tenth century; from Gore’s
of a narrative of ‘The Viking Threat’, should work, one may note the regional differentiation
not be too disappointed, then, though if they of the western provinces from what became the
expect that narrative to fulfil familiar motifs of ‘heartlands’ of the West Saxon kingdom, a matter
threat, response, defeat, resistance, salvation, and of which Vikings were evidently acutely aware.
struggle, they may be. Where the military history Gore focuses on the historical sources but
is most useful, it is often in terms of consideration underlying his paper is an appropriate feeling for
within a wider socio-political context. Thomas relevant archaeological sites in the region, which
Williams’s contribution considers the experience are brought to bear in his review of the historical
of the early medieval battlefield and the degree evidence in ways which illuminate both the
to which shifting cultural expectations in the face history and archaeology. A study focusing on the
of Viking warfare changed the perceptions of the material evidence itself, stemming from a wider
battlefield – and ultimately perceptions of the research project on Scandinavian metalwork across
West Saxon kingdom.16 His chapter, as with other England,20 is provided by Jane Kershaw in Chapter
contributions to this volume, shows the value of 6. Looking at the same ‘First Viking Age’ as Gore,
multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches Kershaw’s study of recently recovered metalwork
in terms of the ways in which archaeological from the region reveals that Anglo-Saxon Wessex
readings of the battlefield go beyond the physical did appear to have assimilated certain Scandinavian
stratigraphic remains, many of which, as Williams cultural influences. The debate concerns the extent
notes, do not lend themselves to conventional to which such influences were directly due to the
battlefield archaeology.17 Baker and Brookes bring Viking presence in the area or via a process of
to light their experience in running a cutting-edge diffusion and interaction with areas of Scandinavian
project on the development of defensive systems settlement outside of the region. Moreover, what
in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, using place-name, is clear from Kershaw’s study is that the spread of
historical and archaeological evidence.18 Their such cultural artefacts is not necessarily consistent
contribution to this volume showcases the value with the historical sources.
of their work in the Wessex region, showing that With regard to the so-called ‘Second Viking Age’,
the violence of responses to external threats could Ann Williams’s examination of Thorkell ‘the Tall’
have fundamental infrastructural effects on the is one in which the campaigns of Thorkell, outside
development of the kingdom of Wessex and the what is normally considered ‘Wessex proper’, play
region of Wessex within the wider tenth- and a part in the consideration of Thorkell’s career and
eleventh-century English kingdom, while showing reputation (Chapter 9). As a character who moved
the manner in which the events of the Viking Age into the core of the kingdom of Wessex from such
were as much shaped by an existing landscape as ‘peripheral’ areas (in West Saxon terms) as Kent and
the primary factor in shaping it. London, Thorkell’s actions helped to define West
Identity, an issue directly linked to notions of Saxon regional interests even at that late stage of the
the manifestations of political power, is considered formation of the English kingdom. Furthermore,
in a number of chapters. The identity of Wessex given the place of Kent in a wider ‘Earldom of
itself is a matter for consideration in our own joint Wessex’ in the eleventh century (from 1017), its
contribution and, to a degree, in Lavelle’s discussion existence directly linked to Thorkell’s actions,21 and
of the writing of Ealdorman Æthelweard’s history the looming presence of Thorkell over the fate of
(Chapter 8). Derek Gore’s contribution (Chapter Wessex in the late Anglo-Saxon period, Thorkell’s
4), a logical projection back from his earlier work on career in south-eastern England is justified for
the late tenth century,19 considers the south-western consideration within this volume.
Martin Biddle and Birtha Kjølbye-Biddle’s at King’s College London.23 That chronological
chapter (Chapter 12) is an English translation specificity makes their conclusions no less valuable
of their contribution to the Danske Kongegrave for the consideration of Danish identities across
project.22 It is relevant here because it tackles the early middle ages. If Lewis is sanguine about
elites in a different way from those presented the uncertain identity of ‘Danes’ in Wessex, it is
elsewhere in the volume. Biddle and Kjølbye- because his study shows a mutable identity. That
Biddle show that the monumentalisation of the mutability is a useful rejoinder for the variations
mortal remains of the Anglo-Danish royal family of what is meant by ‘Danes’ throughout the papers
both presented them (and architecturally framed in this volume, recalling a much-quoted line by F.
them) within the historical tradition of the West W. Maitland: ‘we must be careful how we use our
Saxon kingdom whilst also presenting wider and Dane.’24 Given the northern and eastern context
future dynastic pretensions. Bearing in mind the of Maitland’s words, one suspects that he would
manner in which the post-mortem treatment of hardly have approved of an attempt to address
these important Danes continued through to and Danish influence in the one area of early England
beyond the rebuilt cathedral’s consecration in 1093, that was ‘not Danish’. Nonetheless, such care as
Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle’s study also shows the that urged by Maitland begins when the student
importance of considering the Danish contribution of the early middle ages – be they archaeologist
to Wessex within a framework that runs beyond or historian – is aware of the manner in which
that traditional ‘end-point’ of 1066. identities could shift. As Lillian Céspedes González,
But while a focus on kings, queens, and ‘big the final contributor to this volume, points out in
men’ such as the Vikings Thorkell and Olaf a short review of modern perceptions of Danes in
Tryggvason, and the West Saxon ealdormen Odda Wessex (Chapter 13), those shifts of identity did
and Æthelweard can be useful because it allows not end with the middle ages but continued – and
us to see the influence of significant figures, a indeed still continue – to play a part in the ways
focus purely on individuals puts us in danger of in which we use our Dane.
sensationalising what is already dramatic enough.
If the writing of history shows the manner in Notes
which the reading of identity could be something 1. S. Foot, ‘The Making of Angelcynn: English Identity
imposed by contemporaries and later generations Before the Norman Conquest’, TRHS 6th Ser. 6
upon groups of people, it is in the later part of (1996), pp. 25–49.
2. For recent scientific analyses of questions of origin, see
the Viking period (the ‘Second Viking Age’)
T. D. Price, K. M. Frei, A. S. Dobat, N. Lynnerup and
that manifestations of identity can be applied P. Bennike, ‘Who was in Harold Bluetooth’s Army?
to individuals. Chris Lewis’s study of Danish Strontium Isotope Investigation of the Cemetery at
landowners (Chapter 11) and Ann Williams’s more the Viking Age Fortress at Trelleborg, Denmark’,
specific investigation (Chapter 10, her second Antiquity 85 (2011), pp. 476–89, and L. Loe, A.
contribution to this volume) are indications of what Boyle, H. Webb and D. Score, ‘Given to the Ground’:
A Viking Age Mass Grave on Ridgeway Hill, Weymouth
made a ‘Dane’ in the eleventh century: in Lewis’s (Dorchester, 2014), pp. 128–29. An insight into the
case, around the time of the Norman Conquest possibility that the diaspora represented by Viking
and in Williams’s, in the aftermath of the Danish armies included some with English names is provided
conquest of 1016. They are led by the fuller by Ann Williams, ‘Thorkell the Tall and the Bubble
evidence which that period provides: Williams by Reputation: the Vicissitudes of Fame’, below, p. 146.
3. The Old English Orosius, ed. J. Bately, EETS
the charters associated with the Dorset foundations
Supplementary Ser. 6 (London, 1980), p. 15.
of Orc and Tole; Lewis, by the detailed systematic 4. B. Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Ages (London,
analysis of Domesday data from the Leverhulme 1995), pp. 301–302. More recent finds of this series
Trust-funded Profile of a Doomed Elite project of coins suggesting minting in Ribe have made Yorke’s
suggestion far more likely: C. Feveile, ‘Series X and Richards (eds), Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian
Coin Circulation in Ribe’, in Studies in Early Medieval Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
Coinage Volume 1: Two Decades of Discovery, ed. T. (Turnhout, 2000), and D. M. Hadley, The Vikings in
Abramson (Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 53–67. England: Settlement, Society and Culture (Manchester,
5. P. H. Sawyer, ‘The Two Viking Ages of Britain: A 2007). Hadley has recently argued that Scandinavian
Discussion’, Mediaeval Scandinavia 2 (1969), pp. elite behaviour in England was modified by settlement
163–76, with discussion and author’s response at pp. and encounters with the church: ‘Whither the Warrior
176–207. in Viking Age Towns?’, in Everyday Life in Viking-Age
6. ASC 899/900, with title in D. N. Dumville and M. Towns: Social Approaches to Towns in England and
Lapidge (eds), The Annals of St Neots with Vita prima Ireland, c.800–1100, ed. D. M. Hadley and L. Ten
sancti neoti, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative Harkel (Oxford, 2013), pp. 103–18, at p. 115.
Edition 17 (Cambridge, 1985), p. 51; the ASC’s 15. Though of course the full report (just published at
account of the episode is discussed by T. J. T. the time of writing), Loe et al., ‘Given to the Ground’,
Williams, ‘‘Place of Slaughter: Exploring the West should now also be consulted.
Saxon Battlescape’, below, pp. 40–41. Note that Derek 16. For an overview of this approach to the study of
Gore provides some useful discussion of events in the medieval warfare R. Abels, ‘Cultural Representation
following years, in ‘A Review of Viking Attacks in and the Practice of War in the Middle Ages’, Journal
Western England to the Early Tenth Century: Their of Medieval Military History 6 (2008), pp. 1–31. The
Motives and Responses’, below, pp. 64–65. classic work is J. Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Study of
7. See S. Roffey and R. Lavelle, ‘West Saxons and Danes: Waterloo, Agincourt and the Somme (Harmondsworth,
Negotiating Identities in the Early Middle Ages’, 1978).
below, pp. 8, 12. 17. Williams, ‘Place of Slaughter’, p. 36.
8. Sawyer, Charters, no. 1444 (ad 900×8). 18. J. Baker and S. Brookes, Beyond the Burghal Hidage:
9. Sawyer, Charters, no. 882 (ad 995 for 994). For Anglo-Saxon Civil Defence in the Viking Age (Leiden,
discussion of such actions, see N. Brooks, The Early 2013). Brookes and Baker’s contribution to the UCL
History of the Church of Canterbury (Leicester, 1984), research project Landscapes of Governance: Assembly
p. 283. Brooks also discusses the ninth-century Sites in England, 5th to 11th Centuries, <http://www.
purchase, by a Kentish ealdorman and his wife, of ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/assembly>, is
the ‘Golden Gospels’, the Codex Aureus, from Viking also important in the formation of their chapter. See
raiders – supposed by Brooks to have been stolen from further references to their work therein, and in their
a Kentish royal minster – and its donation to Christ chapter, below.
Church, at pp. 151 and 201–202. 19. D. Gore, ‘Britons, Saxons and Vikings in the South
10. Roffey and Lavelle, ‘West Saxons and Danes’, pp. West’, in Scandinavia and Europe, 800–1350: Contact,
23–24. Conflict, and Coexistence, ed. J Adams and K Holman
11. On the decline of Hamwic, though not necessarily (Turnhout, 2004). Although unpublished at the time
attributable to Viking attacks, see Yorke, Wessex, of writing, Gore’s wider study of the south-western
pp. 112–13. A recent assessment of the increased region, Vikings in the West Country (Exeter, in press),
habitation in the north-western corner of Winchester should also be noted.
in this period is B. Ford and S. Teague, with E. 20. J. Kershaw, Viking Identities: Scandinavian Jewellery in
Biddulph, A. Hardy and L. Brown, Winchester, a City England (Oxford, 2013).
in the Making: Archaeological Excavations Between 2002 21. S. Keynes, ‘Cnut’s Earls’, in The Reign of Cnut: King
and 2007 on the Sites of Northgate House, Staple Gardens of England, Denmark and Norway, ed. A. R. Rumble
and the Former Winchester Library, Jewry St (Oxford, (London, 1994), pp. 43–88.
2011). 22. Danske Kongegrave, ed. K. Kryger (Copenhagen,
12. This issue was discussed in Prof. Barbara Yorke’s lecture 2014).
‘“No History, Only Biography”: Recreating the Past 23. Profile of a Doomed Elite: the Structure of English Landed
through Biographies of People, Places, and Things’, Society in 1066, King’s College London <http://
Timothy Reuter Memorial Lecture, University of www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/history/research/proj/
Southampton, 5 June 2013 (publication forthcoming). profile.aspx> (accessed 7 Mar. 2014).
13. For this, see M. K. Lawson, Cnut: the Danes in England 24. F. W. Maitland, Domesday Book and Beyond: Three
in the Early Eleventh Century (London, 1993), p. 89. Essays in the Early History of England (Cambridge,
14. See, for example, papers in D. M. Hadley and J. D. 1897), p. 139.
Chapter Two
West Saxons and Danes:

