49. Movements of the Danes.[107]—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 876, being the twenty-eighth year of King Alfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army of the heathen, leaving Cambridge by night, entered a fortress called Wareham,[108] where there is a monastery of nuns between the two rivers Froom <and Tarrant>, in the district which is called in Welsh Durngueir,[109] but in Saxon Thornsæta,[110] placed in a most secure location, except on the western side, where there was a territory adjacent. With this army Alfred made a solemn treaty to the effect that they should depart from him, and they made no hesitation to give him as many picked hostages as he named; also they swore an oath on all the relics in which King Alfred trusted next to God,[111] and on which they had never before sworn to any people, that they would speedily depart from his kingdom. But they again practised their usual treachery, and caring nothing for either hostages or oath, they broke the treaty, and, sallying forth by night, slew all the horsemen [horses?] that they had,[112] and, turning off, started without warning for another place called in Saxon Exanceastre, and in Welsh Cairwisc, which means in Latin ‘The City <of Exe>,’ situated on the eastern bank of the river Wisc,[113] near the southern sea which divides Britain from Gaul, and there passed the winter.
50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria.—In that same year Halfdene, king of that part of Northumbria, divided up the whole region between himself and his men, and settled there with his army.
51. Division of Mercia.[114]—The same year, in the month of August, that army went into Mercia, and gave part of the district of the Mercians to one Ceolwulf,[115] a weak-minded thane of the king; the rest they divided among themselves.
52. The Danes at Chippenham.[116]—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 878, being the thirtieth of King Alfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army left Exeter, and went to Chippenham, a royal vill, situated in the north of Wiltshire, on the east bank of the river which is called Avon in Welsh, and there wintered. And they drove many of that people by their arms, by poverty, and by fear, to voyage beyond sea, and reduced almost all the inhabitants of that district to subjection.
53. Alfred in Somersetshire.—At that same time the above-mentioned King Alfred, with a few of his nobles, and certain soldiers and vassals, was leading in great tribulation an unquiet life among the woodlands and swamps of Somersetshire; for he had nothing that he needed except what by frequent sallies he could forage openly or stealthily from the heathen or from the Christians who had submitted to the rule of the heathen.[117]
54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit.[118]—In that same year the brother[119] of Inwar[120] and Halfdene, with twenty-three ships, came, after many massacres of the Christians, from Dyfed,[121] where he had wintered, and sailed to Devon, where with twelve hundred others he met with a miserable death, being slain, while committing his misdeeds, by the king’s thanes, before the fortress of Cynwit,[122] in which many of the king’s thanes, with their followers, had shut themselves up for safety. The heathen, seeing that the fortress was unprepared and altogether unfortified, except that it merely had fortifications after our manner, determined not to assault it, because that place is rendered secure by its position on all sides except the eastern, as I myself have seen, but began to besiege it, thinking that those men would soon surrender from famine, thirst, and the blockade, since there is no water close to the fortress. But the result did not fall out as they expected; for the Christians, before they began at all to suffer from such want, being inspired by Heaven, and judging it much better to gain either victory or death, sallied out suddenly upon the heathen at daybreak, and from the first cut them down in great numbers, slaying also their king, so that few escaped to their ships.
55. Alfred at Athelney.[123]—The same year, after Easter, King Alfred, with a few men, made a stronghold in a place called Athelney,[124] and from thence sallied with his vassals of Somerset to make frequent and unwearied assaults upon the heathen. And again, the seventh week after Easter, he rode to Egbert’s Stone,[125] which is in the eastern part of Selwood Forest (in Latin ‘Great Forest,’ and in Welsh Coit Maur). Here he was met by all the neighboring folk of Somersetshire and Wiltshire, and such of Hampshire as had not sailed beyond sea for fear of the heathen; and when they saw the king restored alive, as it were, after such great tribulation, they were filled, as was meet, with immeasurable joy, and encamped there for one night. At daybreak of the following morning, the king struck his camp, and came to Æglea,[126] where he encamped for one night.
56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum.[127]—The next morning at dawn he moved his standards to Edington,[128] and there fought bravely and perseveringly by means of a close shield-wall against the whole army of the heathen, whom at length, with the divine help, he defeated with great slaughter, and pursued them flying to their stronghold. Immediately he slew all the men and carried off all the horses and cattle that he could find without the fortress, and thereupon pitched his camp, with all his army, before the gates of the heathen stronghold. And when he had remained there fourteen days, the heathen, terrified by hunger, cold, fear, and last of all by despair, begged for peace, engaging to give the king as many designated hostages as he pleased, and to receive none from him in return—in which manner they had never before made peace with any one. The king, hearing this embassage, of his own motion took pity upon them, and received from them the designated hostages, as many as he would. Thereupon the heathen swore, besides, that they would straightway leave his kingdom; and their king, Guthrum, promised to embrace Christianity, and receive baptism at King Alfred’s hands—all of which articles he and his men fulfilled as they had promised. For after <three>[129] weeks Guthrum, king of the heathen, with thirty[130] men chosen from his army, came to Alfred at a place called Aller, near Athelney, and there King Alfred, receiving him as a son by adoption, raised him up from the holy font of baptism. On the eighth day, at a royal vill named Wedmore, his chrism-loosing[131] took place. After his baptism he remained twelve days with the king, who, together with all his companions, gave him many rich gifts.[132]
57. The Danes go to Cirencester.[133]—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 879, which was the thirty-first of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid army of heathen, leaving Chippenham, as they had promised, went to Cirencester, which is called in Welsh Cairceri, and is situated in the southern part of the kingdom of the Hwicce,[134] and there they remained one year.
58. Danes at Fulham.[135]—In that same year a large army of heathen sailed from beyond sea into the river Thames, and joined the greater army. However, they wintered at Fulham, near the river Thames.