A Dream of England (or The Chronicles of Britannia)

A dream of England, beauteous fair, of all those who lived and died there

Part the Seventh:

Ethelwulf, Ethelred, Alfred and the wars with the Danes

The Saxons, now English, they loved their new home;

and fought for it proudly as it were their own.

But, just as with Romans and Saxons before,
a new enemy stared towards England’s shore
and it seemed the land would be conquered again
by fierce warriors known as “Norsemen” or “Danes”.
Ethelwulf, king of Wessex, now did sit
the head of the kingdoms in which England split;
many and long were the battles then fought
and lower and lower old England was brought.
Each of his sons, when Ethelwulf died,
in turn became king; and though each one tried
the Danes became stronger. By Ethelred’s time
the country was in a serious decline.
When Ethelred died his brother, Alfred,
a strong and wise man became king in his stead.
The ship-building skills of the Saxons had gone
and it was as sailors that the Danes were strong:
So Alfred decreed, “We must fight them at sea.”
And this was the birth of the English navy.
In 875 their first battle was on,
the first of many victories Alfred won;
‘till, by an oath, the Danes were forced to abstain
from ever making war with England again.
But their word meant nothing and soon they returned
and, once more, the homes and the lands were all burned.
These battles now fought were some of the harshest,
Alfred had to flee to the Somerset marshes.
In hiding, and joined by his nobles and kin,
he chose a nearby hill to build his camp in.
Alfred and his nobles worked hard night and day
to build a strong fort which he called, “Athelney”.*
Then messengers throughout the people did go
sent from King Alfred to let them all know
that their king was safe and of his hiding ground
and soon a small band of his friends gathered round.
Then one day Alfred’s friends attacked the Danes:
the battle was won – and more than that gained –
they captured “The Raven”, the great Danish banner,
and this put the Danes into a right clamor;
for the magic in their banner they counted on:
if The Raven’s wings spread, then the battle was won
but if they draped in sorrow the battle was lost
and an army without it would soon pay the cost.
The English were cheered and gathered round their king,
then Alfred thought of a much cleverer thing:
These wild and fierce Danes loved poetry and song,
he would dress as a minstrel and move through their throng,
for several days he would sing and would play
whilst sizing out where the Danes weaknesses lay.
Once armed with this knowledge he returned one night
to his fortress and rallied his troops for the fight.
In one mighty battle the Danes were defeated,
up and down the country this scene was repeated.
Alfred was victorious; the dark days were gone,
and the Danes’ king, Guthorm, bowed to Alfred’s throne;
he was even baptized as a Christian,
his Norse name changed to the English, “Aethelstan”.
The Peace of Wedmore was made with the Danes
and, though they didn’t leave, they did not fight again.
But they did leave Wessex, they moved up north and
the place became known as “Danelagh” or “Daneland”.
It was now time for peace, time for Alfred the king
to bring greatness back to his people again.

TO BE CONTINUED…

NEXT ON “A DREAM OF ENGLAND”:

Alfred “the great”

NOTE:

* “Athelney” means ‘The Isle of Nobles’