Elfric

“ I fear I shall never see poor Elfric again. My mind always seems to misgive me when I think of him; and I have so strong a foreboding that he has received my last blessing, that I cannot overcome it. No, Alfred, I fear we shall not see Elfric tonight.”
No more was said upon the subject; they reached the hall in good time, and startled the lady Edith by their tidings. ”

“ Elfric went, as he had been bidden to do, at the conclusion of the feast, to seek Edwy, and found him, it is needless to state, in a towering rage.
“Elfric,” he said, “am I a king? or did I dream I was crowned today?”
“You certainly were.”
“And yet these insolent monks have dared to force me from the company of Elgiva to return to that sottish feast, and what is worse, I find they have dared to send her and her mother home under an escort, so that I cannot even apologise to them. As I live, if I am a king I will have revenge.”
“I trust so, indeed,” said Elfric, “they deserve death.” ”

“ Elfric tried very hard to do so, and again partly succeeded. They had extended their walk all round the limits of the camp. It was a beautiful starlit night: there was a new moon, which was just going down, and an uncertain light hung about the field which was to be the scene of the conflict. It was one of those bright nights when the very aspect of nature suggests thoughts of the Eternal and the Infinite; when the most untutored being, gazing up into the deep blue void, finds his mind struggle vainly to grasp the hidden secrets those depths conceal ”

“ My only endeavour was to get the lady Edith and her remaining children safe from the castle; and it was only by dissembling my feelings, by talking face to face with the man of blood, by pretending to trust him, that I could succeed. Had he not thought us all perfectly satisfied, he would never have left the hall to go foraging in person; and now all would be well, but for this sad, sad chance, which has placed the poor lad Elfric in his power.”
“But,” said Alfred, “this makes the case worse than ever. Poor Elfric! they will kill him. Oh, can this be Ragnar?” ”

“ Elfric the sword-bearer, from whom better things might have been expected, considering his training in a godly house, had been seen mixing and using these hellish preparations which he could not have done if he had not first spat upon the cross and covenanted with witches and devils. Nay, so bold-faced had this young man been in his crime that he hath done this openly! The stranger had been seen many times in battle, and in the thickest of the fight, yet, while the Saxons fell thick around him, and every man that was not killed was wounded, he got no hurt,—no not the smallest! ”

“ Why should you think God meant us to pass through life like those miserable shavelings Edred delights to honour? Cheer up, Elfric; your bright face was never meant for that of a hypocrite. If you are so dreadfully bad, you are in a pretty numerous company; and I don’t think the shavelings believe their own tales about fire and torment hereafter. They are merry enough, considering.”
In short, poor Elfric’s short-lived penitence was given to the winds. Edwy went alone to be shriven on the morrow. ”

“ But when he had so done and so said, his merry eye twinkled, and there was as much of a smile about his mouth as the reverence due to the company allowed of in a novice.
“If there be magic,” said he, “it is all white magic; if there be a spell, it is not an unholy spell.” And as Elfric said these words he looked into the good-natured, right hearty, and right English face of my Lord Abbat Thurstan.
“Speak on, boy,” said the abbat; “speak out, my brave boy, and fear nought!” ”

“ It was Easter Eve, and Alfred had enticed him out to enjoy the balmy air of a bright April afternoon. Close by the path they took, the hall was rapidly rising to more than its former beauty, for not only had the theows and ceorls all shown great alacrity in the work, but all the neighbouring thanes had lent their aid.
“It will be more beautiful than ever,” said Alfred, “but not quite so homelike. Still, when you come of age, Elfric, it will be a happy home for you.” ”

“ Then I thought that this might come more easily from myself, seeing that Elfric had to stay with her, and I stood before her, and spoke.
"My Queen, that is not the Norman shore which you see. The Danes, into whose hands we have fallen, are taking us back to England."
As I said this, the queen's face grew white with rage, and she looked from Elfric to me, speechless. On the deck above stood Egil, and he caught my eye, and looked ruefully at us.
"What!" she said, "has Cnut bought you also? Is there no man whom I can trust?" ”