Negotiating Early Medieval Identities1
Simon Roffey and Ryan Lavelle
This chapter explores some definitions of Jutes) including the Meonwara,3 and occasionally
‘West Saxons’ and ‘Wessex’, ‘Danes’ and other asserted hegemony over Southumbrian England,
Scandinavians, considering their identities in even extending tributary influence into the north
written and material records for the period from of England for at least a short time in the early
the ninth to the eleventh centuries. As may be ninth century.4 Recent work has shown the likely
expected, these identities shifted and were shaped sophistication of the West Saxon kingdom prior
by the influences of a range of different stimuli to some adventus danorum,5 but it was arguably
and social and political interactions, though ‘Dane’ the Viking attacks of the ninth century – and,
and ‘West Saxon’ remained tangible concepts of importantly, West Saxon responses to them – which
identity within Wessex throughout the Viking Age. helped to give that region and the social, economic,
As part of the consideration of Danish identity in military and religious institutions within it, their
Wessex, the chapter considers the special place of eventual shape through the two centuries that
Winchester, proposing that the city’s significance in followed.
the eleventh century was primarily due to Danish The Danish impact on Wessex can cast light
influence, and that the Anglo-Danish investment on the differences within Wessex itself, drawing
in Winchester was linked to its regional identity attention to the fact that it is actually as difficult
within Wessex. to pin down what is meant by ‘Wessex’ and ‘West
Saxon’ as it is to pin down the ‘Danish’ identities
considered in this volume. Although an ‘English’
Terminology and Identity (i): identity was becoming prevalent in the later Anglo-
‘West Saxons’ and ‘Wessex’ Saxon period,6 identities of ‘West Saxon’ allegiance
To understand Wessex in the Viking Age, some remained influential, even if they were less
consideration of pre-Viking Wessex is necessary. frequently predominant. If an ealdorman in East
West Saxons (Occidui Saxones), ‘anciently called’ Anglia or Mercia might hold land in and around
(antiquitus … uocabantur) the Gewissae, were Winchester in the tenth century or an eleventh-
recorded by Bede in the eighth century,2 and century Earl of Wessex could hold land not only in
held a kingdom which had developed some two Wessex but across the south of England,7 this may
centuries before Bede wrote. The rulers of the West have shown the development of multi-stranded
Saxons subsequently succeeded in incorporating interests amongst the magnate classes (after all,
territory on the south coast of England into their the eleventh-century Earl of Wessex, Godwine,
kingdom, that of the Iutae (normally equated with had Sussex origins, an Anglo-Danish marriage,
8 Simon Roffey and Ryan Lavelle
and a family whose names reflected that range this is not the place for tracing the mutability of
of connections). Such links with the West Saxon West Saxon identities in detail, it can at least be
Königslandschaften, where royal rights and incomes acknowledged here. It is also an appropriate point
were most prevalent, may have demonstrated the to move on to interpretations of possible Danish
manner in which the different layers of identity identities.
might be developed and moulded according to
circumstance.8 Others, for whom the term ‘West
Saxon’ might have been applied as one of a number Terminology and Identity (ii):
of identities, remained linked to Wessex while also ‘Danes’ and ‘Others’
linked to other communities, such as the (probably) If there was a Danish and/or Scandinavian
tenth-century ‘bishop of Norway’ (Norwegensis impact on Wessex in the early middle ages,
episcopus), ‘Sigefridus’, a man with a name which can it be considered purely in terms of the
could have been either Old English (as Sigefrith) responses (defensive and otherwise) of those who
or Old Norse (Sigurd), who was remembered by saw themselves as under threat from ‘Danish’
William of Malmesbury as one of a number of incursions? The role of Danes as ‘Other’ cannot be
former monks of Glastonbury who were bishops ‘in ignored, and it is in Wessex that what are perhaps
the time of King Edgar’ (i.e. 959–75 in Wessex).9 the strongest manifestations of this phenomenon
Another example is that of Oda, appointed to the may be seen with the execution and mass burial of
West Saxon see of Ramsbury (Wilts.), probably around fifty individuals on Ridgeway Hill between
under King Æthelstan (924–39), before his Dorchester and Weymouth (Dorset), evident in
promotion to the archbishopric of Canterbury. excavation in 2009.14 The legal context of execution
According to ‘certain people’ (quidam) reported is, of course, crucial, a matter discussed by both
in the Vita sancti Oswaldi (probably composed Angela Boyle and Ryan Lavelle in this volume.
between 997 and 1002), Oda was the son of an While the excavators of the Ridgeway burials have
East Anglian Dane, who had settled as a result of stressed the inherently ‘different’ nature of the
fighting on behalf of ‘Huba et Hinuuar’ (i.e. Ubbe mass burial of such a large number of individuals,
and ĺvarr ‘the Boneless’).10 Writing in late tenth- there was nonetheless a judicial dimension to
or early eleventh-century East Anglia, the author the execution, given its relative proximity to a
of this text, identified as Byrhtferth of Ramsey, hundredal boundary.15
was presumably comfortable with highlighting A century or so before the violent deaths of
the rumours of the Danish background of the those individuals in Dorset, the West Saxon legal
nephew of St Oswald of York, even during the definition of territory in the treaty known as
reign of Æthelred II (978–1016).11 Nonetheless, Alfred–Guthrum gives another dimension to the
in a West Saxon context, whether or not W. H. West Saxon sense of self and ‘other’. Although
Stevenson’s suggestion that Asser had met Oda going beyond the region of Wessex in its definition
amongst the pagani (i.e. Danes) in the monastic of the Angelcynn, implying that provision was
community at Athelney (Som.) holds water,12 it included for Engliscne inside Danish-held territory,
is surely significant that someone with Danish the definition of territory held by King Alfred and
connections could be appointed to a position of his successors in a text that was seen as religiously
authority in Wessex. protected can hardly have been insignificant
The picture that is beginning to emerge is (despite the treaty’s relatively short lifespan
one of overlapping identities, with members of stemming from its breakdown after Guthrum’s
communities who could belong to other groups death and the augmentation of West Saxon-
as and when the circumstances suited.13 Even if held territory in a subsequent generation).16 The
2. West Saxons and Danes 9
Alfred–Guthrum treaty is often used to consider henceforth be subject is difficult to ascertain,
the Danish influence in areas outside West Saxon despite the certainty of definition expressed in some
England, an area conveniently known, thanks to texts21). But this legal identity only emerged in
eleventh-century and later legal tradition, as ‘the response to the best part of a century of interaction,
Danelaw’.17 during which notions of West Saxon, Mercian,
It might be noted at this point that while an English and ‘Other’ – whether defined as ‘Danes’,
odd entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records ‘Pagans’ or ‘Northmen’ – were shaped and reshaped
the ‘viking’ activities of raiders and for a period at numerous points, becoming more apparent at
the references to the Here are employed each some points and more amorphous at others.22
year to indicate the concept of a threatening While many among recent generations of
army,18 ‘Danes’ – or rather ‘Danish’ – are recorded Anglophone scholars (including the more recidivist
remarkably frequently, including where one might of the editors of this volume) have sidestepped the
expect them to be defined more consistently, given issue of the amorphous identities of the Anglo-
the religious framework of the age, as ‘Pagans’ or Saxons’ ‘Others’ by (ab)using the catch-all but
‘Heathens’. Similar religious terminology is hardly commercially viable term ‘Viking’ to refer to
absent but if the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle can be groups who did not define themselves as part of
reasonably considered a work of ethnogenesis,19 the Anglecynn, fewer have used the term ‘Dane’
it may be argued that defining Deniscan by their to refer to more than specific groups at particular
ethnicity played an important role in the formation times. An exception is Richard Abels’s 1998
of an English identity or identities in the ninth reading of the groups of Vikings in ninth-century
and tenth centuries. ‘Danes’ in England have thus Wessex, which, in consistent reference to Alfred’s
always had a very legalistic definition, at least from opponents as ‘Danes’, reflects the terminology of
the later ninth century: there were those in England the late ninth-century sources.23 It must be admitted
who, even in the eleventh century, were subject to that our frame of reference is both helped and
something defined as Danish law, while others were hindered by the fact that ‘Dane’ remains a modern
subject to West Saxon, and others to Mercian law. geographical and national identifier, in contrast to
However, in contrast with the institutional reading terms which are now not in widespread use beyond
of a deeply-rooted ‘Danelaw’ shaped by extensive particular groups (e.g. Frank, Norman) or have
Scandinavian settlement envisaged by Sir Frank shifted meaning from the original sense of the term
Stenton, more recent commentators have rightly (e.g. Briton, Scot, Rus[sian]). However, we should
drawn attention to the blurring of the geographical not let this be too much of a problem as an early
and social limits of this legal distinction.20 Insofar medieval perception of ethnicity could include
as any geographical definition had effect, this legal both its attribution to a geographical area and by
differentiation went hand in hand with ethnic the activities undertaken by a group. Many early
differentiation in England. medieval authors were aware that ‘Danes’ belonged
Negotiation of the law to which one might to a specific group which had political legitimacy
be subject within a particular territory does not and contained people who could be identified as
seem to have been possible at a personal or even rulers (even if the exercise of sole rule was impossible
community level, though in the initial stages of in the ninth century).24 Furthermore, a considerable
the formation of those territories some negotiation amount was known about ‘Danes’ in some quarters,
may have taken place. The subjection of particular especially since Harald Klak was baptised at Mainz
groups in Cambridgeshire and East Anglia to King (Rheinland-Pfalz), with festivities taking place at the
Edward meant that their identity could thus be nearby Carolingian palace of Ingelheim in 826 – an
defined as ‘English’ (and to which law they might occasion which provided a model for the conversion
of Scandinavians in western Europe.25 With an early was relevant in a West Saxon context and need
ninth-century Frankish agenda of rapprochement not have been the product of Northen imagination
at play (‘une entière nouveauté’, according to Magali alone. This does not necessarily mean that those
Coumert), these Danes were evidently a far cry first attackers of Portland had really come from
from the tribes of Danes mentioned in passing, that Norwegian province; merely that knowledge
with no mention of political organisation, by the of the place meant something to a southern English
late Roman writers Procopius and Jordanes (figures audience, and that geographical knowledge (or at
whose work was known in England by at least the least interest) was sophisticated enough for different
eighth century).26 versions of geographical origins to have circulated
This Danish identity is apparent in Old English in the ninth century.
sources. When not making specific reference to A glance at another Chronicle tradition is
a ‘great army’ (micel heðen here),27 the Alfredian worthwhile. There is some question as to whether
chronicler(s) and indeed Æthelweard, who used a the Annals of St Neots made independent use of
version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in composing an archetype of the chronicle used to compose
his Chronicon in the tenth century, are quite the ‘Common Stock’ of the Chronicle around
consistent in referring to ‘Northmen’ as ‘Danes’. 891×2.31 That question casts some light on the
There are some exceptions but those exceptions ‘Danish’ terminology employed in the Annals.
are significant. One of the first references to the The entry for 789 contains reference to ‘iii naves
geographical identity of ‘the first ships of Danish Normannorum’ as an equivalent to the vernacular
men which came to the land of the Angelcynn’ (þa BCDE manuscripts’ ‘iii. scipu Norðmanna’ but
ærestan scipu Deniscra monna þe Angelcynnes lond the Annals’ clarification of the identification of
gesohton), in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for these ships as ‘id est Danorum’ is an interlinear
789, also refers to them – at least in some of the addition; furthermore, there is no Latin equivalent
manuscripts – as ‘three ships of the Northmen’ (iii. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s clarifying line ‘[t]hose
scipu Norðmanna).28 It is likely that the latter was the were the first ships of Danish men which came
initial description, and the additional description of to the land of the Angelcynn’.32 If the author of
the ‘first ships of Danish men’ seems to be something the Annals of St Neots wrote outside a West Saxon
of a ninth-century rebranding. The A manuscript, a tradition, it may be worth considering whether
version of the Chronicle close to a late ninth-century this author attempted to bring together ‘Danes’
Winchester edit, tellingly omits the ‘Norðmanna’ and ‘Northmen’, such as in his rendering of the
in its description of the ‘iii scipu’, resulting in a Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s Old English ‘here’ as the
clearer ‘Danish’ identity for the ships’ crew. Some of ‘army of Danes or of Northmen’ (exercitus Danorum
the later manuscripts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle sive Nordmannorum) in the entry for 878.33 There
give specific indication of their provenance as is good reason to consider that the source texts
Hörthaland, Norway, though, as Derek Gore notes used had required clarification in order to tackle
below, David Dumville makes a case that this confusing differences which had evidently once
identification belonged to a tenth-century Northern meant something but were less important by the
version of the Chronicle, not an eighth- or ninth- time of the compilation of the Annals. This is not
century West Saxon record.29 However, given that the place for a discussion of the possible significance
the Chronicle was initially composed in or near of the compilation of the Annals, a matter which,
to a court which received Scandinavian visitors, as Eric John noted in 2004, deserves further
in particular Ohthere (ON Óttarr), a chieftain in consideration in terms of a possible pre-Conquest
territory in the Arctic Circle,30 such geographical context,34 but the discrepancies between the Annals
specificity may yet be revealing; the information and the A manuscript of the Chronicle suggest that
there may have been a further development of the the Chronicle and, to an extent, in some entries
editing of the ‘Common Stock’ of the Chronicle in alluding to that genre of historical record, such as
line with a West Saxon policy in the 890s. in the poem on Edmund’s ‘liberation’ of the Five
It is therefore worth entertaining the notion that Boroughs,40 the message is strong enough: ‘Danes’
in the late ninth-century stages of the composition had a role to play in Alfred’s kingdom and in its
of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the author (or development, which was not simply that of a
authors) and/or his patron(s) were influenced by subjected people. By the early tenth century, with
notions of the terminology of ‘Danes’ in Frankish newer additions to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the
historical traditions. While by the later ninth and terminology shifted. Groups of people who might
tenth centuries, eastern Frankish chroniclers often be termed ‘Anglo-Scandinavians’ by historians and
tended toward reference to ‘Northmen’,35 one can archaeologists (applying a label that was never
also follow the emergence of a tradition of reference in contemporary usage) were referred to by the
to ‘Danes’ in terms of the recording of current geographical areas inhabited by them in Britain,
events in the first half of the ninth century, perhaps as Northumbrians and East Angles and suchlike,41
beginning with the Annales Regni Francorum’s 813 before once again being referred to as Danes within
entry and becoming clearer in Ermoldus Nigellus’ a moral framework of ethnic hostility, conquest and
accounts of the Danes at the court of Louis submission in the narrative of the ‘Æthelredian
the Pious. Coumert cautions that this Frankish Chronicle’.
attempt to influence Danish kingship through The distinction between ‘Northmen’ and
a rapid conversion to Christianity foundered ‘Danes’ evidently became one which could be used
shortly after 826, and at least one Frankish author, according to circumstance. In the ‘Five Boroughs’
Freculf of Lisieux, moved away from writing of poem recorded in the Chronicle, a tenth-century
Danish background for the Franks, returning to English (albeit probably not West Saxon) author
an imagined Gothic ancestry.36 However, the genie made specific reference to the Danes, formerly
was, by then, out of the bottle: in West Francia, ‘compelled to bow’ (nyde gebegde) to Northmen
in the mid-ninth century entries of the Annals (Norðmannum, translated by Whitelock as ‘Norse’),
of St Bertin, the Northmen had, by and large, who were ‘liberated’ (alysde) by King Edmund
become Danes.37 In such records, even if they did when he captured the ‘Five Boroughs’ of Leicester,
not always do as was expected of them, ‘Danes’ Lincoln, Derby, Stamford and Nottingham
could still be portrayed as the embodiment of a in 942.42 Although the notion of referring to
geographically-defined group, recognized by self- the control of an aggrandising southern-based
consciously Romanising rulers on both sides of the English ruler as their ‘liberation’ is perhaps
English Channel. ‘Danes’ were figures who could one of the better-spun myths of tenth-century
be treated with, dealt with, and ultimately brought England,43 some distinction between ‘Danes’ and
to the will of the king, upon whose authority their ‘Northmen’/’Norse’ as a concept relevant at least to
political existence could be said to have depended. contemporaries in the 940s is notable.44 Following
This was, as Pierre Bauduin has shown, a successful an absence of Danes and consistent reference to
model used on a limited scale in Francia at the end ‘Northmen’ in the Chronicle’s poem on the Battle
of the ninth century and built upon the cultural of Brunanburh (937), which, Donald Scragg has
memory of the baptism of Harald Klak in 826.38 noted, shares significant similarities with the
As far as Alfred’s kingship was concerned, such ‘Five Boroughs’ poem,45 the distinction between
client kingship could also operate successfully, ‘Northmen’ and ‘Danes’ may have been intended
with treaties made with Danish leaders in the to allow the integration of the latter group into a
same period.39 In the ninth-century entries of wider, rather heterogeneous group.
The term Angelcynn may have been relevant to for the Alfredian dynasty.52 Such an ancestry
this wider group for much of the tenth century, has implications for the apparent Scandinavian
and it is perhaps indicative of this that in Wessex, connections of the West Saxons. The emergence of
in the later 920s or early 930s, a charter for the a narrative of fifth- and sixth-century West Saxon
New Minster, Winchester, retained the distinction, ethnogenesis in the ninth-century Anglo-Saxon
recording Æthelstan as ‘the most glorious king of Chronicle, bringing ‘traditional Danish heroes’ into
the Anglo-Saxons and the Danes’ (Angelsaxonum the West Saxon pedigree,53 did not subsume ‘Jutish’
Denorumque gloriosissimus rex), emphasing the elements in that account. This may have helped to
Danes’ role in a regnum anglorum.46 It is perhaps develop that Scandinavian background apparent
no coincidence that around this time the first in the Chronicle. The ‘Saxon’ figures of Cynric
known marriage was made between an English and Cerdic, legendary founders of the West Saxon
royal and Scandinavian ruler: the marriage of one of dynasty, may have taken priority over the ‘Jutish’
Æthelstan’s sisters to King Sihtric of York, a recent leaders Stuf and Wihtgar in the Chronicle’s account
convert to Christianity under Æthelstan; as Richard of early West Saxon origins,54 but they do not
Abels notes, this may indicate the relative equality eclipse them entirely. As Barbara Yorke observed:
perceived between the two groups.47 Apparent
The Chronicle presents the creation of the kingdom
distinctions between ‘Viking’ groups parallel the
of Wessex as the result of the combined efforts of
manner in which early medieval Insular traditions
Saxon and Jutish leaders; Alfred himself resulted
have often drawn attention to this distinction from a Saxon and Jutish liaison and so could claim
between communities around the Irish Sea, though to be the embodiment of his people.55
here again there is no consensus on the origins of
the different groups, or even consistency in the The Chronicle does not, of course, refer to the
use of terminology amongst the works of medieval settlement of ‘Danes’ per se in its early entries, and
authors.48 there is some debate as to what was understood by
So much for Danes and Northmen. What the reference to ‘Jutes’. It is interesting that by the
of other terms? Arguably, though Asser’s Vita ninth century the location of ‘Jutish’ origin was
Alfredi mitigates against the ‘Danish’ reading of clearly perceived as being in Scandinavia, even
the evidence in ninth-century Wessex through if, as we have seen with Asser, there was some
consistent use of Pagani (confusingly rendered in ambiguity as to precisely where in Scandinavia that
the standard translation, by Keynes and Lapidge, was. Such ambiguity may have suited late ninth-
as ‘Vikings’),49 Jinty Nelson has made a persuasive century political and cultural purposes in Wessex.
case for the non-pejorative fashion in which Asser The accounts of the ninth century may represent
employed the term. Asser recorded the pagani a change in attitude – a Scandinavianisation,
present at Alfred’s court and in the monastery effectively – of Jutish origins, reflecting some
founded by Alfred in western Wessex, at Athelney real changes and, arguably, readapting a sense of
(Som.), in a fashion which clearly suggests that ethnogenesis to suit the circumstances of the time.56
at least the latter group were not pagan pagani.50 That a shift in perception took place in the
Asser’s Welshness, or at least his Britishness, may ninth century may be seen with the aid of
be a factor here, in trying to portray Alfred through Magali Coumert’s reconsideration of Bede’s
the lens of British rulership, potentially for a Welsh reading of ‘Angles’ and ‘Jutes’. Bede’s geographical
audience.51 Asser’s notion of ethnogensis is apparent ethnogenesis may have provided a tabula rasa for
in his confusion of Geat, Goth, and Jute, an issue ninth-century writers. Reading the term Iutae’s
which Craig Davis considers to have been part of novelty in Bede’s account, Coumert characterises
a deliberate attempt to cultivate a Gothic ancestry the ‘Jutish’ origins of some of the English people as
a tradition invented by Bede, allowing a Germanic Old English version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History
group to fit a Biblically-influenced narrative of refers to Gēatas, suggesting some consistency of
name transformations. Chapter 15 of the first book a semantic shift in the minds of the later Anglo-
of Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica famously describes the Saxons.59 (The author of the Old English Bede was,
Angles’ province of Angulus as being between those admittedly, Mercian but Æthelweard’s reference
of the Iutae and Saxons, which, if read as Angeln, to the oppidum capitale of Anglia uetus as a ‘town
traditionally places the Iutae in Jutland. However, known in the Saxon language as Slesuuic but by the
Coumert observes that Bede’s use of Angulus Danes as Haithaby’ suggests that Æthelweard was
directly imitated Pope Gregory the Great’s use of not afraid to link the English with Danish influence
the term to refer to a remote area at the edges of and geography.)60 While casting Beowulf ’s Geats as
the world, and thus had no geographical specificity residents of what is now Jutland may be too far-
