King Alfreds Viking

King Alfred's Viking, by Charles
W. Whistler

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Title: King Alfred's Viking A Story of the First English Fleet
Author: Charles W. Whistler
Release Date: November 13, 2004 [EBook #14034] [Date last updated:
July 28, 2006]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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ALFRED'S VIKING ***

Produced by Martin Robb

King Alfred's Viking A Story of the First English Fleet by Charles W.
Whistler.

Preface.
The general details and course of events given in this story are, so far as
regards the private life and doings of King Alfred, from his life as
written by his chaplain, Asser. One or two further incidents of the
Athelney period are from the later chroniclers--notably the sign given
by St. Cuthberht--as are also the names of the herdsman and the nobles
in hiding in the fen.
That Alfred put his first fleet into the charge of "certain Vikings" is
well known, though the name of their chief is not given. These Vikings
would certainly be Norse, either detached from the following of Rolf
Ganger, who wintered in England in 875 A.D. the year before his
descent on Normandy; or else independent rovers who, like Rolf, had
been driven from Norway by the high-handed methods of Harald
Fairhair. Indeed, the time when a Norse contingent was not present
with the English forces, from this period till at least that of the battle of
Brunanburh in 947 A.D. would probably be an exception.
There are, therefore, good historic grounds for the position given to the
hero of the story as leader of the newly-formed fleet. The details of the
burning of his supposed father's hall, and of the Orkney period, are
from the Sagas.
Much controversy has raged over the sites of Ethandune and the
landing place of Hubba at Kynwith Castle, owing probably to the
duplication of names in the district where the last campaign took place.
The story, therefore, follows the identifications given by the late
Bishop Clifford in "The Transactions of the Somerset Archaeological
Society" for 1875 and other years, as, both from topographic and
strategic points of view, no other coherent identification seems
possible.
The earthworks of the Danish position still remain on Edington hill,
that looks out from the Polden range over all the country of Alfred's
last refuge, and the bones of Hubba's men lie everywhere under the turf
where they made their last stand under the old walls and earthworks of
Combwich fort; and a lingering tradition yet records the extermination

of a Danish force in the neighbourhood. Athelney needs but the
cessation of today's drainage to revert in a very few years to what it was
in Alfred's time--an island, alder covered, barely rising from fen and
mere, and it needs but little imagination to reproduce what Alfred saw
when, from the same point where one must needs be standing, he
planned the final stroke that his people believed was inspired directly
from above.
It would seem evident from Alfred's method with Guthrum that he
realized that this king was but one among many leaders, and not
directly responsible for the breaking of the solemn peace sworn at
Exeter and Wareham. His position as King of East Anglia has gained
him an ill reputation in the pages of the later chronicles; but neither
Asser nor the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle--our best authorities-- blames
him as they, for his contemporaries knew him to be but a "host king,"
with no authority over newcomers or those who did not choose to own
allegiance to him.
Save in a few cases, where the original spelling preserves a lost
pronunciation, as in the first syllable of "Eadmund," the modern and
familiar forms of the names have been used in preference to the
constantly-varying forms given by the chroniclers. Bridgwater has no
Saxon equivalent, the town being known only as "The Bridge" since
the time when the Romans first fortified this one crossing place of the
Parret; and the name of the castle before which Hubba fell varies from
Cynuit through Kynwith to Kynwich, whose equivalent the Combwich
of today is. Guthrum's name is given in many forms, from Gytro to
Godramnus. Nor has it been thought worth while to retain the original
spelling AElfred, the ae diphthong having been appropriated by us to
an entirely new sound; while our own pronunciation of the name
slightly broadened as yet in Wessex, is correct enough.
The exact relationship of St. Neot to