“ A bright pure boyhood ushered in a manhood of healthful vigour and bright intellect.
Children grew up around him after his happy marriage with Alftrude, the daughter of the thane of Rollrich. The eldest boy was named Elfric, and was bright and brave as the Elfric of old. Need we say he never went to court, although Edgar would willingly have numbered him in the royal household. Truly, indeed, were fulfilled the words which the Elfric of old had spoken on that Easter eve. ”

“ He smiled as he saw by Elfric’s bloodshot eyes and unsteady gait, as he rose, upsetting his seat, that his companion was something less master of himself than usual; he felt, it need hardly be said, no remorse, but rather regarded the whole thing as what might now be termed “a jolly lark.”
“Shall you require bearers, or can you walk to the boat? I do not wonder you are ill, you have eaten too much fish today; it is a shame to make the knees weak through fasting in this style.” ”

“ So we waited for a little while, watching the men as they berthed the ship; and as we stood there a word went round among the knot of people watching with us, and they parted, making a little lane, as they said, "The king comes". And then I heard the well-known voice of Eadmund calling gaily to us:
"Ho, friend Elfric, here have I come to see what a man fresh from a stormy voyage looks like, if light will serve me." ”

“ The queen and her two maidens and the three nuns, Elfric the abbot and his chaplain, Eadward and Alfred the athelings, and Alfred's tutor--who was a churchman of Elfric's own monastery--and myself.
Then there were the servants, ten in all, who rode each leading a lightly-laden pack horse. It was such a party as an abbot might well travel with, and that is all that would be said of us if the Danish riders asked aught of the roadside folk. I and Eadward alone were armed as the abbot's housecarles. The men bore but spear and seax, as would any wayfarer for fear of robbers and the like. ”

“ It is likely that Elfric will be archbishop ere long, and that will be well for us all. So great is the name of Cnut the king that hereafter it will be that all that was wrought of wisdom in his time will be laid to his account; but he would not have it so, for he knows what he owes to Elfric. But also I think that the cruel deeds wrought by the jarls while he was yet but a child will be thought his work also, for men will forget how young he was when the crown came to him, seeing that in utmost loyalty the jarls spoke of him ever as commanding, as the old viking ways bade them. ”

“ A few nights after Elfric’s arrival, when the palace gates had been shut for the night, the compline service said, the household guard posted, and the boys had retired to their sleeping apartments, he heard a low knock at his door. He opened it, and Edwy entered.
“Are you disposed for a pleasant evening, Elfric?”
“Such pleasure as there is in sleep.”
“No, I do not mean that. We cannot sleep, like bears in winter, during all the hours which should be given to mirth. I am going out this evening, and I want you to go with me.” ”

“ Elfric, the Archbishop of York; Elfric, who was Abbot of Malmesbury; and Elfric Bata (or The Bat) , a monk of Winchester and disciple of Elfric the Grammarian.
Elfric, the Archbishop of Canterbury, had been a monk of Abingdon, where the celebrated Ethelwold was his teacher. Ethelwold's chief delight was to teach young men and boys, and give them rules for grammar: by his pleasant and delightful conversation he drew them to better and higher things, for he was a popular master, and is reported to have invented "cribs" for his pupils by turning Latin books into English. ”

“ Elfric bade them remember and mind that the Lord Abbat of Ely was lord and proprietor of Dereham, and that they were or ought to be his liege men; and as they continued to complain, and to say that they wished the Normans would soon get back from Swaffham and Castle Acre, Elfric broke the pates of two or three of them with one of their own staves. But nowhere could these men do more than grumble; their numbers being but small, and the serfs being mostly on the other side: moreover, arms had they none, their friends the Normans having taken care of that. ”

“ Edwy quite understood the request conveyed in these words, and turning to the old thane requested him to allow his boys to join the sport on the morrow as a kind of bodyguard, adding some very complimentary words on the subject of Elfric’s courage shown in the rescue that afternoon.
“Why, yes,” said the old thane, “I have always tried to bring up the boys so as to fear neither man nor beast, and Elfric did indifferently well in the tussle. So he has earned a holiday for himself and brother, with Father Cuthbert’s leave,” and Ella turned to the ecclesiastic. ”