at all. Consequently, the Iutae had nothing to do fetched, an association may have been in existence
with Jutland, Scandinavia, or even a real location.57 in the minds of at least some West Saxons in the
Coumert’s reading of the evidence, seen in the ninth century.61 This may be indicated by the fact
broader setting of the narratives of invented origins that the province of Jutland was known in Old and
of early medieval peoples in general, is certainly Middle English as Gotland. Ohthere’s account to
logical and the development of a Scandinavian King Alfred, presented in the Old English Orosius,
perspective on ‘Jutish’ origins makes more sense if made such an association in spite of – or perhaps
seen in a ninth-century context. because of – the use of the same place-name to
There is further evidence for the nurturing of refer to the Swedish province, recorded from the
cultural links between Wessex and Scandinavia. testimony of Wulfstan, the other Scandinavian
In 2006, Craig R. Davis built on a case proposed sailor at King Alfred’s court.62
by Alexander Murray for a link to the traditions
recorded in the Beowulf poem. Where Murray had
emphasised the possible reception of Scandinavian Material, Monument and Identity
poems detailing Scandinavian ethnogenesis in a The various manifestations of Danish and other
West Saxon court, Davis makes a case for its close Scandinavian identities in ninth- and tenth-century
links to an Alfredian court: Wessex discussed so far show how names and origins
could be moulded to suit circumstances. All the
Through this process of poetic ethnogenesis, even
same, despite its amorphous nature, one can at least
warriors of alien or enemy extraction could be
say that contemporaries used written terminology
adopted into the militarized kindred formed around
the successful war-leader and his family.58 to identify groups associated with Scandinavia,
showing intent to define identity in some way.
The parallels with the inclusivity of an Alfredian The material evidence for the Danes in the region
court of the possible manipulation of ethnic is less apparent. Such evidence, where found, does
identity to suit political purposes are obvious. The not often present a clear indication of a distinctly
Geats and Danes of the world of Beowulf could ‘Danish’ ethnicity or even singular existence. Even
have real political meaning in the world of the in the Danelaw itself the archaeological evidence
West Saxon court. The earliest manuscript of the for the Danes remains relatively elusive.63 As Guy
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, MS A, does not contain an Halsall reminds us, any attempts to identify an
Alfredian version of Bede’s account of the origins innate or primordial factor behind such perceived
of ‘Angles’, ‘Saxons’ and ‘Jutes’ (the passage is a ethnicity may, in reality, be ‘quite a pointless
later addition) but Æthelweard’s version of the task’.64 Therefore, the mutable identity of Danes
Chronicle renders Bede’s Iutae as Giota and the indicated in the documentary records may reflect
the relative success by which the Danes were the archaeological evidence appears to support the
able to integrate themselves into a predominately apparently ‘negative’ picture. For example, evidence
English society. Consequently, ‘Danishness’ in the for Viking presence around Reading, where the
tenth and eleventh centuries may have manifested Viking army based itself in 871,70 is fragmentary,
itself in a variety of contexts, and not particularly with notable exceptions being a coin hoard from
consistently.65 This mutability is further supported St Mary’s churchyard, and the burial of a man
by linguistic studies that emphasise the bilingual accompanied by a horse and a Scandinavian style
nature of society in regions of England in which sword, found in the nineteenth century.71 Such
both Old English and Old Norse were spoken. a poor representation is commensurate with the
Within a wider Anglo-Scandinavian cultural other documented Viking bases in the region at
milieu, any overall distinctions may have operated this time, which, Ben Raffield has noted, are often
at a social and not an individual level.66 Ultimately, subject to archaeological misinterpretation.72
one might therefore expect an archaeology of Danes However, as Dawn Hadley has noted, it
in Wessex to be hard to establish. might actually be in times of direct conflict that
There is some evidence for trade between ‘discernible difference’ could be revealed. In such
communities in the Danelaw and the south. At contexts, enemies, real or otherwise, might be
Shaftesbury, Dorset, the discovery of a hoard dating differentiated from a perceived norm, and ‘seized
from the reign of Æthelred II, in an iron-bound upon and framed in ethnic terms’.73 Episodes of
chest containing around a hundred coins, mostly conflict are well recorded and, as Thomas Williams
minted in Danelaw towns, points toward such trade shows elsewhere in this volume, much was centred
connections.67 If such connections were more than on the Wessex region.74 Despite this, archaeological
sporadic, the artefactual evidence for the presence evidence for conflict in the form of war graves
of Danes in Wessex that they would have entailed is and military paraphernalia is actually relatively
relatively thin on the ground and notable examples, rare. This may be due to the sporadic and fluid
such as the unusual copper-alloy Ringerike- nature of conflict and the relatively few numbers
style knife handle from outside Winchester, are involved at any one time. It is equally possible that
exceptional.68 However, recent research on early the nature of such conflict may have promoted
medieval metalwork has begun to shed some light a heightened sense of ethnic identity within the
on the Danish cultural impact on Wessex and the combatants, particularly among those who may
extent of its diffusion. Excavations at the site of the have determined ‘Otherness’ through a sense of
Old Minster, Winchester, produced some Anglo- ethnic or cultural difference. Consequently, such
Saxon metalwork with Scandinavian influence, violence might have become more personalised
including a strap-end which may have been and enflamed with notions of not only defeating
designed by an Anglo-Saxon craftsman who ‘copied an enemy, but punishing, even publicly executing
directly’ from a Scandinavian brooch. Noting the them. The mass burial site at Ridgeway Hill,
tenth-century Winchester style influence in the Dorset, perhaps the only direct evidence for violent
work, David Wilson termed it ‘an example of conflict in the region, provides a case in point. As
English Jellinge style ornament’.69 Angela Boyle’s contribution to this volume notes,
If clear evidence of ethnic diversity or cultural the excavations revealed the remains of upwards of
affiliations was generally rare, even in areas of fifty decapitated individuals dated to the late tenth
intense Viking activity, one would naturally or early eleventh century. These burials may date
expect the evidence to be virtually non-existent in to the reign of Æthelred and thus might coincide
Wessex, which was, after all, a kingdom that the with the renewal of Viking attacks in Wessex
Vikings were unable to conquer. At first glance prior to Cnut’s accession in 1016. Moreover, these
burials are a rare discovery in that the evidence The Oxford charter of 1004 and its reference to
points to a multiple execution that was conducted the involvement of suburbani in the actions taken
as a single event, perhaps one that included an against the Danes, whether members of a settled
element of display or even public spectacle (Boyle community or locally-stationed mercenaries,
notes that, at the least, one of the first to be suggests that the events of 1002 were less well
executed was evidently witnessed by his peers).75 organised than the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’s account
Insofar as one might expect an execution site to implies.79 In contrast with the Oxford evidence,
represent an accretion of burials from a number of there is good reason for disentangling the Ridgeway
separate occasions, ‘normal’ Anglo-Saxon criminal burials from the events of 13 November 1002.
justice was evidently not being practised but Admittedly, the events of 1002 may have a south-
was subverted, if only in terms of its scale. Such western element, in that the involvement of a
intriguing archaeological evidence may naturally Danish mercenary formerly in Æthelred’s service,
remind us of Æthelred’s infamous directive of 1002 Pallig, in actions around Exeter in 1001 may
which ordered all ‘Danish men [Deniscan men] who have been linked to the king’s response in 1002.80
were among the English race [Angelcynne]’ to be However, the likely sporadicity of mob violence
killed on Brice’s day.76 Though Boyle has doubts associated with the St Brice’s Day Massacre suggests
– a position shared by us – about whether the something less organised than the symbolic and
execution took place as a direct result of that order, public, albeit brutal, execution of a group of
the Ridgeway site may ultimately indicate a period warriors at a site chosen for its evident importance
of alienation and a time where the distinction and in the landscape which the Ridgeway burials seem
ethnic distance between ‘Danish’ and ‘English’ to represent.81
may have been more pronounced. The excavators’ Perhaps reflecting these archaeologically-attested
movement away from associating the Ridgeway expressions of ‘Othering’, in the later tenth and
burials with the St Brice’s Day Massacre seems early eleventh centuries it is not the descendants
sensible, however, given that the notion of a direct of Danish settlers who are referred to as ‘Danes’
link with a specific event is problematic but the in the sources but more commonly it is the recent
archaeological nature of ethnic differentiation may arrivals.82 More specifically, a distinction can perhaps
be made all the more significant by another recent be made between ‘Anglo’-Danes and ‘Scandinavian’
discovery, made in 2008, of skeletons in an early Danes.83 The latter, for example, may have partly
medieval context in Oxford, in the grounds of St comprised recruits from Scandinavian countries
John’s College. Oxford was a city a little beyond the serving in Cnut’s army, among others. In this sense
West Saxon heartlands, for which a contemporary such foreign ‘mercenaries’ may have been viewed
charter records the burning by what appears to have as just that – foreigners who threatened violence
been a mob, of St Frideswide’s church, in which and instability, thereby promoting some reactive
certain ‘Danes’ (Dani) had taken shelter in order to tension. There may have been wider implications
‘escape death’.77 Although there is some debate as for English Anglo-Scandinavian communities,
to whether those killed in Oxford were members of whose perceived ethnic background and affiliation
the local community or were actually outsiders (the might have become more distinctive.
current reading seems to be mercenaries, though It is likely that remnants of Cnut’s army remained
they may just as easily have been a long-distance in England once the throne had been secured. Here
trading community) may indicate that the St Brice’s perhaps a sense of ‘Danishness’ might have been
Day events had tangible effects beside the obvious reinforced in court circles and the presence of a royal
destruction of the church, which can be linked bodyguard in the form of Danish housecarls would
with the materiality of the past.78 have been apparent. Overall, the Danish triumph
would have introduced a significant number of beyond the heartland of Wessex, in Cornwall,
Danes to the political and social elite.84 Direct links where these influences manifested themselves in
with the homelands would have naturally remained stone monuments. Here, both Irish metalwork and
and some material evidence for this can be found. manuscripts may have formed a particular source of
A number of Scandinavian runic inscriptions inspiration.90 In contrast, this is not the case with
commemorate men who served in England and Scandinavian artistic tradition, which appears to
‘some had obviously fought with Knut there’.85 have provided comparatively little stylistic influence
At Galteland, Southern Norway, reconstructions on art forms in Wessex. Moreover, Rosemary
of a memorial stone found in Evje parish revealed Cramp argues that the resurgent use of traditional
a memorial inscription in memory of a warrior Anglo-Saxon animal ornament in the South-West
named Bjórr. Given the stone’s reference to Bjórr’s might have been used in a ‘competitive manner’
death ‘in the retinue [i liði] when Knútr attacked and as a reaction to Scandinavian contact from
England’ and the significance of Wessex to Cnut’s the ninth century.91 The sense of competition was
campaigns, it is not unreasonable to suggest a evidently mutual: as Dawn Hadley observes, in the
direct link with Wessex.86 A more certain link with regions of the Danelaw the consequent advance of
Wessex can be seen on the Swedish Nöbblesholm West Saxon rule may have also made the adoption
rune-stone’s reference to the stone laid in memory of Scandinavian iconography ‘inappropriate or
of a certain Gunnar, who was laid ‘in a stone coffin potentially dangerous’.92
in Bath in England’ by his brother, Helgi.87 Lavelle Where found, Scandinavian influence on Wessex
has noted elsewhere that the stone’s rendering of stone sculpture appears to be largely due to
Bath (Som.) as Bathum (‘Baths’), commensurate cultural diffusion rather than direct influence or
with the Old English plural form of the place- patronage. These stylistic influences may indicate
name, ‘suggests a degree of continuing contact a ‘creeping influence’ of Anglo-Danish artistic
and influence’. Whether or not the burial was survival becoming part of the mason’s general
the culmination of the peaceful death of a settler artistic repertoire by the early eleventh century.93
like Orc of Abbotsbury or had stemmed from the Consequently, evidence for Scandinavian artistic
events associated with a Viking army at Bath in influence on Wessex stone sculpture may be
1013 is open to question,88 but the brother’s act of subtle and a component of regional and wider
burial may provide a glimpse of the importance of English styles. However, architectural details which
maintaining horizontal connections, which could may bear some comparison with Scandinavian-
have distinguished a Scandinavian elite from the influenced work may be seen in the churches of St
rest of the population, in a manner discussed below. Mary the Virgin, Hardington Mandeville (Som.)
It is perhaps through the enduring medium of and St Andrew’s, Yetminster (Dors.). The latter
stone sculpture, a medium that Anglo-Scandinavians comprises a set of figural sculptures on a capital that
had become intimately familiar with over two have some similarities to Northumbrian Viking Age
centuries, that a context may be sought in which to sculptures.94 At St Sampson’s, Cricklade (Wilts.), part
further question Anglo-Danish interaction.89 These of a coped grave cover, now in the north wall of the
stones, often crafted or inscribed as memorials, porch, has terminals and a strange branching pattern
have been a particularly rich source of information on its gable ‘reminiscent of Anglo-Scandinavian art
about Viking Age England and, as we might in the north west’.95 At Copplestone, Devon, the
expect, are particularly prevalent in the Danelaw. depiction of horsemen on the cross shaft may also
Unsurprisingly, they are relatively rare in the Wessex have some Scandinavian influence.96 However,
region. However, more widely, influences on the doubts about the provenance of influence make it
South-West’s artistic tradition might be found difficult to draw firm conclusions. What was once
thought to have been a ‘quasi-Jellinge’ decoration unsurprisingly, little archaeological evidence for
of ribbon-like bodies surrounded by interlace on this important event,101 an intriguing group of
fragments of stone at Colerne (Wilts.) is now finds from just outside the city, at Stanmore, might
generally thought to be pre-Viking (or at least pre- suggest a residual Viking presence in the area. A
Viking settlement) in date and influence.97 Such a parcel of four Anglo-Saxon pennies, recovered by
case illustrates the problems in attributing solely a metal detectorist on two separate occasions, may
Scandinavian influence to styles that ultimately be related to a mortuary deposit, and it is suggested
draw, as art naturally does, from a range of styles. that it is an example of the Scandinavian custom
As Cottrill noted in 1935, while attributing the of placing coins with the dead.102 The dates of the
influence on the Colerne fragments to eighth- coins suggest a deposition sometime in the 860s
century Insular art and effectively removing Colerne and may indicate some continuing Scandinavian
from the corpus of Anglo-Scandinavian art, ‘the influence in or around the city. However, it is
Jellinge style itself was derived from Irish art.’98 only for a later period that clearer evidence for
Much work has, of course, been undertaken since a Scandinavian, primarily ‘Danish’, presence can
on the influences on Viking Age art in Scandinavia be found.
but Cottrill showed that the simple attribution of Commenting on the Danelaw, Hadley has
artistic influences can rarely be made in a single observed that ‘visible expressions’ of ‘Danishness’
direction. A similar case of ambiguity – perhaps were perhaps determined not so much by the
stemming from the Anglo-Scandinavian interests of scale of settlement ‘as by the political and cultural
the original investigator, W. G. Collingwood – can manipulation of “Danishness” by the elites’.103 It
be seen in a cross-shaft found in a garden in Prior’s may therefore be significant that is only when we
Barton, Winchester, for which Collingwood noted come to the eleventh century, a period of Danish
‘Danish’ and ‘Anglian’ influences, attributing it to kingship, that we begin to see the emergence of
the eleventh century, ‘when the Danish element a distinctive Anglo-Danish identity, yet one that
was strong throughout England’.99 It should be said may only represent a small, but influential pocket
that Collingwood himself was circumspect about based around the royal administrative centre of
the ambiguities of influence but it is testament to Winchester. Kingship was largely itinerant in the
the ways in which interpretations can change with early medieval period, and notions of ‘capital’
the finding of new material that the Prior’s Barton cities and power centres are perhaps anachronistic.
cross-shaft is now linked – as far as possible – with Cnut, for example, is recorded as being involved
the ‘Anglo-Saxon’ cultural milieu of ninth-century in legal and political activities in London and
Winchester and its environs.100 In this light, Canterbury, and certainly London by this period
although Winchester, with its political credentials was emerging as a powerful economic centre.104
for the West Saxon dynasty and its foundations Nonetheless, Winchester’s likely primacy is not
for West Saxon Christianity established since the to be underestimated. Matthew Townend has
seventh century, seems as far from ‘Anglo-Danish argued that England was central to Cnut’s vision
England’ that it was then possible to be, a closer of an Anglo-Danish empire and that Winchester,
scrutiny of archaeological evidence from the city ceremonial seat of Anglo-Saxon kings, was the
from the ninth century onward is revealing. primary focus of his court.105
Major excavations conducted in the City
between 1961 and 1971 investigated 11,612 m2 of
Winchester and the Danes the urban settlement within the medieval walls. Yet
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that Vikings the vast majority of the finds from the period were
attacked Winchester in 860. While there is, perhaps diagnostically Anglo-Saxon.106 Consequently, it was
clear to one of the excavators that Winchester’s politics is, in itself, revealing of the impact of the
material culture was that of an ‘Anglo-Saxon city’, early eleventh-century city.
in contrast to York and Dublin.107 In this sense, If Winchester’s churches are considered as
Winchester might conform to the overall picture Christian institutions bowing to Scandinavian
of the elusiveness or mutability of the material conqueror(s), there was precedent in the tenth-
evidence for the Danes in Wessex. However, Yorke century Danelaw, where, as Hadley observes,
notes that the relatively small number of finds that ecclesiastics saw the value of alliance with ‘whoever
betray some Scandinavian influence, such as bone was ruling locally’. The importance of the church
combs, spoons and stone sculptural fragments, as a mechanism for secular authority cannot be
may point to a ‘small number of immigrants at the understated. In a period of political instability, the
higher end of society’.108 Other such rare examples, church offered both a stable, universal context, and
such as the fragments of a sword and horse a ‘model for kingship and the exercise of power’
equipment excavated from a robber trench at Old and a ‘legitimization of power’.114 To such ends
Minster, contrast with other personal artefacts from in eleventh-century Wessex, Cnut was a generous
Winchester, both in ornamentation and in their patron. The greater churches at Winchester would
use of precious metals.109 The influence of a Danish have also provided an important context for the
elite in Winchester may not have been limited to legitimization of the new Danish royal dynasty,
fine metalwork. The so-called ‘North-Sea’ group of particularly through ceremony and memorial
single-sided composite bone combs found in the practices and associated architectural contexts.
city may be attributed directly to Danish influence, Cnut in particular was a great benefactor to the
unlike in Normandy, for example, where the style Minsters and the bishopric was second only in
and form of comparative examples remain firmly wealth and prestige to Canterbury at this time.115
in the Frankish tradition.110 The important excavations at Winchester’s Old
Clearly Winchester was of some political Minster conducted during the 1960s are therefore
importance since both the royal palace and the unique in offering an insight into the interaction
treasury was there, and both the important churches between Danish secular and ecclesiastical power.
of Old and New Minsters offered a ceremonial In this volume, Martin Biddle and Birthe Kjølbye-
context for royal power and dynastic memorial. Biddle explore the possibility that the east-end of
The strategic and perhaps symbolic importance the tenth-century Old Minster may have been
of Winchester in the plans of the Danish kings planned as a dynastic mausoleum for Danish
may be revealed by the stationing of housecarls royalty. An intriguing collection of mortuary
in the city by Harthacnut (1040–2), perhaps sculpture from the Winchester excavations points
associated with defence of his claim to the throne.111 to the emergence of a distinctive Anglo-Danish
Similarly indicative of the city’s importance is Snorri elite centred on the nascent royal court.
Sturlusson’s record in his Heimskringla, that all three The excavations revealed that by 1000,
Danish kings, Cnut, Harold I ‘Harefoot’ (1035/7– Winchester’s Old Minster was a vast and richly
40), and Harthacnut, were buried in Winchester.112 decorated church. It was over 76 m in length and
Although such a late tradition as that of Snorri decorated with wall paintings, moulded stonework,
is not without its problems as direct historical architectural sculpture and coloured and probably
reportage (not least as there are contemporary painted window glass.116 One hundred and six
traditions for the ill-treatment of Harold’s corpse architectural fragments were recovered from the
by his half-brother113), the very fact that in an early Cathedral Green site with nearly 90 per cent from
thirteenth-century Scandinavian context, Snorri demolition deposits or later layers from the Old
wrote of Winchester’s place in Anglo-Scandinavian and New Minsters.117 One of the most important
stones was a fragment of architectural frieze that of scene division and there are similarities in figure
forms the context for Martin Biddle and Birthe shape, hairstyle and dress that may suggest a similar
Kjølbye-Biddle’s discussion presented below. The cultural milieu. This has raised some possibilities
fragment featured a carved pictorial sculpture that both the frieze and the Tapestry certainly
that may have once formed a component of a ‘emerged from a wider and older tradition of
larger narrative frieze featuring the mythical story narrative art displayed in a variety of media’.126 In
of Sigmund. It is possible that the frieze once this sense, their propagandist function may have
decorated the east end of the church and provided also been of a similar nature, an interpretation
an architectural statement and may also have been that may also be supported by the evidence for
used to demonstrate Cnut’s claim to the English Winchester being an emerging centre for the
