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And Ireland's shores
Disgraced in mind.
So then the brothers,
King and Atheling,
Their country sought :-
West-Saxon land:-
In fight triumphant.
They left behind them
The corse to devour;
The sallow kite-
The swarthy raven
With horned beak-

And the hoarse vulture-
With the eagle swift

To consume the prey.

The greedy war-hawk too,

And that grey beast

The wolf which haunts the wood.

No slaughter yet
Was greater made,
In this our land
Of people slain;
Before this time
By edge of sword:
As books declare
Of writers old:-
Since hither first
From eastern shores,

Angle and Saxon came,
Over the broad sea

And Britain sought.

These mighty smiths of war
O'ercame the Welsh;

Most valiant Earls were they

And gained the land.*

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.

Ingram's Saxon Chronicle, pp.

Turner's Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. pp. 274-276. 141-145. Giles's Saxon Chronicle, pp. 375-877. + 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.)

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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

prove, or pronounce, an identity, unless when supported by other and more positive evidence.

I therefore now propose to substitute the name of BURNLEY IN LANCASHIRE for any or all of these, and I hope in the course of this essay to render it extremely probable that the BATTLE OF BRUNANBURH was fought in its vicinity.

The town of Burnley must have been considered of some importance even in Saxon times, for there is every reason for believing that Paulinus himself preached the gospel in the neighbourhood, and baptized his converts in the River Brun. A Saxon Cross still exists in Godly Lane, near St. Peter's Church,* of a similar character and workmanship to those at Whalley and Dewsbury, which are generally admitted to attest the presence of the "Apostle of the North"; whilst Bishop Leap and Bishop House in the immediate vicinity of the cross, may be adduced as additional evidences of the archbishop's visit. Lying as the town does upon one of the Roman roads between Rigodunum (Ribchester) and Cambodunum (Slack), and being itself a station, there could be little difficulty in the way of his arrival in this locality, although later travellers may have found the country wild and inhospitable. Local tradition also asserts that the church was intended to be erected on the site now occupied by the cross; but that whatever the workmen built during the day, was removed during the following night, by supernatural means, to the place where it was subsequently erected. Burnley would therefore be well known to the Saxons; the nomenclature of the district attests their long occupation of the country;-its church would probably be one of the first to be erected after the conversion of the inhabitants to Christianity, and a burh for its protection would no doubt be erected on the steep cliffs of the Brun, by which the church is overlooked on the west.

But the proofs of Danish possession are not the less remarkable and conclusive. Almost every local name which is not Saxon, is either Danish or Norwegian in its origin. We have Danes House to the north of the town, and Saxifield, or Saxonfield Dyke, which is mentioned in a charter of the reign of King John, on the edge of a broad and easy slope within a short distance. New-Kirks are found both in Pendle Forest and in Rossendale; Thorpe occurs near Bacup; Laiths abound in all directions,

See my History of the Parochial Church of Burnley, p. 10.

as Hey Laith, Moor Laith, &c.; By is found in Earby near Colne; Holme and Longholme are not far distant; Pinhow and Kellbrook are again not far from Colne. Shelfeld, Longridge Fell, Riddy-halgh, Musty-halgh, Haulgh-head, Brunshaw, Walshaw, Haggate, Narrowgate, Laund-booth, Scarth Rake, and a multitude of others might be pointed out as decidedly Danish names of places; whilst Winwall, (the place of contention), near Emmot Moor, and the Old Dyke, indicate intrenchments which have now almost wholly disappeared during the progress of cultivation; but taken together with Warcock Hill in the same neighbourhood, may carry us back in imagination to those dreaded banners, blazoned with the Danish raven, which floated aloft during the conflicts we have undertaken to illustrate. Toft and Garth occur in deeds without date; Beck, Biggin, and Tarn, are still heard daily in common conversation; nor would it be difficult to add considerably to the lengthiest of the published lists of these certain indications of Danish occupation.

Again, it is not at all improbable that Athelstan himself visited the neighbourhood of Burnley. Baines in his History of Lancashire, vol. iv. p. 371, asserts, on the authority of the Mundana Mutabilia, Harl. MSS. 1727, fo. 336, that a deed exists in the Saxon tongue, granting the lands of Elston, or Ethelston, to Ethelston of Amounderness at the time when he was "lying in camp in this country upon occasion of war"; and in A.D. 926, both the Saxon Chronicle and Florence of Worcester bear testimony to his confirming a treaty of peace between the Welsh, Scots, and Northumbrians, whom he had subdued, “at a place called Eamot, on the fourth before the ides of July." He also expelled Guthfrith from Northumbria in A.D. 927. Where Eamot was situated the chroniclers do not say, but its derivation from Ea=water, and Munt=mouth, indicates the mouth of the water, and Emot, a hamlet and a large estate in the Forest of Trawden, near Colne, both answers to the etymological requirements of the name in the Hallown or Saint's Well, which pours forth an abundant stream, and has besides given name to a family whose ancestry is too ancient for genealogists to trace. (See Whitaker's Whalley, p. 397.) It can therefore scarcely be doubted that this is the place intended, and if so, Athelstan would be well acquainted with the nature of the country. We must consequently inquire whether the military defences of this portion of the English Appenines were such at that period as to warrant his presence in these districts when engaged in warfare against Anlaf and the Danes.

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