“ Good Elfric, go to thy cell and refresh thyself with sleep, for thou hast been a wayfarer through long and miry roads, and needest rest. We too are weary men, for we have read a very long letter and deliberated long on weighty trying business, and the hour is growing very late. Let us then all to bed, and at earliest morning dawn, after complines, thou wilt gird up thy loins and take thy staff in thine hand, and I will tell thee how to bespeak the Lady Lucia, an thou canst get to her presence. ”

“ Elfric took the cap out of his mouth, and let go the right arm of the old man, who thereupon took to crossing himself, and muttering some fragment of a Saxon prayer potent against evil spirits.
“Father,” said Elfric, who was now holding the horn lantern, “Father, we be no evil spirits or goblins, but honest Saxons from the Camp of Refuge come to seek corn and wine for the good monks of Ely; so tell us where we can best provide ourselves, and find cattle to carry our store down to Brandon. ”

“ The good-hearted Lord Abbat of Crowland baptized the child, and sundry of his monks, and the good prior of Spalding among them, were bidden to the feast. “Elfric, my trusty sword-bearer,” said the Lord of Brunn when the feast was over, “Elfric, I say, methinks I have given proof, that a man may love and fight, and be a husband and a soldier, at one and the same time, and that if we are to put off thy espousal day with maid Mildred until this war be over, thou wilt run a chance of never being married at all!” ”

“ He drew near a large pit into which the thralls were casting the dead. Many of the bodies presented, as we have already seen, a most ghastly spectacle; and nearly all had begun to decompose. Mentally he thanked God that Elfric, at least, was not there; and he turned aside his head in horror at the sight.
He now inquired of the foreman of the labourers whether he knew where the Etheling Edgar would be.
“You mean King Edgar, for the Mercians will acknowledge no other king. The people of Wessex may keep the enemy of the saints, if they like.” ”

“ Elfric saw me write it, did you not?”
Elfric was not used to falsehood; he could not frame his lips to say “Yes.”
Dunstan observed his confusion, and he turned to the prince with a look in which contempt seemed to struggle with passive self-possession.
“I trust, Edwy,” he said, “you will remember that the word of a king is said to be his bond, and so should the word of a prince be if he ever hopes to reign. I shall give Father Benedict charge to superintend your studies as usual.” ”

“ Elfric cried. "We are peaceful folk who cross the seas. It is the part of a good warrior and viking to let such go unharmed."
"Aye, so it is," answered Egil; "but, as it happens, we are looking for certain peaceful folk."
"You will not harm us," said Elfric, who knew nought of our queen's foolishness. "It is but a party of church people who go to Normandy."
"Put the holy man aside," said Egil to his men. "We are not heathens, and we will not hurt you, father."
So the warriors laughed, and went to draw Elfric away ”

“ They left the city early in the morning, and passed through Bænesington (Benson) , which having been originally taken from the Welsh by the Saxon chieftain Cuthulf, in the year 571, became the scene of the great victory of Offa, the Mercian king, over Cynewulf of Wessex in the year 777. One of Elfric’s ancestors had fought on the side of Offa, and the exploits of this doughty warrior had formed the subject of a ballad often sung in the winter evenings at Æscendune, so that Elfric explored the scene with great curiosity. Inferior to Dorchester, it was still a considerable town. ”

“ He did not see in the gathering darkness the traces of emotion visible on poor Elfric’s countenance, and he began in his usual careless way—“How are you, Elfric, my boy; glad Lent is nearly over? What a dismal time that wretched monk preached this morning!”
“Edwy, I am utterly miserable: I must tell all; I cannot live like this any longer.”
“What a burst of penitence! go to confession; to be sure it looks well, and if one can only manage to get out a few tears they account him a saint ”

“ He seldom had the power, even if the will, to communicate with home. Mercia was in many respects an independent state, subject to the same king, but governed by a code of laws differing from those of Wessex; and it was only when a royal messenger or some chance traveller left court for the banks of the Midland Avon, that Elfric could use the art of writing, a knowledge he was singular in possessing, thanks to the wisdom of his sire. ”