throne, although Yorke has reservations regarding creation and patronage of Norse Skaldic poetry
its original Old Minster provenance.118 The frieze at this time.127
itself probably represents an element of a now lost The archaeological context of the fragment
but much more substantial piece. Consequently, provided a terminus ante-quem of 1093–4 and
the meaning of this fragment, its date and its dates it to after c.980, when the east end of the
subject matter have been the subject of some Old Minster was started.128 The provenance of the
debate.119 David Wilson, for example, argues that frieze is therefore commensurate with the period of
the fragment was perhaps unfinished since no Danish rule. It is also possible Danish royal burials
traces of paint could be found on it.120 However, as lay at the east end of the church, where excavations
Biddle notes, there is very little evidence otherwise in the 1960s revealed an apsidal chapel and series of
for the use of paint in sculptural contexts at the graves.129 The excavations also revealed a number of
Old Minster.121 graves at the east of the Old Minster. One such grave
Biddle puts forward the idea that the scene is was identified as a ‘Hogback’ monument (Figure
drawn from the Scandinavian Volsunga Saga. Here 2.1).130 These distinctive monuments, often found
he discusses an intriguing link between Danish in the context of cemeteries, have been claimed to
royalty and Winchester and the possibility that have served as Viking ‘colonial monuments’.131 All
the narrative frieze deliberately recorded the shared but three, of over a hundred examples, are found
ancestry of the English and Danish royal houses. in the Danelaw (the other two being in Cornwall).
The story of Sigmund may have been a significant On closer examination it might be argued that the
element in the tradition common to the royal Winchester example is less sophisticated and plainer
houses of Denmark and Wessex122 and the marriage than the majority of its counterparts, many of
of Emma and Cnut, possibly in the Old Minster which are heavily stylized. Its shape, however, does
in 1017, may have provided a specific ceremonial bear some comparison and may have represented
and public context, a connection discussed in this a relatively later Anglo-Danish variation on an
volume by Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle.123 Certainly original Anglo-Scandinavian theme. Comparisons
Norse literary tradition was highly prized by Cnut’s have been made with Danish examples from
court124 and the function of the frieze may have Løvenholm and Djursland, Jutland.132 The grave
been as an effective canvas for political propaganda itself contained a man in his early twenties buried
as well as ratifying the fledgling Danish dynasty. in a wooden coffin head resting on a pillow of flint
Inevitably, in terms of both function and and limestone and accompanied by a single Roman
architectural setting, similarities between the coin.133 Such a grave good, with undoubtedly
frieze and the Bayeux Tapestry, likely to have been symbolic connotations, can be found in other burial
created some sixty years or so later, have been contexts of comparative date, excavated elsewhere in
highlighted.125 Both appear to use a similar method the city, at Staple Gardens, where six graves dating
Figure 2.1. Grave Slab (CG WS 104.2) and marker (CG WS 104.1) over the grave of Gunni, as found during
the Old Minster excavations, looking north-east. (Photograph by J. W. Hopkins III, © Winchester Excavations
Committee)
from around the tenth century contained Roman influences on the inscription, Matthew Townend
coins that appeared to have been deliberately notes the Anglicization of the Latin hic iacet in the
placed within the graves.134 (However, despite the otherwise unique inscription her lið, linking it with
presence of a number of charcoal burials, a more ‘a Latinate, ecclesiastical air through the influence
general lack of known grave markers may mean of its three royal minsters’,138 but fellow, feolaga,
that parallels cannot be drawn too far.)135 The Old is an Anglicization of the Old Norse félagi that
Minster grave was accompanied by a freestanding appears in a small number of Norse rune stones
grave marker, which, like the monument, was of with meanings such as ‘partner’, ‘comrade’ or
Bembridge Limestone and featured a relief of a right ‘comrade-in-arms’.139 The use of loan words is not in
hand holding a cross.136 Here, the subject material itself particularly uncommon – Townend notes the
and the positional relationship between the held use of Norse loan words in documents from Cnut’s
cross and the grave is intriguing as it appears to court.140 Equally, the use of Old English inscription
make direct pictorial reference to the deceased’s on Scandinavian sculpture is not unusual. In the
Christianity. A statement of obvious intent and Danelaw, the inscriptional stones at Aldbrough and
meaning may further suggest a recent conversion, Kirkdale churches in Yorkshire, for example, are
and one that may have been both religiously and written mainly in later Old English whilst using
politically expedient. loan words from Old Norse.141 However, the word
The monument itself was inscribed in Old feolaga warrants comment, as it is comparatively
English, reading ‘HER LIĐ G[VN]N[I] : EORLES rare in an Old English context, occurring in the
FEOLAGA’ – ‘here lies Gunni, Eorl’s [or the earl’s] mid-eleventh century will of a certain Thurstan,
fellow’.137 Commenting on the Norse and Latin son of Wine, and in the account of the agreement
made between Edmund Ironside and Cnut at which were becoming more prevalent during the
Olney-by-Deerhurst (Gloucs.) in 1016.142 Both of tenth and eleventh centuries, as new settlements
these occasions indicate relationships which, like and communities were established particularly –
the Old Norse félagi, were outside the kindred,143 though not only – in Danelaw towns.148 In one of
but it may be added that they had some religious her contributions to this volume, Ann Williams
significance. The will, recording an East Anglian highlights the wide-ranging significance of guilds
agreement and showing a community with a fair as religious and social institutions.149 Abbotsbury,
smattering of Scandinavian names, indicates a post- Dorset, a ‘place in the country’ addressed by
obit agreement that allowed for provision for the Williams, was home to one of the pre-Conquest
remaining member of the ‘fellowship’ (felageschipe) guilds. Although Abbotsbury was hardly urban and
between Thurstan and his ‘fellow’, Ulfketel.144 indeed may illustrate the commonness of guild
For Edmund Ironside and Cnut, recorded in a relationships outside towns proposed by Williams
version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with links to (though Abbotsbury’s burh place-name element
Worcester and York, the fellowship was intended may not have been inconsequential), the guild’s
to mean something quite specific to the Chronicle’s link with the eleventh-century Danish settlement
audience (despite the scepticism of later historians there is nonetheless apparent.
about how long it was to last before Edmund’s In the early twelfth century, making reference
death).145 This was fellowship, in its borrowing from to pre-Conquest records, the scribe of the Winton
an Old Norse notion of parity, then; arguably this Domesday recorded the chenictehalla (i.e. the ‘hall
may have been a paradigm that, if it was not in of the cnichtas’), a place ‘where the cnihtas used to
opposition to the notion of Anglo-Saxon lordship, drink their guild’ (ubi chenictes potabant gildam
served to emphasise horizontal social links in a suam) at the time of Edward the Confessor (1042–
manner that did not undermine the notion of 66).150 Even if Gunni and his ‘fellow’, Eorl, had not
royal service, just as friendship, freond-scipe, did drunk at that particular hall or indeed, if the church
not undermine the authority and duty of lordship, associated with the property in the survey had
hlaford-scipe. It may show that the Eorl named on not been there before 1066, we should note that
the memorial inscription was not an earl but rather the concept of Danish hus-karl and Old English
that Eorl was used as a personal name.146 cniht were once more not particularly far removed
Such indications of horizontal allegiance by that time. They were at least representatives
seem to have manifested themselves in a of a social class associated with the city in the
commemorative context (although not necessarily eleventh century, where such socially-differentiated
the commemoration of death). The Aldbrough behaviour was expected.151
inscription, associated with a sundial, though not We have ventured far from five words on a
using a term relating to ‘fellowship’, commemorates grave inscription but if the discussion is necessarily
a link that did not have to be a family link (the speculative it is at least only careful speculation
inscription records that ‘Ulf had this church built based on a reasonable balance of probability. To
for his own sake and for Gunnvor’s soul’).147 In rural return to the grave marker itself, it is also possible
areas such expressions of solidarity were perhaps that, like the strap-end noted above, this may be
displayed at churches over which one or other party evidence of an English craftsman working to a
had some proprietary influence as well as, of course, Danish design. Such examples may point to both
enacted through prayer. In towns, while we have a cultural mutability that may have perhaps been
seen that Gunni’s grave cover was an expression of viewed as entirely normal. The Scandinavian origin
such solidarity in an urban ecclesiastical context, of the name and wording of the inscription may
such relationships might also be linked to guilds, suggest the burial was of one of the Anglo-Danish
Figure 2.2. Photograph and drawing of fragment with runic inscription of the word ‘Huskarl’, re-used in the
tower of St Maurice’s, Winchester (H: c.92 mm, W: c.177 mm, L: c.185 mm, Diam. of curve: c.430 mm).
(Courtesy of Winchester Excavations Committee and Winchester City Council)
elite, possibly even one of Cnut’s own men.152 part of a recumbent mortuary stone and must have
The location of the grave at the east end of the originally come from either the New Minster or,
Old Minster would by itself suggest a person of more likely, the Old Minster cemetery. The piece
some importance and influence. The style of the has the remains of a sequence of Scandinavian runes
grave, its inscription and location suggest that the that may have once run up the opposite edges of
individual was someone of influence attached to the slab.154 The formal arrangement of the lines
the royal court and perhaps the body of the king and therefore the text has suggested that it was
more specifically. This raises the possibility that memorial stone.155 The fragment also had clear
the burial is of a housecarl, a member of the king’s traces of red paint remaining that indicated that
personal bodyguard. Certainly, as we have seen, the stone was not long exposed to the elements.
the documented presence of housecarls has already It has been suggested that that the inscription
been noted in Winchester. was in Old Norse and dated to c.1016×42.156
To support this interpretation we can examine The inscription itself may refer to one or possibly
another mortuary stone from Winchester, this two personal names. More significantly, another
time found in 1970 in the core of the east wall of possible interpretation drawn from the inscription
the tower of St Maurice’s church, which lay just is the word huskarl.157 This may further support the
to the north of the New Minster and would have presence of the king’s retinue in Winchester. What
been on the edge of the royal and ecclesiastical is also interesting is that the only clear survivals of
complex.153 This limestone fragment (Figure 2.2), Scandinavian mortuary architecture in the region
which, like the above example, may have been may be directly related to the royal court. Although
originally recycled from a Roman context, was one the presence of housecarls is recorded elsewhere in
Wessex,158 housecarls based in Winchester may have not the norm. Moreover, as we have seen, such
been specifically attached to the royal court. This evidence was largely limited to the royal and
may account for why Winchester, perhaps more religious quadrant of the city, and not the city
so than anywhere else in Wessex, had a clearer as a whole. The political, religious, historical and
and more deliberate Danish identity, albeit one symbolic importance of Winchester to the Danes,
that was localised and perhaps confined to the and the city’s intimate contact with the royal
royal court and the physical precinct of palace and court and retinue, meant that it was here that
minster. Here, ‘Danishness’ was perhaps invoked evidence for a Danish identity is likely to have
and promoted as a badge of honour linked to been particularly apparent – at least for the course
military prowess, tradition and lineage. However, of a generation prior to the reign of Edward the
the emphasis of the the St Maurice stone contrasts Confessor. In Winchester, for a time, conceptions
with the Old Minster Gunni stone. The latter is of Danishness were not only physically present
Old English and very much integrated within a through Danes serving in the royal circles (perhaps
Latin tradition, whereas the St Maurice fragment’s including four benefactors of the New Minster,
use of a runic inscription is, in some sense, more each labelled as Danus in the Liber Vitae)161 but
confrontational. Such instances may inevitably also, to an extent, promoted and manipulated
reveal the influence of agency behind such in specific forms of artistic and architectural
memorials and that conceptions of Danishness expression. This does not appear to be the case
were negotiated on an individual, rather than more generally in Wessex, where the situation
societal, level. is more complex and where notions of identity
As both Kjølbye-Biddle and Townend have were perhaps shaped by heterogeneity, just as
previously noted, what these signs of Scandinavian elsewhere in early medieval England. But Danish
culture in Winchester have in common is a ‘high assertions of identity at particular times and places
or aristocratic status’.159 Moreover, the monumental could still be a powerful dynamic. Such assertions
character of the memorial sculptures and their might have been particularly acute in Winchester,
wider architectural context evidence implies in the political and cultural heart of the English
broader dynastic pretensions and a possible desire kingdom, where evidence might suggest that the
for political stability and longevity. Although city was afforded a special place in the aspirations
eleventh-century Winchester’s comparison with of the Danish kings, particularly Cnut. Here, royal
Lincoln as a pocket of demonstrable Danish tradition, myth and civic symbolism may have been
power and influence in an otherwise ‘Anglo-Saxon’ highly attractive to the Danish kings in a period of
cultural landscape is no longer tenable due to the political instability. The royal court and particularly
amount of metalwork found in Lincoln’s hinterland the religious institutions at Winchester offered an
in recent years, it is nonetheless worth commenting important context for a more acute sense, and overt
on the expression of elite identity there. In Lincoln, display, of Danish identity that was ultimately
tenth- and eleventh-century stone Scandinavian- linked to royal and dynastic aspirations.
style decorated grave covers can be found at St Winchester’s preferential treatment over London
Mark’s church, Wigford, in the lower city. These is logical, despite the fact that London was already
are believed to have been copied, produced or larger and wealthier than Winchester by the end
transported from York, and suggest the presence of the tenth century, and was already beginning to
of a Scandinavian elite in Lincoln who may have take on the role of ‘economic capital’.162 London
had affiliations with York.160 may have had strong anti-Danish sentiments
Despite the intriguing evidence from Winchester, following a siege in the last years of Æthelred’s reign
it is clear that this evidence is the exception and and Londoners had chosen Edmund Ironside over
of security and credibility. Furthermore, Cnut’s
enemies were not necessarily confined to British
or even Scandinavian shores. Winchester may have
provided a suitable place – arguably more suitable
than London – to reinforce his power in the south
and to safeguard the southern shore against an
external threat from Normandy which had begun
a political shift away from Danish allegiances since
a treaty was made with King Æthelred in 991.
Norman opposition to an Anglo-Danish kingdom
began to manifest itself in 1013, when Duke
Richard II of Normandy (996–1026) provided
support and shelter for the exiled West Saxon
royal family following the conquest of the English
kingdom by Swein Forkbeard.165 Although Norman
military intervention is better known following the
death of Cnut in 1035, in support of the visit by
the æthelings Edward and Alfred (resulting in the
death of Alfred), there is a case to be made for an
abortive Norman invasion in or around 1033. The
fact that during Cnut’s reign the exiled Edward
referred to himself in distinctly royal terms while
in Normandy, endowing the coastal monastery
of Mont St-Michel with English lands (perhaps
while present at a council at Fécamp associated
with a Norman invasion fleet),166 may have been
justification enough for a policy under Cnut which
was focused on the south coast of England.167
All the same, although conveniently situated,
Winchester was not on the south coast itself, and
purely strategic considerations cannot have been
Figure 2.3. Queen Emma and King Cnut presenting the sole determining factor in Cnut’s policies in
a gold cross, in the early eleventh-century Liber Vitae Wessex, not least as Anglo-Norman relations were
of New Minster, Winchester (BL MS Stowe 944, fol. not always characterised by hostility during Cnut’s
6r). (© British Library Board. All Rights Reserved) reign.168 Perhaps more significantly, Winchester
offered a potent symbol as well as a ceremonial
tradition to the king. In many ways the city
Cnut in 1016.163 As David Hill notes, the ‘efforts represented the physical embodiment of kingship
to embellish Winchester as “capital”’ may have expressed in particular through its architecture,
been associated with a ‘punishment’ of London.164 the royal palace and the Old and New Minsters. A
Winchester may have been particularly well placed sense of place resonated with the history of the later
to consolidate the south. The city was the ancient Anglo-Saxon kings, including Alfred, upon whom
residence of his Anglo-Saxon predecessors and Cnut may have modelled himself. Winchester also
it may have lent Cnut’s kingship a certain level offered a context for Cnut’s dynastic pretensions
and the Old Minster offered a fitting context for a gradually gained (or in London’s case, re-gained)
royal mausoleum. Cnut was a keen patron of the political gravity in the years after 1042. This was
Winchester Minsters and he may have wished to not, of course, a zero-sum game: just as the political
forge a more personal link to them through well- community of London and the Danish newcomer
directed gifts and bequests. This is demonstrated needed each other after Cnut’s takeover in 1016,
by the celebrated depiction in the New Minster’s Winchester remained important as a West Saxon
Liber Vitae, of Cnut and Emma presenting a cross political centre for some years after 1042. However,
to the church (or rather, to Christ Himself ).169 it is worth considering, even if briefly, whether the
In this, a hovering angel is shown placing the interests of Godwine family in the city after 1042
crown on the king’s head while pointing upwards may have been a result of the continuing impetus
to Christ – perhaps ratifying Cnut’s divine right of an Anglo-Danish political culture in England or
to rule.170 The king was also responsible for the indeed a cause of it.175 Given Edward’s relationship
Old Minster receiving a shrine for the relics of St with the Anglo-Danish dynasty, and the Godwine
Birinus, apostle of Wessex.171 It is possible that the family in particular, this could hardly have been an
motive behind this was to be seen to both adopt ideal state of affairs.
and promote an important Wessex saint, who was Thus, conceptions of ‘Danishness’ may have
believed to have played a role in the historical manifested at particular points in time and/or
foundation of the Old Minster in the mid-seventh place where a cultural distinctiveness was useful in
century.172 As M. K. Lawson has noted, Cnut was the negotiation of power structures and within the
also keen to appoint a royal priest to the see of mechanisms of dynastic aspiration. Furthermore,
Winchester, a certain Ælfwine, in 1032. Although it has been argued above that both Winchester,
the appointment of royal priests to bishoprics also with its Anglo-Saxon royal connections and
extended to Canterbury, Wells, and probably, symbolic potency, and the cultural traditions and
London,173 it is not unlikely that in Winchester, aspirations of the new royal court were equally
Ælfwine’s background as a royal supporter played important to the Danish kings and perhaps crucial
a role in an expectation that he would bolster and in forming a socio-political mould for national or
ratify royal ceremonial as well as oversee a potential even international pretension. Overall, however,
dynastic mausoleum. the recognition of continuing Danish influence
and accommodation help to show that notions
of identity in what was the political and cultural
Conclusions heart of the English kingdom were shaped by
It is not the object of this chapter to attempt heterogeneity, just as elsewhere in early medieval
to make Wessex, even Winchester, appear more England. Ultimately, the integration of Danish
‘Danish’; such interpretations of ‘Danish’ England identities in Wessex in the ninth century and in
have been shown to be problematic even for the the emerging Angelcynn in the tenth century meant
‘Danelaw’ regions. However, Danish identity might that it was perhaps a natural development for them
have been more visible at particular times and could to be employed and perhaps repackaged in the
be a powerful dynamic. Although Winchester eleventh century.
hardly became a political and cultural backwater
Notes
in the years after the death of King Harthacnut, 1. We gratefully acknowledge Barbara Yorke for
as Edward the Confessor used the Old Minster as reading an earlier version of this paper, as well
the site of his coronation in 1043 and maintained as David Bates, Alban Gautier and Elton O. S.
links with the New Minster during his reign,174 Medeiros for discussion on particular points of
it is interesting that Westminster and London detail.
2. Bede, HE I.15 and, for the Gewissae, III.7. 956–83, ASE 10 (1982), pp. 143–71; for the
3. Bede, HE I.15 for the ‘natio iutarum’, which by holdings of the Godwine family, see R. Fleming,
Bede’s day probably included the ‘province of the Kings and Lords in Conquest England (Cambridge,
Meonwara’ (Meanuarorum prouinciam), recorded 1991), pp. 53–103.
in Bede, HE IV.13. See B. Yorke, ‘The Jutes of 8. The mention of ‘West Saxons’ in the Ordinance
Hampshire and Wight and the Origins of Wessex’, of the Dunsæte should be noted here, as a lawcode
in The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, ed. S. relating to the borders of Wales which may date
Bassett (London, 1989), pp. 84–96, and her ‘The from West Saxon interests beyond Wessex in the
Meonware: “The People of Meon”’ in The Evolution early tenth century (for which see by M. Fordham,
of the Hampshire Landscape: the Meon Valley, ed. M. ‘Peacekeeping and Order on the Anglo-Welsh
Hughes, Hampshire County Council Archaeology Frontier in the Early Tenth Century’, Midland
Report 1 (Winchester, 1994), pp. 13–14. History 32 (2007), pp. 1–18) or, in an argument
4. On the early extension of influence in southern proposed by Alex Woolf, ‘“Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and
England, see B. Yorke, Wessex in the Early Middle Celtic”: The Ordinance Concerning the Dunsaete’,
Ages (London, 1995), pp. 57–84. For an assessment delivered at the International Medieval Congress,
of the ninth-century hegemony recorded in ASC University of Leeds, 16 July 2009, the interests
829 and its limits, see H. Edwards, ‘Ecgberht (d. of the earldom of Wessex in south Wales in the
839)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography eleventh century. Dunsæte is published in Die Gesetze
(Oxford, 2004) <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/ der Angelsachsen, ed. F. Liebermann (Halle, 3 vols,
article/8581> (accessed 9 June 2013). 1903–16), Vol. 1, pp. 374–79; trans., with facsimile,
5. See, e.g., A. Reynolds and A. Langlands, ‘Social in F. Noble, Offa’s Dyke Reviewed, ed. M. Gelling,
Identities on the Macro Scale: A Maximum View BAR British Ser. 114 (Oxford, 1983), pp. 104–109.
