And Ireland's shores And the hoarse vulture- To consume the prey. The greedy war-hawk too, And that grey beast The wolf which haunts the wood. No slaughter yet From eastern shores, Angle and Saxon came, Over the broad sea And Britain sought. These mighty smiths of war Most valiant Earls were they In addition to the preceding, it may be observed that the praises of Athelstan formed the theme of many an ancient poem. Henry of Huntingdon characterises some of these as mere bombast, but William of Malmsbury, although mostly agreeing with him in opinion, has preserved a portion of two which appear to claim a higher designation. In the first of these, his childhood and accession are related in laudatory, but not extravagant terms; and in the other, his victory over Anlaf is celebrated in a strain not unbecoming so noble an achievement. Some little reserve may be necessary when it is stated that Athelstan's forces mustered "A hundred thousand strong;" nor can it be doubted that the poet has exercised his licence freely when he avers that "Anlaf, only, out of all the crew Escaped the meed of death so justly due."+ The prayer of Athelstan before the battle, is perhaps nothing better than an invention of our old historians: it however exists both in the original Saxon, and in a Latin version, which is probably contemporary with the prose narratives of some of the earlier annalists. Sharon Turner gives a few of the opening sentences only in his valuable history, from which I have so largely quoted, but through the kindness of Dr. Hume I am enabled to present a 'version of the whole, accompanied by another poetical fragment relating to the crowning effort of the Saxon King. Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. iii. pp. 274-276. Ingram's Saxon Chronicle, pp. Giles's Saxon Chronicle, pp. 375–377. 141-145. + William of Malmsbury, p. 137. (Bohn.) SONG, ON ATHELSTAN'S VICTORY OVER THE DANES AT BRUNANBURH. [From MS. Cotton. Nero A. II., fol. 8, v°. Written in a bold Saxon hand, contemporary or nearly so with the event. (A. D. 938.) The song, or fragment, appears to have been taken down from recitation, by an ignorant scribe, and is hopelessly corrupt.] Printed by Mr. Thomas Wright, in the Reliquiæ Antiquæ, vol. ii. p. 179, (1845.) Domine Deus omnipotens, rex regum et dominus dominantium, in cujus manu omnis victoria consistit, et omne bellum conteritur, concede mihi ut tua manus cor meum corroboret, ut in virtute tua in manibus viribusque meis bene pugnare viriliterque agere valeam, ut inimici mei in conspectu meo cadent et corruant, sicut corruit Golias ante faciem pueri tui David, et sicut populus Pharaonis coram Moysi in Mare Rubro, et sicut Philistim coram populo Israel ceciderunt, et Amalech coram Moysi et Chananei coram Jesu corruerunt, sic cadant ininici mei sub pedibus meis, et per viam unam conveniant adversum me, et per septem fugiant a me, et conteret Deus arma eorum, et confringet framea eorum, et eliquisce in conspectu meo sicut cera a facie ignis, ut sciant omnes populi terre quia invocatum nomen, Domini nostri Jhesu super me, et magnificetur nomen tuum Domine, in adversariis meis Domine Deus Israel. SECTION II.-THE LOCALITY. Such was the Battle of Brunanburh, and such its consequences to the Danes in Lancashire. It was still called great at the time when Ethelward wrote his chronicle for the instruction of Matilda, and although all our historians have borne testimony to its magnitude and importance, they have invariably remained silent as to the locality of the conflict. The Saxon Chronicle states that the battle was fought near Brunanburh; Ethelward calls the place Brunandune; Simeon of Durham gives Wendune as the locality; Malmsbury and Ingulf name it Brunsford, or Brunford; Florence of Worcester agrees with the Saxon Chronicle; Henry of Huntingdon gives Brunesburh; and Geffrei Gaimar has the variations Brunswerce, Burnewest, and Brunewerche. In the Annales Cambria it is styled "Bellum Brune," or the Battles of the Brun; and the same designation is found in the Bruty Tywysogion, or the Chronicle of the Princes of Wales. All these, no doubt, imply the same locality, but no distinctive place is assigned by any of these authorities. William of Malmsbury says that the field is situated" far into England," and consequently must not necessarily be sought near the seashore, as some inquirers have recently suggested. Camden in his Britannia gives Brumford, near Brumridge, in Northumberland, as the place where "King Athelstan fought a pitched battle against Anlaf the Dane;" but Gibson suggests that it "must have been