Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune

nts' Da

me to time, such passing events as seem worthy of remembrance; which record, deposited in the archives of the house, may preserve our memory when our bodies are but dust, and other brethren fill our places in the choir. Perhaps each generation thinks the events which happen in its own day more remarkable than any which have preceded, and that its own period is th

a land where there is no darkness or shadow of death; therefore we will not fea

these sacred walls. The first prior was Father Cuthbert, my godfather, after whom I was named. He was appointed by Dunstan, just then on the point of leaving England to escape the rage of the wicked and unhappy Edwy,

ry of the just is blessed. He died in 985, and then was I chosen by the votes of the chapter to be th

the glorious Avon, where the forests come nearly down to its banks. Above us rises a noble hill, crowned with the oak and the beech, benea

or the beauty of its tapestry, any church in this part of Mercia. Our richest altar cloth is made of the purple robe which King Edgar wore at his consecration, and which he sent to the thane Alfred of Aescendune for the

e have ten hides of woodland, wherein none may cut wood save for our use in the winter; five hides of arable land, and the same extent of pastura

sides six lay brethren, and other our chief servitors. We keep the monastic hours, duly rising at daybreak to sing

struct the youth in the elements of Christian doctrine. We superintend the labours of those who till the soil.

er, died young. Elfwyn is now thane, and I, the third boy, was given to the Church, for which I had ever felt a vocation, perhaps from my love to my godfather. We o

known and loved them. Taken from the evil to come, we cannot mourn them, nor would we call them back, although we sorely missed their loved forms. They were full of ye

has two children--Bertric, a fine lad of twelve, and as good as he is manly; and Ethelgiva, a me

ce offered the high office of abbot in one of our great Benedictine houses, but I wished to be near my own people

war, but for many years past the Danes, those evil men, have renewed their inroads, as they used to make them before the great K

fear the curse of the saints is upon him. When the holy bishop departed this life, I was one of the few who stood round his bed, and as he foretold

Aescendune, although many parts of Wessex, nay, all the sea coast and the banks of the great rivers have been wasted with

asleep. Every day we say the petition in our Litany, "That it would please Thee to abate the cruelty of our pagan enemies, and to

the estate, each in his own little cottage, save the domesti

took from a sermon I once heard the holy Dunstan preach. And he showed us how saints did not live idle lives on this earth, but always went about, like their Lord and Master, d

and I almost seemed as if I could see father, mother, and Elfric there. I would not wish them back; yet my heart is very lonely somet

nce is tolerated for fear of the reprisals which might follow any acts of hostility against them. Kill one Dane, the people say, and a hundred come to his funeral. Many of these settlers have acquired their lands peaceably, but other

that Anlaf who once ravaged England, and was defeated at Brunanburgh. He married an Engli

ps, had I been but a simple priest, and not also, small boast as it is, the son of a powerful English thane, whom they feared to offend, I had died in doing my duty. When the poor girl was dying sh

again I have seen him hiding in some remote corner of the church during service tim

wishes to b

r twice joined them in expeditions in the woods, and even entered their gates. His must be a lonely life at home; there are no othe

mber

irit and brightness, is very pious. It was a sight which I thought might gladden their guardian angels to see him and his sister kneeling with clasped hands at their uncle Elfric's tomb

ry, I saw my brother was anx

have you seen the youn

," I replied; "he wa

ngs to be a Christian, but do

his ster

s to be baptized; yet baptized I am

his father, I wonde

t; but perhaps he loves the memory of his m

ght-hearted merry villag

et us both try to do s

n opportunity of speaking to him,

dric the sheriff

y. Has he

r a long time about the cruelties and insolence of the Danes, when he added, in a marked manner, that they

ould he

m, and replied that whatever their countrymen might be guilty of,

did he

ged the

was a little discomposed by the sheriff's words. I don't like that sheriff; he is a cruel