of Wansdyke’, in People and Space in the Middle 9. WM, De ant. Glas., ch. 67, pp. 138–39. The fact
Ages, 300–1300, ed. W. Davies, G. Halsall and A. that he is remembered for sending four copes to the
Reynolds (Turnhout, 2006), pp. 13–44. The notion community suggests that his link was not forgotten,
of a Danish adventus is indicated in a number of though not all of the bishops he is listed with are
twelfth-century texts, such as WM, GRA, 120.1, from the reign of Edgar (Scott, Early History, pp.
pp. 180–1, an issue discussed in R. Lavelle, ‘Sous 206–7, n. 35), and, as the spellings of the names
la lumière d’Alfred le Grand ou dans l’obscurité differ considerably, it is unlikely that the ‘sepulcra
des Vikings? Quelques problèmes et possibilités Seifridi [inter al.] episcoporum’ linked to a number
dans la périodisation de l’histoire anglaise ‘pre- of grants of land and money (ch. 31, pp. 84–85) is
Conquest’’, in Les périodisations de l’histoire des a reference to the same bishop.
mondes britanniques: Relectures critiques, ed. J.-F. 10. Byrhtferth of Ramsey, Vita S. Oswaldi, i.4, in
Dunyach and A. Mairey (Rennes, 2015), pp. 33–53. Byrhtferth of Ramsey, the Lives of St Oswald and
6. For ‘English’ identities, see P. Wormald, ‘Engla Lond: St Ecgwine, ed. and trans. M. Lapidge (Oxford,
The Making of an Allegiance’, Journal of Historical 2009), pp. 16–17. For discussion of Oda’s career,
Sociology 7 (1994), pp. 1–24, and S. Foot, ‘The see C. Cubitt and M. Costambeys, ‘Oda (d.
Making of Angelcynn: English Identity before the 958)’, in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Norman Conquest’, TRHS 6th Ser. 6 (1996), pp. (Oxford, 2004) <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/
25–49; for the limits of ‘national’ identities, cf. M. article/20541> (accessed 27 Aug. 2013).
Innes, ‘Danelaw Identities: Ethnicity, Regionalism 11. For East Anglian ‘Danish’ and ‘English’ identities,
and Political Allegiance’, in Cultures in Contact: see S. J. Harris, Race and Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon
Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth Literature (New York, 2003), pp. 114–15, and M.
and Tenth Centuries, ed. D. M. Hadley and J. D. A. L. Locherbie-Cameron, ‘The Men Named in the
Richards (Turnhout, 2000), pp. 65–88. Poem’, in The Battle of Maldon ad 991, ed. D. Scragg
7. On the holdings of East Anglian and Mercian (Oxford, 1991), pp. 238–49.
ealdormen, which contain discussions of the West 12. Asser, ch. 94, p. 81, trans. S. D. Keynes and Michael
Saxon landholdings, the classic studies remain Lapidge, Alfred the Great: Asser’s Life of King Alfred
C. Hart, ‘Athelstan “Half King” and his family’, and Other Contemporary Sources (Harmondsworth,
ASE 2 (1973), pp. 115–14, and A. Williams, 1983), p. 103, and discussed by Stevenson in
‘Princeps Merciorum Gentis: The Family, Career his edition, pp. 334–35 (though cf. Keynes and
and Connections of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia, Lapidge, p. 272, n. 233, for the comment that
Stevenson’s suggestion is ‘unprovable’). We are much to aspiration as to reality. Further doubts are
grateful to Barbara Yorke for drawing our attention expressed by K. Holman, ‘Defining the Danelaw’,
to this tentative possibility. in Vikings and the Danelaw: Select Papers from the
13. On this issue see A. Woolf, ‘Community, Identity Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York,
and Kingship in Early England’, in Social Identity 21–30 August 1997, ed. J. Graham-Campbell, R.
in Early Britain, ed. W. O. Frazer and A. Tyrell Hall, J. Jesch and D. N. Parsons (Oxford, 2001),
(London, 2000), pp. 91–109. pp. 1–11, at p. 5. For an exposition of the shaping
14. A. Boyle, ‘Death on the Dorset Ridgeway: the of the ‘Danelaw’ by legal boundaries in the ninth
Discovery and Excavation of an Early Medieval Mass century, see P. Kershaw, ‘The Alfred–Guthrum
Burial’, below, pp. 109–21. The burials are discussed Treaty: Scripting Accommodation and Interaction
in this chapter, pp. 14–15, and by Lavelle in ‘Law, in Viking-Age England’, in Cultures in Contact, ed.
Death and Peacemaking in the “Second Viking Hadley and Richards, pp. 43–64. For the flexibility
Age”: an Ealdorman, his King, and Some “Danes” and inclusivity inherent to the shaping of identities
in Wessex’, below, pp. 131–34. in the tenth century and beyond, see D. M. Hadley,
15. O.S. SY 672 859, about 2 km (1.2 miles) to the ‘Ethnicity and Acculturation’, in A Social History of
east of the boundary between the royal hundred of England, 900–1200, ed. J. Crick and E. van Houts
Cullifordtree and the hundred of ‘Uggescombe’, in (Cambridge, 2011), pp. 235–46.
the map accompanying The Dorset Domesday, ed. A. 18. ASC 867–887. See R. Abels, ‘Alfred the Great,
Williams and G. H. Martin (London, 1991). For the Micel Hæðen Here and the Viking Threat’, in
the legal significance of such burials (though for Alfred the Great: Papers from the Eleventh-Centenary
understandable reasons, neither author comments Conferences, ed. T. Reuter (Aldershot, 2003), pp.
on the Ridgeway burials), see A. J. Reynolds, Anglo- 265–79.
Saxon Deviant Burial Customs (Oxford, 2009), and 19. For this issue, see B. Yorke, ‘Fact or Fiction? The
N. Marafioti, ‘Punishing Bodies and Saving Souls: Written Evidence for the Fifth and Sixth Centuries
Capital and Corporal Punishment in Anglo-Saxon AD’, ASSAH 6 (1993), pp. 45–50. It should be
England’, Haskins Society Journal 20 (2009 for noted that the term ‘ethnogensis’ is used here more
2008), pp. 39–57. loosely, to refer to the creation of the identity of a
16. Although Sir Frank Stenton’s notion of Alfred’s gens rather than the rigid model of development
claims to authority over all Englishmen, in Anglo- read by Charles R. Bowlus, in ‘Ethnogenesis: the
Saxon England (Oxford, 1943; 3rd edn, 1971), Tyranny of a Construct’, in On Barbarian Identity:
pp. 261–62, has been roundly dismissed by David Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle
Dumville (‘The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum’, Ages, ed. A. Gillett (Turnhout, 2002), pp. 241–56.
in his Wessex and England from Alfred to Edgar 20. F. M. Stenton, The Danes in England, Raleigh
(Woodbridge, 1992), pp. 1–27, at p. 23), even Lecture on British History (London, 1927), repr.
Dumville’s ‘practical’ attribution of the treaty in Preparatory to Anglo-Saxon England: Being the
conditions to border areas is an indication of Collected Papers of Frank Merry Stenton, ed. D. M.
interests of defining people beyond strict territorial Stenton (Oxford, 1970), pp. 136–65; Anglo-Saxon
limits. For the ‘forward’-looking nature of the England, pp. 509–13. Holman, ‘Defining the
treaty, see discussion in P. Wormald, The Making Danelaw’, pp. 5–8; see also D. M. Hadley, The
of English Law: King Alfred to the Twelfth Century, Northern Danelaw: Its Social Structure, c.800–1100
Volume 1: Legislation and its Limits (Oxford, 1999), (London, 2000), especially pp. 300–6.
pp. 285–86. 21. See n. 17, above.
17. The vernacular document titled ‘The Shires and 22. R. Lavelle, ‘Representing Authority in an Early
Hundreds of England’ (1045×1109), printed in An Medieval Chronicle: Submission, Rebellion and
Old English Miscellany Containing a Bestiary, Kentish the Limits of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, c.899–
Sermons, Proverbs of Alfred, Religious Poems of the 1065’, in Authority and Gender in Medieval and
Thirteenth Century, ed. R. Morris, EETS Original Renaissance Chronicles, ed. J. Dresvina and N. Sparks
Ser. 49 (London, 1872), pp. 145–46, is a clear (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 2012), pp. 62–101. Sources
definition of the areas attributed to different laws, relating to the integration of territory in East Anglia
though given that ‘Engle lond’ is defined therein as and the Danelaw are Liber Eliensis, ed. E. O. Blake,
an area delimited by St David’s and Caithness, one Camden 3rd Ser. 92 (London, 1962), I.42, pp.
might consider the definition as one that owed as 56–57, and II.25, pp. 98–99, trans. J. Fairweather,
Liber Eliensis: A History of the Isle of Ely from the 3, sec. 23, p. 59, cited by C. R. Davis, ‘An Ethnic
Seventh Century to the Twelfth, Compiled by a Monk Dating of Beowulf ’, ASE 35 (2006), pp. 111–29,
of Ely in the Twelfth Century (Woodbridge, 2005), at 117–18. Davis also cites (p. 121) J. Ogilvy,
pp. 76 and 121, and ASC ABCD 914, A 917, as Books Known to the English, 597–1066 (Cambridge,
well as Sawyer, Charters, no. 397 (ad 926) and no. MA, 1967), p. 185, for the knowledge of Jordanes
548 (ad 949). by Alcuin, an issue which provides a plausible
23. R. P. Abels, Alfred the Great: War, Kingship and connection with late ninth-century Wessex. See
Culture in Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1998), M. Coumert, Origines des peuples: les récits du Haut
passim. Moyen Âge occidental (550–850) (Paris, 2007),
24. K. L. Maund, ‘“A Turmoil of Warring Princes”: pp. 364–65, for the suggestion that the Ravenna
Political Leadership in Ninth-Century Denmark’, Cosmography (Ravennatis anonymi cosmographia, ed.
Haskins Society Journal 6 (1994), pp. 29–47. Note J. Snetz, Itineraria Romana 2 [Stuttgart, 1940], I,
the Astronomer’s insinuation of hindsight in his 11; dated 788×809, according to Coumert) reprised
description of Harald as ‘to whom the highest Jordanes’ description and influenced Ermoldus’
authority of the kingdom of the Danes appeared reading of the Danes. (We gratefully acknowledge
to belong’ (ad quem summa regni Danorum Alban Gautier for drawing our attention to
pertinere videbatur); Astronomus, Vita Hludowici Coumert’s work.)
imperatoris, ed. E. Tremp, MGH Scriptores rerum 27. See Abels, ‘Alfred the Great, the Micel Hæðen Here
germanicarum in usum scholarum separatim and the Viking Threat’.
editi 64 (Hannover, 1995), ch. 24, p. 356; trans. 28. ASC BCDE s.a. 789.
T. F. X. Noble, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious: 29. D. Gore, ‘A Review of Viking Attacks in Western
Lives by Einhard, Notker, Ermoldus, Thegan, and England to the Early Tenth Century: Their Motives
the Astronomer (University Park, PA, 2009), p. and Responses’, below, p. 56, citing D. N. Dumville,
249. See also S. McLeod, ‘Know Thine Enemy: ‘Vikings in Insular Chronicling’, in The Viking
Scandinavian Identity in the Viking Age’, in Vikings World, ed. S. Brink with N. Price (London, 2008),
and their Enemies: Proceedings of a Symposium held pp. 350–67, at p. 356.
in Melbourne, 24 November 2007, ed. K.-L. Burge 30. See J. Bately and A. Englert (eds), Ohthere’s Voyages:
(Melbourne, 2008), pp. 3–16. a Late 9th-Century Account of Voyages Along the Coasts
25. Recorded in: (i) Annales Regni Francorum, s.a. 826, of Norway and Denmark and its Cultural Context
ed. F. Kurze, MGH Scriptores rerum Germanicarum (Roskilde, 2007), especially J. Bately, ‘Ohthere and
in usum scholarum separatim editi 6 (Hannover, Wulfstan in the Old English Orosius’, pp. 18–39,
1895), pp. 169–70; (ii) Ermoldus Nigellus, In and, for the process of enquiry and response at
honorem Hludovici imperatoris, lines 2062–513, in Alfred’s court, A. Englert, ‘Ohthere’s Voyages seen
Ermold le Noir, Poème sur Louis le Pieux et épitres from a Nautical Angle’, pp. 117–129, at pp. 117–18.
au roi Pépin, ed. E. Faral (Paris, 1964), pp. 156–90 31. The question of the relationship (with no conclusive
(trans. Noble, Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, pp. answer) is addressed by, e.g., D. N. Dumville and M.
174–83); (iii) Thegan, Gesta Hludovici imperatoris, Lapidge (eds), The Annals of St Neots with Vita prima
ed. Tremp, ch. 33, p. 220 (trans. Noble, p. 208). sancti neoti, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Collaborative
For the resonance of this event, which Charles Edition 17 (Cambridge, 1985), pp. xxxii–xxxix
the Bald may have witnessed at a young age, and and J. Bately, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Texts and
which provided a model for Charles’s conversions of Textual Relationships (Reading, 1991), pp. 31–41
Vikings later in the ninth century, see P. Bauduin, and 61.
Le monde franc et les Vikings (Paris, 2009), pp. 32. ASC s.a. 789; noted in Whitelock’s edition at p. 35,
123–49 and, with specific regard to the young n. 4.
Charles’s experiences, J. L. Nelson, Charles the 33. Dumville and Lapidge (eds), Annals of St Neots, p.
Bald (London, 1992), p. 77–79. For baptism and 75.
parallel ceremonies, see Lavelle, ‘Law, Death and 34. E. John, ‘The Annals of St Neots and the Defeat of
Peacemaking’, below, pp. 128–31. the Vikings’, in Lordship and Learning: Studies in
26. History of the Wars, ed. and trans. H. Dewing Memory of Trevor Aston, ed. R. Evans (Woodbridge,
(London, 1924), IV, pp. 414–15 and Iordanis 2004), pp. 51–62.
Romana et Getica, ed. T. Mommsen, MGH Auctores 35. E.g. by Regino of Prüm, whose record of the siege of
antiquissimi 5.1 (Berlin, 1882), pp. 53–138, at ch. Duisburg (884) referred to ‘Northmen’(Nortmanni)
who had ‘come ‘from Denmark’ (ex Denimarca 45. D. Scragg, ‘A Reading of Brunanburh’, in Unlocking
venerant): Reginonis abbatis Prumiensis Chronicon the Wordhoard: Anglo-Saxon Studies in Memory of
cum continuatione Treverensi, ed. F. Kurze, MGH Edward B. Irving Jr, ed. M. C. Amodio and K.
Scriptores rerum germanicarum in usum scholarum O’Brien O’Keeffe (Toronto, 2003), pp. 109–22.
50 (Hanover, 1890), p. 122; trans. S. Maclean, Explicitly suggesting a common authorship of the
History and Politics in Late Carolingian and Ottonian two poems, Scragg does not refer to S. Walker,
Europe: The Chronicle of Regino of Prüm and Adalbert ‘A Context For “Brunanburh”?’, in Warriors and
of Magdeburg (Manchester, 2009), p. 191. Churchmen in the High Middle Ages: Essays Presented
36. Coumert, Origines des peuples, pp. 366–67, citing to Karl Leyser, ed. T. Reuter (London, 1992), pp.
Freculf, Historiae, I.2, 26, in Frechulfi Lexouiensis 21–39, who suggests a date of 940×2 for the
episcopi Opera omnia: Textus, ed. M. I. Allen, Corpus Brunanburh poem as a response to the crises of the
Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaeualis 169A earlier parts of Edmund’s reign, though the two
(Turnhout, 2002), pp. 147–48. authors’ readings do not seem to be too far apart.
37. E.g. AB s.a. 841 (‘pyratae Danorum’; ‘Danorum 46. Sawyer, Charters, no. 1417 (ad 924×33). See S. Foot,
pyratis’). Æthelstan: the First King of England (New Haven,
38. Bauduin, Le monde franc et les Vikings, especially 2011), pp. 116–17.
pp. 47–149 (for notes on the conversion of Harald, 47. Abels, ‘Paying the Danegeld’, p. 189. This is cited
see above, n. 24). For the ideology of peace with and discussed in Kershaw, Peaceful Kings, p. 21. We
Danes, see also P. Kershaw, Peaceful Kings. Peace, are grateful to Elton O. S. Medeiros for discussion
Power and the Early Medieval Political Imagination of Æthelstan’s kingship in this context.
(Oxford, 2010), and, for a consideration of the 48. C. Downham, ‘Viking Identities in Ireland: It’s Not
practicalities of the micropolitics of ninth-century All Black and White’, Medieval Dublin 11 (2011),
Seine settlement, see J. Le Maho, ‘La Seine et les pp. 185–201; see also her ‘“Hiberno-Norwegians”
Normands avant 911’, in Naissance de la Normandie and “Anglo-Danes”’, and D. N. Dumville, ‘Old
911, le traité de Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, ed. M. Pierre Dubliners and New Dubliners in Ireland and
(Paris, 2013), pp. 19–33. Britain: a Viking-Age Story’, in Medieval Dublin
39. See R. Abels, ‘Paying the Danegeld: Anglo-Saxon IV: Proceedings of the Medieval Dublin Symposium
Peacemaking with Vikings’, in War and Peace in 2004, ed. S. Duffy (Dublin, 2005), pp. 78–93.
Ancient and Medieval History, ed. P. De Souza and 49. See notes to the translation of Asser by Keynes and
J. France (Cambridge, 2008), pp. 173–92. Lapidge, in Alfred the Great, pp. 230–31.
40. Scragg, ‘A Reading of Brunanburh’. 50. J. L. Nelson, ‘England and the Continent in the
41. L. Ten Harkel, ‘The Vikings and the Natives: Ninth Century: II, the Vikings and Others’, TRHS
Ethnic Identity in England and Normandy c. 1000 6th Ser. 13 (2003), p. 6.
AD’, in The Medieval Chronicle IV, ed. E. Kooper 51. Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred the Great, pp. 41–42
(Amsterdam, 2006), pp. 175–88. and p. 56. Downham, ‘Viking Identities in Ireland’,
42. ASC ABCD 942. For logical reservations as to the pp. 196–99, notes the Irish influence on Welsh
exact composition of the ‘five boroughs’, whose annalistic sources in reference to ‘foreigners’.
names in the poem are alliterative, see G. Williams, 52. Davis, ‘An Ethnic Dating of Beowulf ’, pp. 123–24.
‘Towns and Identities in Viking England’, in 53. Yorke, Wessex, p. 143, citing A. C. Murray, ‘Beowulf,
Everyday Life in Viking-Age Towns: Social Approaches the Danish Invasions and Royal Geneaology’, in The
to Towns in England and Ireland, c.800–1100 , ed. Dating of Beowulf, ed. C. Chase (Toronto, 1981),
D. M. Hadley and L. Ten Harkel (Oxford, 2013), pp. 101–12.
pp. 26–28. 54. Yorke, ‘Jutes of Hampshire and Wight’, p. 95.
43. Credit for this observation is owed to Ben Snook, 55. Yorke, ‘Fact or Fiction?’, p. 48.
in ‘Give War a Chance: Just War and Conflict 56. For the later record of Cnut as Jóta dróttinn (‘lord
Resolution in 9th- and 10th-Century England’, of the Jutes’), in Óttarr Svarti, Knútsdrápa, 3, line
delivered at the International Medieval Congress, 5 (Den Norsk-Islandske Skjaldedigtning, ed. Finnur
University of Leeds, 9 July 2012. Jónsson (Copenhagen, 4 vols, 1912–15), Vol. B-1,
44. Though cf. C. Downham, ‘“Hiberno-Norwegians” p. 273), presumably used for poetic purposes, see
and “Anglo-Danes”: Anachronistic Ethnicities in M. Townend, ‘Contextualizing the Knútsdrápur:
Viking Age England’, Mediaeval Scandinavia 19 Skaldic Praise-Poetry at the Court of Cnut’, ASE
(2009), pp. 139–69, at pp. 146–8. 30 (2001), pp. 145–79, at p. 173.
57. Coumert, Origines des peuples, pp. 418–26. 67. R. H. M. Dolley, ‘The Shaftesbury Hoard of Pence
Other ‘origins’ for the Jutes are available: Philip of Æthelræd II’, Numismatic Chronicle 6th Ser.
Bartholomew, ‘Continental Connections: Angles, 16 (1956), pp. 267–80. This is also discussed in
Saxons and Others in Bede and Procopius’, ASSAH D. M. Metcalf, Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman
13 (2005), pp. 19–30, linked the Iutae with the Coin Finds c.973–1086, Royal Numismatic Society
north-eastern provinces of Francia, such as the area Special Publications 32 (London, 1998), p. 90.
around Soissons, for which late Antique terminology 68. Winchester City Museums AY5, catalogued at
is more fitting to Bede’s description, and for which <http://www.winchestermuseumcollections.org.uk/
the material culture is comparable to that found in index.asp?page=item&mwsquery={collection}={ar-
southern Hampshire, Kent, and the Isle of Wight. chaeology}AND{Identity%20number}={WINC-
58. Davis, ‘An Ethnic Dating of Beowulf ’, p. 115. M:AY%205}> (accessed 4 Jan. 2014).
59. ASC AE 449; Æthelweard, Chronicon, p. 8; The 69. D. M. Wilson, ‘Appendix: Late Saxon Metalwork
Old English Version of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of from the Old Minster, 1964’, in M. Biddle, ‘Exca-
the English People, ed. and trans. T. Miller, EETS, vations at Winchester 1964: Third Interim Report’,
Original Ser. 95 and 96 (Oxford, 2 parts, 1890–1), Antiquaries Journal 45 (1965), pp. 230–64, at pp.
part 1, I.12, pp. 52–53. For the latter reference, see 262–63 (quotation at p. 262).
S. M. Rowley, The Old English Version of Bede’s Historia 70. ASC 871.
Ecclesiastica (Woodbridge, 2011), pp. 95–96. 71. D. A. Hinton, Gold and Gilt, Pots and Pins:
60. Æthelweard, Chronicon, p. 9. See W. Jezierski, Possessions and People in Medieval Britain (Oxford,
‘Æthelweardus redivivus’, EME 13 (2005), pp. 159 2005), p. 117, citing K. East, ‘A Lead Model and
–78, at p. 164. However, it should also be noted a Rediscovered Sword, both with Gripping Beast
that Æthelweard’s possible confusion between Suebi Decoration’, Medieval Archaeology 30 (1986), pp.
and Swedes in the same passage may undermine 1–7 and, on the coin hoard (albeit with some
too much weight placed upon his geographical reservations), N. Brooks with J. Graham-Campbell,
sensibilities. ‘Reflections on the Viking-Age silver hoard from
61. See K. Malone, ‘King Alfred’s Geats’. Modern Croydon, Surrey’, in N. Brooks, Communities and
Language Review 20 (1925), pp. 1–11; ‘King Alfred’s Warfare 700–1400 (London, 2000) pp. 69–92, at
“Gōtland”’, Modern Language Review 23 (1928), pp. p. 89; see also G. Astill, ‘The Towns of Berkshire’,
336–39. in Anglo-Saxon Towns in Southern England, ed. J.
62. See Janet Bately’s editorial notes in The Old English Haslam (Chichester, 1984), pp. 53–86, at p. 73
Orosius, EETS Supplementary Ser. 6 (London, and discussion in J. Kershaw, ‘Scandinavian-style
1980), p. 195. Wulfstan’s passage is in Bately’s Metalwork from Southern England: New Light on
edition of the Orosius at p. 16; the place-name the “First Viking Age” in Wessex’, below, p. 87, n.3.
is also discussed by Bartholomew, ‘Continental 72. B. Raffield, ‘Antiquarians, Archaeologists, and
Connections’, pp. 22–23. Viking Fortifications’, Journal of the North Atlantic
63. S. Keynes, ‘The Vikings in England’, in The Oxford 20 (2013), pp. 1–29. We are grateful to the author
Illustrated History of the Vikings, ed. P. Sawyer for sharing material from this paper with us prior
(Oxford, 1997), pp. 48–82, at p. 67. to its publication.
64. G. Halsall, Worlds of Arthur: Facts and Fictions of 73. D. M. Hadley, ‘Viking and Native: Rethinking
the Dark Ages (Oxford, 2013), p. 108; for Halsall’s Identity in the Danelaw’, EME 11 (2002), pp.
perspective on the Viking period, see his ‘The 45–70, at p. 52.
Viking Presence in England? The Burial Evidence 74. T. J. T. Williams, ‘The Place of Slaughter: Exploring
Reconsidered’, in Cultures in Contact, ed. Hadley the West Saxon Battlescape’, below, pp. 35–55.
and Richards, pp. 259–76. 75. Boyle, ‘Death on the Dorset Ridgeway’, p. 117.
65. D. M. Hadley, ‘In Search of the Vikings: the 76. ASC CDE 1002. The translation here is from
Problems and Possibilities of Interdisciplinary M. Swanton (ed. and trans.) The Anglo-Saxon
Approaches’, in Vikings and the Danelaw, ed. Chronicles (London, 1996), p. 135, in preference
Graham-Campbell, Jesch and Parsons, pp. 13–30, to Whitelock’s rendering (p. 86) of Angelcynne as
at p. 24. ‘in England’.
66. M. Townend, Language and History in Viking Age 77. Sawyer, Charters, no. 909 (ad 1004), trans. EHD
England: Linguistic Relations between Speakers of Old 1, pp. 590–93.
Norse and Old English (Turnhout, 2002). 78. A. M. Pollard, P. Ditchfield, E. Piva, S. Wallis, C.
Falys and S. Ford, ‘“Sprouting Like Cockle Amongst Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol.
the Wheat”: the St. Brice’s Day Massacre and the VII, p. 215
Isotopic Analysis of Human Bones from St. John’s 94. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol.
College, Oxford’, Oxford Journal of Archaeology 31 VII, pp. 127 and 191.
(2012), pp. 83–102. 95. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol.
79. A review of the written evidence, and the development VII, p. 215.
of the cultural memory of the massacre is provided 96. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
by R. Lavelle, ‘Ethnic Cleansing in Anglo-Saxon Vol. VII, pp. 82–3. For many such sculptures, see
England’, BBC History Magazine 3:11 (November D. M. Hadley, ‘Warriors, Heroes and Companions:
2002), pp. 42–44. Negotiating Masculinity in Viking-Age England’,
80. ASC A 1001; CDE 1001. R. Abels, ‘Household ASSAH 15 (2008), pp. 270–84.
Men, Mercenaries and Vikings in Anglo-Saxon 97. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol.
England’, in Mercenaries and Paid Men: The VII, pp. 44 and 46–47; F. Cottrill, ‘Some Pre-
Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages: Proceedings Conquest Stone Carvings in Wessex’, Antiquaries
of a Conference held at University of Wales, Swansea, Journal 15 (1935), pp. 144–51.
7th–9th July 2005, ed. J. France (Leiden, 2008), pp. 98. Cottrill, ‘Some Pre-Conquest Stone Carvings’, p.
143–66, at p. 156 148.
81. See Lavelle, ‘Law, Death and Peacemaking’, below, 99. A. C. Close and W. G. Collingwood, ‘A Cross Base
p. 133. at Winchester’, Proceedings of the Hampshire Field
82. Hadley, ‘In Search of the Vikings’, p. 23. Club and Archaeological Society 9 (1922), pp. 219–20
83. For further discussion of distinctions, see C. P. Lewis, (quotation at p. 220).
‘Danish Landowners in Wessex in 1066’, below, p. 100. D. Tweddle, M. Biddle and B. Kjølbye-Biddle,
176. Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, South-
84. Innes, ‘Danelaw Identities’, p. 77. East England (Oxford, 1995), pp. 333–34.
85. B. Sawyer, The Viking-Age Rune-Stones: Custom 101. ASC 860. See Williams, ‘Place of Slaughter’, below,
and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia p. 40, for a discussion of the problems associated
(Oxford, 2000), p. 22. with the interpretation of the written record.
86. Inscription code N 184, recorded in Rundata 2.5 102. M. Biddle and B. Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘The Contexts of
for Windows, Uppsala Universitet, Samnordisk the Coins: Problems of Residuality and Dating’, in
