“ But to you, my brother, shall, by the authority of our God, and Lord Jesus Christ, be subject not only those bishops you shall ordain, and those that shall be ordained by the bishop of York, but also all the priests in Britain; to the end that from the mouth and life of your holiness they may learn the rule of believing rightly, and living well, and fulfilling their office in faith and good manners, they may, when it shall please the Lord, attain the heavenly kingdom. God preserve you in safety, most reverend brother. ”

“ These are the dooms which Alfred the king chose, in order that no man should deem them otherwise than according to his will.
... “That which ye will that other men do not unto you, do ye not that to other men.” On this one doom let a man think that he judge every one righteously: he need heed no other doom-book. Let him remember that he adjudge to no man that which he would not that he should adjudge to him, if he sought judgment against him. ”

“ Know also that we have sent a sacred article from amongst our dalmatics or palls to each episcopal see of your kingdom or Æthelred’s, as an alms for the apostolic lord Adrian, our father and your well-wisher; beseeching that you will order diligent intercession to be made for his soul, not because we doubt that his blessed soul is at rest, but to show our faith and affection towards our dearest friend: as S. Augustine lays down that the church should make holy intercession for all, declaring that intercession for a good man is of benefit to him that makes it. ”

“ I say nothing of the poor, the meanness of whose fortune often restrains them from overstepping the bounds of justice: I omit men of ecclesiastical rank, whom sometimes respect to their profession, and sometimes the fear of shame, suffer not to deviate from the truth: I speak of princes, who from the greatness of their power might have full liberty to indulge in pleasure; some of whom in their own country, and others at Rome, changing their habit, obtained a heavenly kingdom and a saintly intercourse. ”

“ If a Welsh slave slay an Englishman, then shall he who owns him deliver him up to the lord and the kindred, or give 60 shillings for his life. But if he will not give that sum for him, then must the lord free him; afterwards let his kindred pay the value, if he have a free kindred; if he have not, let his foes take heed to him. The free need not pay kindred-amends with the slave, unless he be desirous to buy off from himself the vengeance; nor the slave with the free. ”

“ The present life of man, O king, seems to me, in comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift flight of a sparrow through the room wherein you sit at supper in winter, with your commanders and ministers, and a good fire in the midst, whilst the storms of rain and snow prevail abroad ”

“ Moreover I command all sheriffs or bailiffs throughout my whole kingdom, as they value my affection or their own safety not to commit injustice towards any man, rich or poor, but to allow all, noble and ignoble alike, to enjoy impartial law, from which they are never to deviate, either on account of royal favour, the person of any powerful man, or for the sake of amassing money for myself: for I have no need that money be accumulated for me by unjust exactions. ”

“ Lamentable to behold, in the midst of the streets lay the tops of lofty towers, tumbled to the ground, stones of high walls, holy altars, fragments of human bodies, covered with livid clots of coagulated blood, looking as if they had been squeezed together in a wine-press ”

“ I, Ine, by God’s grace, King of the West Saxons, with the counsel and with the teaching of Cenred my father, and of Hedde my bishop [of Winchester] , and of Ercenwold my bishop [of London] , and of all my ealdormen, and the oldest witan of my people, and also of a great assembly of the servants of God, have been considering concerning the health of our soul, and concerning the stability of our realm; so that right law and right kingly dooms might be settled and established throughout our folk. And let no ealdorman nor any of our subjects after this seek to turn aside any of these our dooms. ”

“ These are the dooms which Ethelbert the King gave forth in Augustine’s days:
1. The property of God and of the church, twelve-fold; a bishop’s property, eleven-fold; a priest’s property, nine-fold; a deacon’s property, six-fold; a clerk’s property, three-fold; right of sanctuary, two-fold.
2. If the king call his people to him, and any one there do them evil, a two-fold amends, and 50 shillings to the king.
5. If a man slay another in the king’s “tun,” let him make amends with 50 shillings.
6. If any one slay a freeman, 50 shillings to the king as a fine. ”

“ In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who reigns for ever and for ever, and governs his church, it was thought meet that we should assemble, according to the custom of the venerable canons, to treat about the necessary affairs of the church. ”

“ The army advanced, still wet with the baptismal water; the faith of the people was strengthened; and whereas human power had before been despaired of, the Divine assistance was now relied upon. The enemy received advice of the state of the army, and not questioning their success against an unarmed multitude, hastened forwards, but their approach was, by the scouts, made known to the Britons; the greater part of whose forces being just come from the font, after the celebration of Easter, and preparing to arm and carry on the war, Germanus declared he would be their leader. ”

“ The kings, both father and son, came thither, Bishop Colman with his Scottish clerks, and Agilbert with the priests Agatho and Wilfrid; James and Romanus were on their side. But the Abbess Hilda and her followers were for the Scots, as was also the venerable Bishop Cedd, long before ordained by the Scots, as has been said above; and he was in that council a most careful interpreter for both parties.
When Wilfrid had spoken, the king said, “Is it true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?” He answered, “It is true, O king!” ”

“ We wish that by our command they may lawfully enjoy protection and patronage in our kingdom according to the ancient custom of trading. And if they be unjustly oppressed anywhere, let them appeal to us or to our judges and we will afterwards order holy justice to be done. Likewise concerning ours: if they suffer any injustice in your realm, let them appeal to your equitable judgment: that no quarrel may anywhere arise between our subjects. ”