somewhere nearer the Humber;" although he finds a difficulty in carrying Constantine "and the little King of Cumberland so high into Yorkshire." More recently we find Bromborough in Cheshire, Banbury in Oxfordshire, Burnham and Bourne in Lincolnshire, Brunton in Northumberland, Brownedge in Lancashire, &c., suggested as probable sites; but so far as I am aware little else than unsupported conjectures are offered as reasons why we should prefer one of these localities to another, in our selection of that most entitled to credit. Dr. Giles, and others, merely vitiate the text of the Saxon Chronicle by writing the name Brumby instead of Brunanburh. Ingram in his map of Saxon England places the site in Lincolnshire, near the Trent, but without assigning any sufficient reasons; nor have other writers been much more careful. Turner merely observes that "the Villare mentions a Brunton in Northumberland," and Gibson states, what may still be seen in maps of a century old, "that in Cheshire there is a place called Brunburh," near the shores of the Mersey. The Lincolnshire localities do not appear to possess any better claims than similarity of sound in the initial syllable, and the same may be said of Brunton, Brownedge, and others. Brinkburn, in that county, is called Brincaburh by John of Hexham in A.D. 1154, and on such slight grounds the authors of the Beauties of England and Wales conjecture that "this is the true situation of Brunanburh!" (Vol. xii p. 190.) Some appearances of a fortification on the hill adjoining certainly lend a colour to this presumption; and similar slight indications of an encampment near Brumridge may have led Camden to decide in favour of this locality; but in the present state of our knowledge of these and kindred subjects we are entitled to demand something more than what these authors have produced, before we can admit that their conjectures are worthy of more than a passing consideration. The pages of a gazetteer, or the names on a map, may assist in detecting orthographical variations and coincidences; but they do not enable us to 32 The existence of a line of fortifications between Colunio (Colne) and Mancunium (Manchester) on the lower range of hills which divides Lancashire from Yorkshire, has been known to antiquaries ever since Dr. Whitaker completed his History of Whalley in 1818. He supposed the line to extend from Colunio to Cambodunum, but this I conceive is a mistake; for neither the locality nor the Ordnance maps give indications of any fortifications farther east than those on Twist Hill; whilst on the other hand they represent the line as continuous in the direction of Manchester, from Colne, by Littleborough and Rochdale. Several of these intrenchments were unknown to the historian of Whalley; but a recent examination of the principal portion of these interesting remains, (October 25th, 1856,) in company with my friend Benjamin Chaffer, Esq., has enabled me to enter more fully into their peculiarities and situation. For the sake of clearness I shall take them in order from northeast to southwest, in accordance with the numbers on the accompanying sketch-map of the district. 1. CASTERCLIFF is a formidable looking fortification, at a short distance from Colne, in a portion of what was once the Forest of Mereclesden (Marsden), and is supposed to have been the castra astiva of Colunio. Many Roman coins have been found in the valley below, and it is situated on the Roman road between Colunio and Cambodunum, and at the junction of this with the vicinal way from Rigodunum (Ribchester) to Alicana (Ilkley). The intrenchments form a parallelogram measuring about 550 feet long by 520 feet broad; but the walls appear to have enclosed an area of about 380 feet in length by 340 in breadth. The camp has been protected on the southwest front by a deep gully and also by a double vallum and foss, which are still entire about the whole crest of the mound. We were informed that many hundreds of tons of stones have been carted away from the walls within the last thirty or forty years, all of which appeared to have been subjected to intense heat. Large quantities still remain half buried in the soil, many of them completely vitrified, and others presenting a singularly mottled appearance from having been only burnt half through. The burnt sandstone and lime form excellent manure, and at the time of our visit a luxuriant crop of corn and cabbages had just been gathered from the broad ditches of this Roman camp. A less elevated plateau of considerable extent bounds the northeastern slope, which is again protected |