runtextdatabas (Scandinavian runic-text database), The Winchester Mint: and Coins and Related Finds
<http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/ samnord. from the Excavations of 1961–71, ed. M. Biddle,
htm> (accessed 31 Jan. 2014). Winchester Studies 8 (Oxford 2012), pp. 707–25,
87. Inscription code Sm 101. at p. 714.
88. R. Lavelle, Alfred’s Wars: Sources and Interpretations of 103. Hadley, ‘Viking and Native’, pp. 69–70.
Anglo-Saxon Warfare in the Viking Age (Woodbridge, 104. D. Hill, ‘An Urban Policy for Cnut?’, in The Reign
2010), p. 39, citing ASC CDE 1013. For Orc, of Cnut, King of England, Denmark and Norway,
see A. Williams, ‘A Place in the Country: Orc of ed. A. Rumble (London, 1994), pp. 101–5, at pp.
Abbotsbury and Tole of Tolpuddle, Dorset’, below, 103–104. For a classic assessment of the ‘residence-
pp. 158–71. capital’ of the early middle ages in Continental
89. See Townend, Language and History in Viking Age western Europe, see E. Ewig, ‘Résidence et capitale
England, p. 3. pendant le haut Moyen Age’, Revue Historique 230
90. R. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture (1963), pp. 25–72.
Vol. VII, South West England (Oxford, 2006), p. 47. 105. Townend, ‘Contextualizing the Knútsdrápur’.
91. Cramp, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. 106. B. Kjølbye-Biddle and R. I. Page, ‘A Scandinavian
VII, p. 47. Rune-Stone from Winchester’, Antiquaries Journal
92. Hadley, ‘In Search of the Vikings’, p. 19. Hadley’s 55 (1975), pp. 389–94, at pp. 389–90.
observation is based on the work of Phil Sidebottom, 107. Kjølbye-Biddle and Page, ‘Scandinavian Rune-Stone
‘Viking-Age Stone Monuments and Social Identity from Winchester’, p. 390.
in Derbyshire’, in Cultures in Contact, ed. Hadley 108. Yorke, Wessex, p. 143.
and Richards, pp. 213–35. 109. For a broader discussion of this see D. Hinton,
93. W. G. Collingwood, Northumbrian Crosses of the ‘The Medieval Gold, Silver, and Copper-Alloy
Pre-Norman Age (London, 1927), p. 183, cited in Objects from Winchester’, in Object and Economy
in Medieval Winchester, ed. M. Biddle, Winchester Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, p. 279, citing
Studies 7.2 (Oxford, 2 parts, 1990), Part 1, pp. C. B. Andersen, Fire Romanske Sten fra Løvenholm
29–35. (Privately printed, 1986), pp. 38–48.
110. P. Galloway, ‘Combs of Bone, Antler, and Ivory’, 133. Kjølbye-Biddle and Page, ‘Scandinavian Rune-Stone
in Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester, ed. from Winchester’, p. 391.
Biddle, Part 2, pp. 665–78, at pp. 666–67. 134. D. M. Hadley and J. Buckberry, ‘Caring for the
111. M. K. Lawson, Cnut: The Danes in England in the Dead in Late Anglo-Saxon England’, in Pastoral
Early Eleventh Century (London, 1993), p. 114, Care in Late Anglo-Saxon England, ed. F. Tinti
citing ASC E 1035. (Woodbridge, 2005), pp. 121–47, at p. 138, citing
112. Snorri Sturluson, ‘Magnúss saga ins Góða’ [‘the R. Kipling and G. Scobie, ‘Staple Gardens 1989’,
Saga of Magnús the Good’], chs 5 and 17, trans. Winchester Museums Service Newsletter 6 (1990),
L. M. Hollander, Heimskringla: History of the Kings pp. 8–9, at p. 8. It is worth considering whether,
of Norway (Austin, TX, 1964), pp. 542 and 555. in contrast with the interpretation by Biddle and
113. ASC CD 1040; see also M. Biddle and B. Kjølbye- Kjølbye-Biddle of ninth-century coins (above, p.
Biddle, ‘Danish Royal Burials in Winchester: Cnut 17), in this later Anglo-Saxon period, the Staple
and his Family’, below, p. 233, n.35. Gardens coins were associated with post-baptismal
114. Hadley, ‘In Search of the Vikings’, p. 21. confirmation carried out by a bishop: see the
115. Lawson, Cnut, p. 154. (admittedly much earlier) Ordo Romanus IX, printed
116. M. Biddle and B. Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘The Excavated and discussed by J. H. Lynch, Christianizing Kinship:
Sculptures from Winchester’, in Tweddle, Biddle Ritual Sponsorship in Anglo-Saxon England (Ithaca,
and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone NY, 1998), pp. 99–100.
Sculpture Vol. IV, pp. 96–107, at p. 98. 135. Hadley and Buckleberry, ‘Caring for the Dead’, p.
117. Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘Excavated Sculptures 138.
from Winchester’, p. 100. 136. Tweddle, Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of
118. Yorke, Wessex, pp. 143–44. Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, pp. 274–75.
119. For a summary of this debate, see M. Biddle 137. E. Okasha Handlist of Anglo-Saxon Non-Runic
and B. Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘Danish Royal Burials in Inscriptions (Cambridge University Press 1971), p.
Winchester: Cnut and his Family’, below, pp. 127–28.
215–17. 138. M. Townend, ‘Contacts and Conflicts: Latin, Norse,
120. D. M. Wilson, Bayeux Tapestry: the Bayeux Tapestry and French’, in The Oxford History of English, ed. L.
in Colour, with Introduction, Description and Mugglestone (Oxford, 2006), pp. 61–85, at p. 77.
Commentary (London, 1985), p. 208. 139. R. I. Page, Runes (London, 1987), p. 51; Tweddle,
121. M. Biddle ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965: Fourth Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of Anglo-Saxon
Interim Report’, Antiquaries Journal 46 (1966), pp. Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, p. 279. See also J. Jesch,
308–32, at p. 319. Ships and Men in the late Viking Age: the Vocabulary
122. Biddle, ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965’, pp. of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse (Woodbridge
330–31. 2001), p. 235.
123. Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘Danish Royal Burials 140. Townend, Language and History in Viking Age
in Winchester’, below, p. 217. England, p. 193.
124. Townend, Language and History in Viking Age 141. Townend, Language and History in Viking Age
England, p. 193. England, p. 191. It may also be noted that
125. Biddle, ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965’, p. 320; Kirkdale was a proprietory church of someone
Wilson, Bayeux Tapestry, pp. 206 and 208. who was evidently in a personal retinue; the sort
126. Biddle, ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965’, p. 321. of person who might be considered a housecarl.
127. Townend, ‘Contextualizing the Knútsdrápur’. See A. Williams, ‘Thegnly Piety and Ecclesiastical
128. Biddle, ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965’, p. 319. Patronage in the Late Old English Kingdom’, ANS
129. Biddle, ‘Excavations at Winchester 1965’. 24 (2001), pp. 1–24, at pp. 10–11.
130. Winchester City Museum, accession no. 2943, WS 142. Sawyer, Charters, no. 1531 (ad 1043×5); ASC
104.2. D 1016. The search was undertaken using the
131. J. T. Laing ‘The Hogback: a Viking Colonial Dictionary of Old English: A to G online <http://
Monument’, ASSAH 3 (Oxford 1984), pp. 85–176. tapor.library.utoronto.ca/doe/dict/indices/
132. Tweddle, Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of headwordsindexf.html> (accessed 30 Oct 2013).
143. Jesch, Ships and Men, p. 235. Cf. Biddle and Kjølbye- 157. Tweddle, Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of
Biddle, ‘Danish Royal Burials in Winchester’, pp. Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, p. 328.
224–26, for later emphasis on shared kinship 158. For this issue, see discussion in Williams, ‘Place
between Cnut and Edmund. in the Country’, p. 159, and Lewis, ‘Danish
144. L. Tollerton, Wills and Willmaking in Anglo-Saxon Landowners in Wessex’, p. 178 who notes (p. 196)
England (Woodbridge, 2011), p. 52, n. 247, notes the widespread presence of Danish names in mid-
that this was for overseeing the distribution of alms. eleventh-century Wessex.
145. See S. Pons-Sanz, ‘Norse-Derived Vocabulary in 159. Kjølbye-Biddle and Page, ‘A Scandinavian Rune-
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’, in Reading the Anglo- Stone from Winchester’, p. 390 and Townend,
Saxon Chronicle: Language, Literature, History, ed. ‘Contextualizing the Knútsdrápur’, p. 520.
A. Jorgensen (Turnhout, 2010), pp. 275–304, at 160. D. Stocker and P. Evison, ‘Five Towns Funerals:
pp. 279–80, on this local variation of freondscype, Decoding Diversity in Danelaw Stone Sculpture’,
‘friendship’, presented in ASC CE 1016. in Vikings in the Danelaw, ed. Graham-Campbell,
146. Cf. the alternative reading presented by Biddle Jesch and Parsons, pp. 223–44. A recent assessment
and Kjølbye-Biddle, ‘Danish Royal Burials in of Lincoln’s metalwork is in L. Ten Harkel,
Winchester’, p. 217. ‘Of Towns and Trinkets: the Production and
147. For discussion of the Nöbblesholm rune- Consumption of Metalwork in Tenth-Century
stone’s reference to Bath (Som.), in a similarly Lincoln’, in Everyday Life in Viking-Age Towns, ed.
commemorative – albeit familial – context, see Hadley and Ten Harkel, pp. 172–92.
above, p. 16. 161. Noted by Townend, ‘Contextualizing the
148. See Lavelle, Alfred’s Wars, p. 243. A cniht guild is Knútsdrápur’, p. 174, citing The Liber Vitae of the
also recorded in London, in Sawyer, Charters, no. New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester, ed. S. D.
1103 (ad 1042×4). Keynes, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 26
149. Williams, ‘A Place in the Country’, below, pp. 163– (Copenhagen, 1996), pp. 40 and 94.
64; ‘Thegnly Piety and Ecclesiastical Patronage’, pp. 162. A useful consideration of London in this period
22–23. remains D. Hill, ‘Trends in the Development of
150. Winchester in the Early Middle Ages: An Edition and Towns During the Reign of Ethelred II’, in Ethelred
Discussion of the Winton Domesday, ed. M. Biddle, the Unready: Papers from the Millenary Conference,
Winchester Studies 1 (Oxford, 1976), no. 10 (pp. ed. D. Hill, BAR British Ser. 59 (Oxford, 1978),
34–35). A place which the editors considered pp. 213–26 (quotation at p. 217).
another chenictahalla, on this occasion with no 163. ASC CDE 1016; for Æthelred, Edmund, Cnut and
mention of drinking, is recorded at no. 34 (p. 39). London, see Lavelle, Alfred’s Wars, pp. 260–62.
See also the discussion in Williams, ‘A Place in the 164. Hill, ‘Urban Policy for Cnut?’, pp. 103–104.
Country’, below, p. 164. 165. A useful consideration of the support provided
151. It is worth noting here the Vita Æthelwoldi’s record, by the Norman duchy for the exiled West Saxon
c.1000, of Northumbrian nobles in the retinue of royal family after 1014, including military support,
King Eadred (946–55), whose continuing intake is provided by S. D. Keynes, ‘The Æthelings in
in the face of a miraculously endless supply of Normandy’, ANS 13 (1990), pp. 173–205. A recent
drink was attributed, with disapproval, to their assessment of the foundations of this relationship is
northern (Anglo-Scandinavian?) identity: Wulfstan provided by P. Bauduin, ‘La papauté, les vikings et
of Winchester, Life of St Æthelwold, ed. M. Lapidge les relations anglo-normandes: autour du traité de
and M. Winterbottom (Oxford, 1991), ch. 12, pp. 991’, in Échanges, communications et reseaux dans le
22–25. haut Moyen Âge : études et textes offerts à Stéphane
152. Kjølbye-Biddle and Page, ‘Scandinavian Rune-Stone Lebecq, ed. A. Gautier and C. Martin (Turnhout,
from Winchester’, pp. 391–92. 2011), pp. 197–210.
153. Winchester City Museum, accession no. 334. 166. Keynes, ‘Æthelings in Normandy’, pp. 187–
154. Tweddle, Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of 98, discussing Edward and Alfred’s possible
Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, pp. 327–28. 1033 attestations of Fécamp charters as well as
155. M. P. Barnes and R. Page, The Scandinavian Runic ‘King’ Edward’s grant to Mont-St-Michel (dated
Inscriptions of Britain (Uppsala, 2006). 1027×35[?1033]), with an edition of the charter at
156. Tweddle, Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle, Corpus of p. 204. We are grateful to David Bates for discussion
Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture Vol. IV, pp. 327–28. on this matter.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
CHAPTER 15
The Shutter Faces
The face of the Out Keeper was entirely hidden behind blue shutters.
They seemed to sprout out behind the ears on each side of his head
and fasten securely in front with two bolts.
"I suppose he hears through the slats," said Philador, leaning back to
whisper this observation to the medicine man.
"Perfectly!" answered the Out Keeper.
"Can you see through the slats, too?" asked Herby, quite interested in
the fellow's singular appearance.
"No!" snapped the Out Keeper crossly. "But who wants to see? Most
people are not worth looking at. Presently I shall shut my shutters
tight and then I shall neither see you nor listen to you," he finished
triumphantly.
"But we'll still be here!" whinnied High Boy, with a mischievous
prance. Leaning forward he thrust his head through the opening,
seized the Out Keeper by the seat of his pantaloons and, withdrawing
his head, stretched up his telescope legs and stepped calmly over the
wall. "That's the way to handle an O.K.," snickered High Boy,
dropping the Out Keeper carelessly in a clump of pickle bushes.
"I'm not an O.K.!" shrieked the Out Keeper, springing furiously out of
the pickle bushes. "I'm a Shutter Face!" Pulling back the bolts that
fastened his shutters, he glared out at the travelers. The face back of
the blue shutters was pale, flat and disagreeable. After a long,
horrified, look at High Boy and the others, the Out Keeper jumped a
foot into the air and then ran screaming down the street, his shutters
flapping and slamming against the sides of his head. "Bandits!
Robbers! Donkeys and thieves!" he cried shrilly. "Here they come!
Shut the shutters! Bolt the windows and lock the doors. Shut up!
Shut up! Everybody shut up!"
"Shut up your ownself!" yelled the Scarecrow gleefully, as High Boy,
letting himself down to a lower level, cantered mischievously after
the frightened little man. Although the whole town was shut up to
begin with, at the gate keeper's loud cries the travelers could hear
extra bolts being shot into place.
"What's the matter, Tighty?" called a gruff voice. Looking up in
surprise, Trot saw a huge Shutter Face, sitting cross legged on a tall
chimney.
"Bandits, Your Majesty!" Panting with exhaustion, the Out Keeper
looked imploringly up at the chimney.
"How did they get in?" asked the chimney squatter, opening the slats
on one side so he could hear.
"Stepped over the wall," choked Tighty, looking apprehensively over
his shoulder at High Boy.
"Ridiculous and impossible," sniffed His Majesty, crossing his legs
comfortably. "I neither saw nor heard anyone come over the wall."
"How do you expect to see or hear, hid behind those blue blinkers?"
inquired the Scarecrow, as High Boy came to a stop in front of the
chimney.
"Fall down the chimney! Fall down the chimney!" quavered the Out
Keeper, dashing into a doorway. "And don't say I never warned you!"
For a moment Trot thought His Majesty was going to follow Tighty's
advice, but thinking better of it, the King called pompously: "I refuse
to hear, see or believe such nonsense!" Shutting the slats in his
shutters the King folded his arms and continued to sit defiantly on
the chimney.
"Shall I shove him down?" whispered High Boy, looking around at
Philador. "If he cannot see or hear, perhaps he can feel."
"No!" laughed the little Prince, "they've really done us no harm, so
why should we hurt them? Look! Everything's shutting up, even the
hedges!" The hedges surrounding the small, closely shuttered houses
were real box hedges and as High Boy clattered through the streets
they began slamming their lids as fast as they could. Even the
flowers growing in the stiff little gardens, promptly shut up as the
travelers passed and it was with real relief that they reached the
other side of the town.
Not a Shutter Face was in sight and the dingy houses, with their blue
shuttered windows and doors, gave the town such a very gloomy
appearance.
"The poor silly things look half starved!" exclaimed Trot, glancing
down and back at Shutter Town, as High Boy, without bothering to
shorten his legs, stepped over the wall and briskly down the road on
the other side.
"They're worse than the Round-abouties," decided Benny, "and I
suppose if we had stayed any longer they would have insisted upon
us growing shutters, too!"
"Not a bad idea, when you come to think of it," observed the
Scarecrow. "With shutters one need never be bored or shocked."
"Shutters would be extremely becoming to you," chuckled High Boy,
with a vigorous shake of his umbrella tail.
"Hush!" whispered Trot, who did not like anyone to make fun of her
old friend.
"You mean shut up, I suppose?" wheezed High Boy. "But remember
I'm not a Shutter Face, my girl."
"That's so," giggled Trot. "If anyone tells them to shut up, they really
can. I'm going to bring Dorothy and Betsy back here some day and
see what they do to us."
"Here's a river," announced Philador, who was looking anxiously for
the first signs of the Emerald City. "And I have a magic jumping rope
to help us cross." Holding up the good witch's rope, the little Prince
quickly explained how it worked. High Boy listened in silence, and
when Philador finished tossed his head impatiently.
"I've never jumped rope in my life," declared High Boy stubbornly,
"and I'm not going to begin now. Besides it's not necessary. Stay
where you are! Keep quiet and hold tight!"
Rather worried and undecided whether to stay on or tumble off, the
little company looked uncertainly at one another. But before they
could dismount, High Boy shot up two hundred feet and then
carefully stepped down into the river. Trot gasped and expected to
find herself under water. But only the toes of her shoes touched the
water, and when High Boy, looking around, saw this, he raised
himself higher still and, with his whole body out of the water and his
feet on the river bed, carried them safely and slowly across.
"Why, you're better than a bridge!" exclaimed Philador, leaning
forward to give him a good hug. "I wish I could keep you always."
"Joe couldn't spare me," announced High Boy, self consciously, "but
I'll come to see you often, Phil, when this adventure is over. Hold on
now, I'm going to step out."
The great length of High Boy's legs made his body almost vertical, as
he scrambled up the bank. But so tightly did his riders hold on to the
saddle and to one another, nobody fell off. Bringing his legs down
with a few sharp clicks, High Boy put up his umbrella tail and was
about to start on when a series of splutters made him look back. The
high horse had closed his umbrella tail when he stepped into the
river, but in spite of this a lot of water had got in. Therefore, when he
snapped it up, a perfect deluge had come down on his luckless
passengers.
"This is the third shower I've had to-day," coughed the Scarecrow
dolefully. Benny didn't mind the water at all and Herby, after peering
into his medicine chest and discovering that none of the contents
were wet, merely gave himself a good shake. As for Philador and Trot
—what could they do but laughingly accept High Boy's apologies? It
was late afternoon by now, and the sun sinking lower and lower
behind the hills. Since their meeting on the blue highway, High Boy
had come many a long mile, and everyone but Benny and the
Scarecrow began to feel tired as well as hungry.
"I'd give my gold tooth for a pail of yummy jummy," confessed High
Boy, as he slowly mounted a small hill. "I'm hungry enough to eat a
—" He did not finish his sentence, but glanced longingly over his
shoulder at the Scarecrow, who immediately ducked behind Benny
and began feverishly stuffing in his stray wisps of straw.
"How about a sandwich?" suggested Philador, pulling out the lunch
basket Queen Hyacinth had filled so generously.
"A sandwich would be no more than a cracker crumb to me,"
exclaimed High Boy disdainfully.
"Well, what's yummy jummy?" asked Trot, accepting with a smile the
chicken sandwich the little Prince held out to her.
"Oats, hay, bran, brown sugar and grape juice," explained High Boy,
smacking his lips and closing his eyes. "Do you think they'd mix me
up a pail when we reach this Emerald City of yours?"
"Of course they will," promised Trot, "but couldn't you stop and eat a
little grass or tree leaves?"
"Grass is too short, besides, I never eat grass or leaves at night,"
announced High Boy, turning up his nose. "Gives me grasstreetus."
For a time the little company progressed in silence, Herby, Trot and
Philador contentedly munching the dainty sandwiches and Benny
enjoying the scenery. As it grew darker, an overpowering drowsiness
stole over Trot and Philador. High Boy, too, began to yawn so
terrifically that his passengers were nearly thrown out of the saddle.
"If he does that again, I'll fall off," quavered the Scarecrow, clasping
his arms 'round Benny's waist.
"Wait," whispered Herby, "I have a remedy." Unbuckling Trot's belt,
Herby opened his medicine chest and drew out a box of pills. "These
are my famous 'Keep Awake' pills," he explained proudly, swallowing
two, "and these others will prevent yawning."
"Whoa!" gasped Philador as High Boy's last "Hah, hoh, hum!" lifted
them a foot into the air. "Whoa!" The high horse was glad enough to
whoa and, looking around with half closed eyes, inquired the reason
for their stop.
"Take these," directed Philador, slipping two Keep Awake pills and
three yawn lozenges down High Boy's throat. Sleepily High Boy
swallowed the dose. The effect was startling and instantaneous. His
eyes opened wide, his teeth clicked together and next minute he was
streaking down the road so fast that Trot's hair blew straight out
behind and the little Prince's cloak snapped in the wind.
"Better take some yourselves," advised Herby holding out the boxes
to Trot. "For if you fall asleep you'll fall off and then where'll you be?"
A little nervously, Trot swallowed the Keep Awake pills and yawn
lozenges. Philador then took two of each and immediately they both
felt wide awake and full of energy.
"You are a real wizard, Herby," admitted the Scarecrow, noting
admiringly the effect of the pills, "and ought to make a great hit at
the capital."
"Do you think so?" puffed Herby breathlessly, as he bounced up and
down. "Are we almost there?" It was hard to see, for it was night and
only a few stars twinkled in the sky. But presently Trot gave a little
shout of relief and satisfaction.
"See that green glow?" cried the little girl with an excited wave.
"They're the tower lights of the castle. Hurry up, High Boy. We're
almost there!" At Trot's words, High Boy gathered his long legs
together and fairly flew over hills and across fields, so that in less
than an hour they reached the Emerald City itself. It was still fairly
early, and the lovely capital of Oz shimmered as only a jeweled city
can.
CHAPTER 16
The Lost Queen Returns
On the same evening that Trot and her companions were arriving at
the Emerald City, Cheeriobed and his councilors sat talking in the
great blue throne room of the palace. All day the King had watched
for the coming of Ozma and the return of Philador, and as the hours
dragged on he had become more and more restless and uneasy.
Shortly after lunch, as he was pacing anxiously up and down one of
the garden paths, he was amazed to see Orpah hobbling rapidly
toward him.
It was nearly twenty years since the keeper of the King's sea horses
had been carried off by Quiberon, and Cheeriobed had never
expected to see his faithful servitor again. Rubbing his eyes to make
sure he was not dreaming, the astounded monarch rushed forward to
greet the old mer-man. After a hearty embrace, which wet His
Majesty considerably, Orpah having stepped directly out of the water,
they sat down on a sapphire bench and the King begged Orpah to tell
him at once all that had happened.
Brushing over his long weary imprisonment in Cave City, Orpah
hurried on to the coming of Trot and her strange friends. His lively
description of their encounter with the Cave Men, the way they had
outwitted and trapped Quiberon in the narrow passageway, filled
Cheeriobed with wonder and relief. And when the mer-man went on
to tell him of the explosion of the blue ray that had carried them
across the bottom of the lake to the mainland, Cheeriobed smiled for
the first time since Quiberon had threatened his kingdom.
"Now," declared the good King, slapping his knee happily, "we have
nothing to worry us. Quiberon is a prisoner, the mortal child has
escaped injury and Akbad has saved my son and persuaded Ozma to
come here, save the kingdom, and restore the Queen."
Here he stopped to tell Orpah how the Court Soothsayer had picked
the golden pear and flown with Philador to the capital, invoking
Ozma's aid and carrying the mortal maid to Quiberon's cavern.
"I expect Ozma any moment now," puffed Cheeriobed, shading his
eyes and looking out over the lake. At these words, Akbad, who was
hiding behind the King's bench, covered his ears and slunk miserably
away. How could he ever explain the failure of Ozma to appear, or
account for the strange disappearance of the little Prince? Again and
again he tried to fly away from the Ozure Isles, but the golden wings
refused to carry him beyond the edge of the beach and when in
despair he cast himself into the water, they kept him afloat, so that