“ But the king nevertheless strenuously fought against him with those men who would follow him; and there was great slaughter made on either hand. There was slain King Harold, and Leofwine the earl, his brother, and Gyrth the earl, his brother, and many good men; and the Frenchmen had possession of the place of carnage, all as God granted them for the people’s sins. Archbishop Aldred and the townsmen of London would then have child Edgar for king, all as was his true natural right: and Edwin and Morcar vowed to him that they would fight together with him. ”

“ If a man demand the value of the slain, he must declare that he slew him for a thief; not the associates of the slain, nor his lord. But if he conceal it, and after a time it become known, then he gives opportunity for the oath for the dead man, that his kindred may exculpate him.
23. If a foreigner be slain, the king has two parts of the value, a third part his son or kinsmen. But if he be kinless, half the king, half the gesith. If, however, it be an abbot or an abbess, let them divide in the same wise with the king. A Welsh tenant, 120 shillings; his son, 100 shillings ”

“ They formed a wicked plot among themselves, who had such evil minds and so dark and devilish a gloom that they did not fear to lay hands on the Lord’s Anointed. He was surrounded on all sides by armed men, amongst them the butler ready to serve in his lowly office. Now the revered king had with him very few thegns, because he feared no man, trusting in the Lord and in the might of His goodness. He had been instructed in the divine law by bishop Sideman, and was strong and hardy in body. ”

“ If a man accuse a man of less degree than the king’s thegn, let him clear himself with 11 of his equals and with one king’s thegn. And similarly in every suit that is for more than 4 mancuses. And if he dare not, let him pay it three-fold as it may be valued.
4. And that every man know his guarantor for men and for horses and for oxen.
5. And we all declared on the day that the oaths were sworn that neither slave nor free might go to the army without leave, and their men none the more to us. ”

“ Then the peers on either side decreed that every kind of evil should cease: and the king gave the peace of God and his full friendship to either side. Then the king and his peers decreed that a council of all the nobles should be held for the second time in London at the harvest equinox; and the king directed the army to be called out, as well south of the Thames as north, all that was in any way most eminent. Then declared they Sweyn the earl an outlaw, and summoned Godwin the earl and Harold the earl, to the council, as quickly as they could effect it. ”

“ Some, therefore, of the miserable remnant, being taken in the mountains, were murdered in great numbers; others, constrained by famine, came and yielded themselves to be slaves for ever to their foes, running the risk of being instantly slain, which truly was the greatest favour that could be offered them: some others passed beyond the seas with loud lamentations instead of the voice of exhortation.... ”

“ Geneat’s duty is manifold according to the custom of the estate. On some he must furnish rent and a grass-swine every year, and must ride and carry, and lead loads, labour, and entertain his lord, and reap and mow, trim the deer-hedge, and keep it firm, build and hedge the burh, bring strange comers to the tun, pay church-scot and alms fee, keep watch by his lord, and horse-ward, go errands far or near, wherever he is ordered. ”

“ To whom the man of God, Augustine, is said, in a threatening manner, to have foretold, that in case they would not join in unity with their brethren, they should be warred upon by their enemies; and, if they would not preach the way of life to the English nation, they should at their hands undergo the vengeance of death. ”

“ But Bishop Wilfrid, by preaching to them, not only delivered them from the misery of perpetual damnation, but also from an inexhaustible calamity of temporal death, for no rain had fallen in that province in three years before his arrival, whereupon a dreadful famine ensued, which cruelly destroyed the people. In short, it is reported, that very often, forty or fifty men, being spent with want, would go together to some precipice, or to the sea-shore, and there, hand in hand, perish by the fall, or be swallowed up by the waves. ”

“ Trader.—I get into my boat with my load, and I row over the waters and sell my things, and I buy things of great price which this land does not bring forth, and I bring them hither to you, with great danger, over the sea, and sometimes I suffer shipwreck, with the loss of all my things, barely escaping with my life. ”

“ The newcomers received of the Britons a place to inhabit, upon condition that they should wage war against their enemies for the peace and security of the country, whilst the Britons agreed to furnish them with pay. Those who came over were of the three most powerful nations of Germany—Saxons, Angles, and Jutes. From the Jutes are descended the people of Kent, and of the Isle of Wight, and those also in the province of the West Saxons who are to this day called Jutes, seated opposite to the Isle of Wight. ”

“ If a convicted slave, an Englishman, steal himself away, let him be hanged, and nothing paid to his lord. If any one slay him, let nothing be paid to his kindred, if they have not redeemed him within twelve months.
A Welshman, if he have five hides, he shall be as a 600-shilling man.
25. If a chapman chaffer up among the folk, let him do it before witnesses. If stolen goods be seized with a chapman, 43and he have not bought them before good witnesses, let him prove, according to the fine, that he was neither witting nor the thief; or let him pay 36 shillings as fine. ”

“ In this island landed the servant of our Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being, as is reported, nearly forty men. They had, by order of the blessed Pope Gregory, taken interpreters of the nation of the Franks, and sending to Ethelbert, signified that they were come from Rome, and brought a joyful message, which most undoubtedly assured to all that took advantage of it everlasting joys in heaven, and a kingdom that would never end, with the living and true God. ”

“ They then in many synods ordained amends for many human misdeeds: and in many synod-books they wrote, at one place one doom, at another another.
I, then, King Alfred, gathered these laws together and caused them to be written down, selecting many which pleased me from among those ordained by my predecessors. And many of those which I liked not I abrogated by the counsel of my witan, ordaining some different way for the future. For I did not dare to set down in writing many of my own suggestions, not knowing how they would be liked by those who should come after. ”