even drowning was denied the cowardly fellow. Dragging his wings
disconsolately behind him, he trailed about the palace, or perched
forlornly in the tree tops, and when, in the late evening, Cheeriobed
summoned all of his advisors to the throne room, the Soothsayer
came slowly and unwillingly to the conference. Orpah, with his tail in
a bucket of salt water, sat on the King's right and Toddledy, thumbing
anxiously over an old book of maps, sat on the King's left. Umtillio,
nearby, strummed idly on a golden harp and Akbad, after a longing
glance at the chair set out for him, flew up on the chandelier where
he would have plenty of place for his wings and where he could sit
down with some comfort. Ranged 'round the conference table were
the officers of the Guard and members of the King's household, and
they all listened attentively as Cheeriobed began his address.
"To-morrow is the day Quiberon has threatened to destroy us," began
His Majesty gravely, "and as he may escape it were best to devise
some means of defense."
They all nodded approvingly at these words but said nothing. "Has
anyone a suggestion to make?" asked Cheeriobed, folding his hands
on his stomach and looking inquiringly over his spectacles.
"I suggest that we all go to bed," yawned the Captain of the Guard.
"Then we'll be rested and ready for a battle, if a battle there is to
be!"
"Why bother to plan when Quiberon is stuck fast in the cavern?"
asked Akbad impatiently.
"That's so," mused Toddledy. "At least not before Ozma arrives. When
did Her Highness say she would come?" he asked, squinting up at the
Court Soothsayer.
"Just as soon as the Wizard of Oz returns from the blue forest,"
answered Akbad sulkily.
"When Trot and her friends reach the Emerald City, they will persuade
her to come right away," put in Orpah, "and they promised to come
back with her. You will be astonished at the stone man," finished
Orpah solemnly.
At Orpah's casual remark, Akbad could not restrain a groan. However
would he explain to the little ruler of all Oz his own foolish and
deceitful conduct? Dropping heavily from the chandelier he bade the
company good-night and made for the door, his wings flapping and
dragging behind him. As he put out his hand to turn the knob, the
door flew violently open and Jewlia burst into the room.
"A boat!" panted the little girl, throwing her apron over her head, "a
boat is coming 'round Opal Point."
"It is Ozma!" exclaimed His Majesty, thumping the table with both
fists. "Where are my spectacles, hand me my crown, spread the red
rug and call out the Guard of Honor!"
Without waiting for any of these commands to be carried out,
Cheeriobed plunged from the palace through the gardens and down
to the shore of Lake Orizon. Orpah reached the beach almost as soon
as His Majesty, followed closely by Toddledy and all the King's
retainers. A little murmur of disappointment went up from the crowd
as they stared in the direction indicated by Jewlia. A boat was
rounding the point, but only a fisherman's dory. Opposite the man at
the oars sat a closely wrapped figure and, as the boat came nearer,
this figure arose, cast off the cloak and, standing erect, extended
both arms.
"Why!" panted Jewlia, beginning to jump up and down, "it's the
Queen—Queen Orin, herself!"
Queen Orin Returns
"The Queen! Long live the Queen!" roared the Ozure Islanders,
wading out into the water in their surprise and excitement. Standing
up in the shabby row-boat, as lovely and radiant as on the day
Mombi had stolen her away, was the Queen of the Ozure Isles. Her
jeweled crown glittered and flashed in the star light, her long fair hair
tumbled in a bright shower of ringlets to her gold girdled waist. Her
soft blue dress, studded with sapphires and pearls, floated out like a
filmy blue cloud in the evening wind. Never had she appeared so
young and beautiful. Head over tail, Orpah dove into the lake and
began swimming out to the boat and only the strong arms of the
Guardsmen kept Cheeriobed from diving after him.
"Orin! Orin!" cried the King in a tremulous voice, "where have you
been?" Almost ready to jump out of the boat herself, the Queen
raised her voice to answer, when a long tongue of flame shot across
the sky and with a thunderous roar, Quiberon rushed around the
point and hurled himself at the tiny boat. So sudden and unexpected
was the appearance of the monster, the Ozure Islanders fell back in
dismay.
"Save her! Save her!" groaned the King, struggling to free himself
from the Guards, but no one made a move. Akbad, stiff with fright
and terror, saw the great body of Quiberon poised over the small
craft, and in that moment some of the spirit and courage that had
distinguished him in his youth returned. With a hoarse scream, the
Soothsayer hurled himself into the air and, flying straight for
Quiberon, snatched the Queen from the very jaws of death. The
magic wings, which up to this time had refused to carry him beyond
the islands, this time, because he now had no thought of himself,
obeyed his command. Circling high over the head of the enraged sea
monster, Akbad headed for the sapphire castle. With shouts and
cheers the Ozure Islanders followed and, dashing into the castle after
the Soothsayer, barred the doors and slammed down the windows.
Before either the King or Queen had time to thank Akbad, the
gigantic body of Quiberon crashed through the garden and hurled
itself over the castle wall.
"We are lost!" wailed the King, as the castle began to rock and
tremble from the repeated blows of the furious monster. "Nothing can
save us now."
Cowering in the throne room, the King and his little band of followers
waited for the blow that would crush the castle and destroy them
utterly. But, strangely enough, the noise and confusion and thuds
upon the wall grew less and finally stopped altogether. "He's backing
away for a last try," groaned Toddledy, burying his head in his hands.
"Never mind," sighed the Queen, throwing her arms 'round
Cheeriobed's neck. "At least we shall perish together." At the Queen's
words there was a tremendous whack on the roof. A blue sapphire
sky-light splintered to bits and a great head was thrust through the
opening.
CHAPTER 17
A Royal Welcome
As High Boy, neighing joyously, trotted down the main street of the
Emerald City, windows were thrown up and doors flung open and the
inhabitants rushed out with torches to see who was passing. And
when they saw Trot and the Scarecrow, mounted on so strange a
steed, they promptly fell in, so that by the time High Boy reached the
castle a regular procession had formed behind them. Standing up and
balancing himself by holding on to Benny, the Scarecrow introduced
the little Prince of the Ozure Isles, the medicine man, the live statue
and lastly High Boy himself. Then High Boy, to the great delight of
the multitude, stretched up and then down, switched his umbrella tail
and bowed so often and vigorously that Trot and the others had all
they could do to keep their places. The wild cheers and shouts at
High Boy's performance brought the occupants of the castle running
to the windows and doors to see what was the matter.
"Why, Trot!" cried Dorothy, dashing down the golden steps. "We've
been hunting you all day and were just going to look in the magic
picture to see where you were."
"Well, here we are, my dear," laughed the Scarecrow, "and we bring
strange news and four strangers to the castle. Hello Hokus! Hello,
Jack! Hi there Tik Tok! Howdy, Scraps!"
Waving to the celebrities who crowded the open doorway, the
Scarecrow urged High Boy to enter. Mounting the steps carefully and
being careful not to tread upon any toes, High Boy stepped proudly
into Ozma's royal residence, Dorothy dancing ahead to announce
them to the little fairy. Betsy, Ozma, Nick Chopper and Jellia Jamb, a
small maid-in-waiting, were playing pa'cheesi, but hastily pushed
back the board, as High Boy came cantering in.
The Scarecrow Urged High Boy to Enter
"Why here's the whole pack," cried the Tin Woodman, jumping up
and waving the tin funnel he used for a hat—"the pack horse, too!"
finished Nick, eyeing the King's steed in some surprise.
"Pack Horse!" snorted High Boy, stopping short and rolling his red
eyes temperishly. "I'm a high horse, you odd looking junkman, and
I'll have you know I stand very high in my own country." To prove his
claim, High Boy clicked his telescope legs up so fast that Trot bumped
her head on the ceiling and the Scarecrow dove at once to the
carpet.
"Down! Down!" whispered Philador reprovingly. "And don't forget you
are in the presence of royalty." Lowering himself with one great jerk,
High Boy shortened his front legs and made a deep bow to the little
ruler of Oz, and Trot and the others lost no time tumbling off.
"The Prince of the Ozure Isles, Your Maj'sty!" puffed Trot, as Ozma
gave High Boy a bewildered smile. "The Medicine Man of Oz and my
friend Benny, from Boston."
"Is he alive?" whispered Betsy, putting out her hand to touch the
stone man, who was bending stiffly before the throne.
"Alive, but not a real person," sighed Benny, fixing his stone eyes
mournfully on Betsy Bobbin.
"He's much better than a real person," declared the Scarecrow,
rushing impetuously forward. "Just wait till you hear how he jumped
into the mouth of a monster."
"Tell us! Tell us!" begged Betsy, clasping her hands.
"Hast had an adventure, maiden?" Pushing his way to the throne, Sir
Hokus, the Good Knight of Oz, took Trot eagerly by the arm.
"Dozens and dozens!" panted Trot, sinking down on the carpeted
steps leading to the throne. "So many I hardly know where to begin."
"Why not begin with me?" suggested Herby, throwing out his chest
importantly. High Boy groaned with impatience as the contents of
Herby's chest flew about the room, and the Wizard of Oz, who stood
just behind Ozma, clapped on an extra pair of spectacles and hurried
forward to get a better view of the medicine man.
While Trot and the Scarecrow helped Herby pick up his pill boxes,
Ozma, noticing the worried expression of Prince Philador, bade him
come nearer and tell what was troubling him. Philador, dropping on
one knee before the throne, thought he had never seen a gentler
little fairy than the Queen of all Oz. Feeling a bit shy in the presence
of so great and grand a company he arose and told the whole story
of Mombi's enchantments and Quiberon's cruelty and of his flight on
the blue gull to the hut of Tattypoo.
Ozma and her advisers were not only astonished at the little Prince's
troubles, but alarmed and distressed by the unexplainable
disappearance of the good witch.
"As soon as Philador tells us the rest of his story, we will look for
Tattypoo in the magic picture," murmured Ozma, "and also for the
Queen of the Ozure Isles."
"I'd like a chance at that monster," blustered Sir Hokus, who was a
famous dragon slayer, "and myself and sword are at your service,
Princeling!"
Philador smiled gratefully at the Good Knight of Oz and, helped out
by Trot and the Scarecrow, told how he had released the medicine
man from his bottle—of his visit to the King of the Uplanders—his
meeting with High Boy—and their adventures with Trot and her
friends in Shutter Town. Then Trot told her story, about Benny and
his strange coming to life, his drop to Oz and their frightful
experiences in Cave City. During the telling of both stories, the
Wizard of Oz made hurried notes in his little black book and, as Trot
finished, he bounced out of his seat like a rubber ball.
"Your Highness," began the Wizard, looking over his specs at the little
fairy ruler, "I have jotted down for your convenience the problems to
be solved and the mysteries to be accounted for. First, we must find
the Queen of the Ozure Isles and restore her to her subjects.
Secondly, we must undo as much of Mombi's mischief as we can;
destroy Quiberon, punish the bird-man who carried Trot to the
monster's cave and restore the medicine man to himself."
At this Herby shook his head violently. "I prefer to remain as I am,"
declared Herby stoutly. "I am entirely satisfied with my medicine
chest."
Ozma smiled at Herby's earnestness and the Wizard drew his pencil
through that entry.
"We must then find Tattypoo," continued the little man seriously, "and
change Benny to a real person, as a reward for his services to
Philador and Trot."
"How about a little yummy jummy?" wheezed High Boy, who was
sitting on his haunches with both ears cocked forward.
The Wizard of Oz
"Why you're a fellow after my own heart," purred the Hungry Tiger,
crawling out from under a huge green sofa. "This good beast is
hungry. Let's all have something to eat," he proposed, licking his
chops and waving his tail gently from side to side.
"You may tell the royal cook to prepare a feast at once." Nodding
laughingly at the Hungry Tiger, the little sovereign rose and, stepping
down from the throne, took Philador's arm. "Come!" said Ozma. "We
will look in the magic picture and see whether Quiberon is still caught
in the cavern and where Mombi has hidden your royal mother."
As you may well imagine, Philador needed no urging. Even Ozma
forgot her dignity in the interest and excitement of the moment.
Hand in hand, they skipped up the golden stairway, followed by Trot
and all the other curious courtiers. Hanging in Ozma's sitting room is
one of the most curious and powerful treasures in all Oz. It is a magic
picture. One has but to stand before this picture and ask to see a
certain person. Immediately he appears and in exactly the place
where he happens to be at the moment the question is asked.
"We had better look at that monster first," said the Wizard of Oz,
settling both pairs of specs and staring nervously over Ozma's
shoulder. "Show us Quiberon!" he commanded, before the little ruler
or Philador had a chance to speak. Instantly the quiet country scene
melted away and out flashed the terrible figure of Mombi's monster,
throwing himself again and again upon the sapphire castle of Oz.
High Boy was so frightened that he shot up ten feet and bumped his
head on the ceiling.
"Have at you!" roared Sir Hokus, plunging forward and almost
forgetting it was but the small picture of Quiberon he was seeing.
Philador and Trot clutched one another in horror and only Ozma
remained calm. Clapping her hands for silence, she turned quickly to
the Wizard of Oz.
"Quick, Wizard!" breathed the little fairy, "Fetch your black bag of
magic and transport us all to the Ozure Isles. Take hold of hands!"
commanded Ozma, as the little wizard rushed from the room.
Philador immediately took Trot's hand, Trot took Benny's, Benny took
Herby's, Herby took the Tin Woodman's, Nick Chopper took Scraps',
The Patch Work Girl took the Good Knight's, he took Betsy's, Betsy
seized Dorothy, Dorothy took the Scarecrow, and High Boy, not to be
left out, jumped into the middle of the ring, as Jellia and Ozma
completed the circle. Then back skipped the Wizard, and, wriggling
between Dorothy and the Scarecrow, swallowed two of his famous
wishing pills, smiling confidently.
"Transport us at once to the Sapphire City and Castle of Cheeriobed,"
commanded the Wizard. Now Philador had never been transported in
his whole life. Gritting his teeth and closing his eyes he waited
tensely for something to drag him through the air and wondering
fearfully if they would be in time to save his father and the royal
household.
Feeling no motion or sensation of any kind he opened his eyes,
thinking in great disappointment that the magic spell had failed. But
so powerful are the Wizard's wishing pills, they transport one in a
twinkling and without ruffling so much as an eyebrow. So when the
little Prince opened his eyes, he was terrified to find Quiberon in the
center of their magic circle and the circle itself in the gardens of his
father's blue palace. With part of his long body coiled up in a flower
bed, and the other poised to strike another blow at the King's castle,
the awful monster did not even seem aware of the people from the
Emerald City. Trot hid her face on Philador's shoulder, and Philador,
with a shudder, saw the Good Knight draw his sword. But before Sir
Hokus could make a thrust, or Quiberon could strike, the Wizard of
Oz, blowing a black powder into the air, stamped three times with his
left foot.
With a terrible bellow, the great fear-fish began to hurl himself at the
castle, but froze in mid air, petrified by the Wizard's black magic into
a glittering dragon of silver and bronze.
"We'll move him later," observed the Wizard calmly. "A shame to have
a creature like that cluttering up so lovely a garden, but now let us go
in to the King."
"We'll Move Him Later," said the Wizard
Scarcely able to believe his eyes, and with many backward glances,
the little Prince tip-toed to the great jewel-trimmed door and knocked
twice. But no one came. Then Sir Hokus thumped loudly with his
mailed fist and High Boy, turning about, played a lively tatoo upon
the panels with his heels.
"They still think it's Quiberon," snorted High Boy at last. "Wait here,
I'll look in and see whether everything's all right." Stretching up till he
was on a level with one of the sky lights, High Boy butted out the
sapphire pane and stuck his head through the opening.
"Unlock your door," whinnied the high horse impatiently. "Unlock the
door, it's only us." Cheeriobed, who expected to see the terrible face
of Quiberon, stared up in perfect amazement at the talking horse. It
was not, you must admit, a very reassuring sight to see a horse's
head coming through the roof, and for a few seconds he was too
stunned to move or speak. But as High Boy continued to call loudly
for admittance and finally shouted that they were keeping Ozma
waiting in the garden, the good monarch sprang up and, unbolting
the door, himself admitted the royal rescuers. You can well imagine
the King's relief and astonishment when he saw the petrified figure of
Quiberon, rearing up over his castle.
"Father! Father!" cried the little Prince, clasping him around the waist.
"Here's Ozma and Trot and the Wizard of Oz, and Quiberon never can
harm us again."
At the sound of Philador's voice, Queen Orin rushed out to embrace
her son and, after hasty introductions and greetings all 'round, the
party from the Emerald City filed into the castle. Akbad slunk silently
out of sight, as Cheeriobed led Ozma to the throne. Seating Queen
Orin beside the little ruler and calling for footmen to bring chairs for
the other visitors, the excited King ran to and fro until everyone was
seated.
"Just think," puffed Cheeriobed, sinking down at last beside Philador,
"we don't even know where your mother's been all these years nor
how she escaped and came back to us. My! My! What a lot to be
talked over!"
"Talk! Talk! And still no food," groaned High Boy, flopping down
beside the medicine man. "I'm hollower than an old soldier's wooden
leg!"
"Never mind," comforted Herby, opening his medicine chest. "I have
a cure for that too." Taking out two pills and slipping them down High
Boy's throat, he winked knowingly. "They will dull the pangs of
hunger," he assured him gravely. While High Boy, with closed eyes
waited for his pangs to be dulled, Ozma looked happily around the
friendly group of Ozure Islanders.
"If we just knew where Tattypoo was," sighed the little fairy girl
softly, "there would be nothing more to worry us."
"Worry no longer, Your Highness!" Turning to see where the whisper
had come from, Ozma saw Queen Orin arise from the throne.
"I am the Good Witch of the North," announced Orin clearly.
"But I thought you were my mother," wailed the little Prince, seizing
her hand imploringly. At once the whole room was thrown into a state
of utmost confusion, some saying this, some saying that, and all
wondering aloud, so that it sounded like a session of congressmen.
"How can you be both a queen and a witch?" shouted the little
Wizard, standing on a chair so that Orin could hear him.
"You'll have to admit she's a bewitching Queen," neighed High Boy,
opening one eye and then the other and forgetting all about his
hunger pangs. "Why not let the lady speak for herself?" he called
shrilly.
"Sound horse sense," declared Toddledy, nodding approvingly at High
Boy, and Ozma, who was even more astonished than Cheeriobed at
Orin's announcement, raised her scepter for silence.
"Let Queen Orin tell her story," commanded Ozma in her gentle
voice. There was an instant silence and almost as one, the whole
company turned to the lovely figure in blue, and waited expectantly
for her to speak.
CHAPTER 18
The Tale of Tattypoo
"Twenty-five years ago," began the Queen, tossing back her golden
hair, "I was a Princess of the North. To the mountain castle of my
father, King Gil of Gilkenny, came Cheeriobed, Prince of the Ozure
Isles, to ask for my hand in marriage. His father was King of the
Munchkins, a monarch of great wealth and power. As my father made
no objection to the match and as I myself was quite willing—" Here
Orin paused and smiled prettily at Cheeriobed—"preparations were
made at once for the wedding.
"At that time, as you all know, Mombi was ruler of the North. Passing
Gilkenny one late afternoon and seeing the footmen hanging lanterns
in the garden, she stopped to inquire the reason for the festivities.
Cheeriobed, who was helping with the decorations, quickly explained
that they were for our wedding, and Mombi, in spite of her extreme
age and ugliness, fell instantly and deeply in love with the Prince. As
I watched uneasily from a hidden arbor, I saw the old witch transform
herself into a charming young maiden. Following Cheeriobed about,
she explained that she was no longer an old and ugly witch, but a
powerful Princess, that if he would marry her they would have not
only the Gilliken Country, but the Munchkin Country as well for their
Kingdom."
Cheeriobed pursed up his lips and shook his head sadly at this part of
the story, for he well remembered Mombi's wicked proposals and her
plan to destroy his father, the King of the Munchkins.
"Of course," proceeded Orin demurely, "Cheeriobed refused and
Mombi resuming her own shape rushed off in a fury, promising to
make us all suffer. That very night word came by messenger that
Cheeriobed's father had disappeared. And," continued the Queen
somberly, "he has never been heard of since. Distressed and unhappy
though we were, Cheeriobed and I were married at once and
returned to the Ozure Isles, where he assumed the title of King and
where we hoped to escape Mombi and her mischievous magic. For
three years we were safe and happy and thought she had forgotten
all about us. But one day, when Philador was about two years old,
Mombi suddenly appeared on the beach, where we were sitting
together. She was riding on a huge black eagle and, bidding the eagle
seize me in its talons, carried me off before I had time to cry out for
help, and that," sighed Orin, "was the last I saw of the Ozure Isles
until to-night."
"But what happened?" gasped Dorothy, leaning so far forward she
nearly tumbled from her chair. "Where did she take you?"
"To her hut in the mountains," answered the Queen sadly. "There,
shutting me up in a huge closet, she began an incantation to change
me into a witch, old and ugly as she herself."
"I know what happened! I know what happened!" cried the little
Wizard, springing entirely out of his chair and spinning 'round three
times. "You were too sweet and beautiful to turn into a bad witch and
the worst she could do only changed you into a good one." Orin
blushed at the Wizard's little speech.
"I don't know about that," she went on modestly, "but I do know that
I became a witch, forgetting entirely my former life in Gilkenny and
on the Ozure Isles, and living for several months in the forest without
home or shelter. Coming one morning on Mombi, at one of her
wicked enchantments, I raised my staff and bade her stop. To my
astonishment, I found I was a better witch than she. Magic phrases
and spells came easily to my lips, and without difficulty or trouble I
drove her out of the forest and took possession of her hut. Then, at
the earnest request of the Gillikens, I stayed in the North and ruled
over that great country as Tattypoo."
"Ruled wisely and well," added Ozma, giving Orin an affectionate pat
on the shoulder.
"But did you know then that Mombi had changed you to a witch?"
demanded Trot, looking up at the Queen with round eyes, "and how
did you change back to yourself?" Orin, with a rueful little laugh,
shook her head at Trot.
"I didn't realize, then, that Mombi had changed me to a witch," she
admitted frankly and went on to relate how Agnes, the amiable
dragon, had persuaded her to look in the witch's window. Her first
glance through the blue window pane had showed her Cheeriobed
and Philador, just as they were when she had left the Ozure Isles.
Remembering at once who she really was, Tattypoo had recklessly
and joyfully jumped out the window, thus breaking the witch's spell
and becoming her own true self again.
"What became of the dragon?" asked Sir Hokus, rattling his sword
hopefully.
"Why, Agnes turned out to be my maid-in-waiting, who had been
bewitched by Mombi too, and when she jumped after me she also
was restored to her own shape and immediately set off for my
father's castle, to tell him the good news. I, myself, started at once
for the Ozure Isles."

Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact On Southern England C 800 C 1100 3rd Edition Ryan Lavelle

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact On Southern England C 800 C 1100 3rd Edition Ryan Lavelle

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact On Southern England C 800 C 1100 3rd Edition Ryan Lavelle

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Full download ebook at ebookname.

Danes in Wessex The Scandinavian Impact on

Download more ebook from https://ebookname.com

The Scandinavian Unemployment Relief Program C. J.

Freedom and Protection Monastic Exemption in France c

Intellectual Culture in Medieval Scandinavia C 1100

The Coming Crisis The Impact of Eschatology on Theology

Heresy Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France 1100

The Burden of Southern History Updated third edition C.

Early Yiddish Texts 1100 1750 With Introduction and

Reading First Impact Study 1st Edition Beth C. Games

and in the United States by

© Oxbow Books and the individual authors 2016

Print Edition: ISBN 978-1-78297-931-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lavelle, Ryan, editor, author. | Roffey, Simon, editor, author.

Printed in the United Kingdom by Short Run Press, Exeter

For a complete list of Oxbow titles, please contact:

UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Oxbow Books is part of the Casemate group

Editorial Preface vii

1. Introduction: Danes in Wessex 1

2. West Saxons and Danes: Negotiating Early Medieval Identities 7

3. The Place of Slaughter: Exploring the West Saxon Battlescape 35

4. A Review of Viking Attacks in Western England to the Early Tenth Century:

5. Landscapes of Violence in Early Medieval Wessex: Towards a Reassessment

6. Scandinavian-style Metalwork from Southern England: New Light

7. Death on the Dorset Ridgeway: The Discovery and Excavation

11. Danish Landowners in Wessex in 1066 172

13. Some Reflections on Danes in Wessex Today 250

Select Bibliography 263

John Baker Jane Kershaw

Martin Biddle Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle† was the excavator of the Old

Derek Gore Thomas J. T. Williams

Introduction: Danes in Wessex

Ryan Lavelle and Simon Roffey

West Saxons and Danes:

Simon Roffey and Ryan Lavelle

You might also like