A literal translation of the Saxon chronicle

by Unknown

1007.

This year the tribute was paid to the Army; it was thirty thousand pounds; and this year also Ædric was appointed Alderman over all the kingdom of Mercia.

1008.

This year the King commanded that ships should be built and fitted out with diligence throughout England, at this assessment, one vessel from every 310 hides of land, and from eight hides a helmet and a breast-plate.

1009.

This year the ships were ready of which we have before spoken, and inasmuch as we learn from books, so many were never constructed by the English nation in any King’s days; and they were all collected at Sandwich, that they might lie off that port, and defend this land from every foreigner. But yet the country had neither the fortune nor honour to profit more by this fleet than by former armaments.

It was at this time, or a little earlier, that Brihtric the brother of the Alderman Edric accused Childe Wulfnoth the South Saxon the father of Earl Godwin before the King; on which Wulfnoth departed, and got together twenty ships, and plundered the whole southern coast, and did all manner of evil. Then it was said in the fleet that Wulfnoth might easily be taken if the attempt were made, on which Brihtric went forth with eighty ships, and he thought that he should gain great fame, and that he should bring back Wulfnoth alive or dead. But as they were proceeding in search of him, such a wind arose against them as had never been remembered, and the ships were beaten about and dispersed and driven ashore; and Wulfnoth immediately came and burned them. When it was known in the remainder of the fleet where the King was, how the other ships had fared, it seemed as if all plan and conduct were lost, and the King, with the Aldermen and High-Witan, returned home; thus lightly did they leave their ships, and the people who were in them rowed them back to London. And in this manner they caused the effort of the whole nation to fail, and the dread of the enemy was in no wise lessened, as all the English people had hoped. When the fleet was thus broken up, there came an immense army of the enemy to Sandwich soon after Lammas, and forthwith they went their way to Canterbury, and would speedily have stormed the town, had not the inhabitants with greater speed begged for peace, and all the men of East Kent made a peace with that army, for which they gave three thousand pounds. And soon after this the army sailed round as far as Wight, and they plundered and burned there as was their wont, and also in Sussex, in Hampshire, and in Berkshire. Then the King ordered all the nation to arms, that every quarter might be defended against them; nevertheless they went wherever they would. At one time the King with all the troops which he had collected, had intercepted them as they were returning to their ships, but when all his people were ready to fall upon them, the attack was prevented as usual by the Alderman Ædric. Then after Martinmas the army returned into Kent, and took up their winter quarters on the Thames, and lived upon Essex and upon the neighbouring counties on each side of that river; and they frequently attacked London, but, God be praised, the town yet stands in safety: for they ever failed in their attempts against it. And after Christmas they set out on an expedition through Chiltern, and so to Oxford, and they burned that town, and they plundered on each side of the Thames in returning towards the ships. But when they were warned that troops were assembled at London to oppose them, they passed over at Staines: thus they went on all the winter, and they were in Kent during Lent and repaired their ships.

1010.

This year, after Easter, the aforesaid Army invaded the Angles; they landed at Ipswich and marched straight forward to the place where, as they had heard, Ulfcytel was with his troops. This was on the morning of Ascension-day, and the East Anglians soon took to flight, but the men of Cambridgeshire stood their ground firmly. The King’s son in law Æthelstan was slain there, and Oswi and his sons, and Wulfric the son of Leofwin, and Eadwig the brother of Æfic, and many other good Thanes, and more than can be numbered of the common people. Thurcytel Myranheafod began the flight, and the Danes kept possession of the field of battle, and there they obtained horses; and after this they were masters of East Anglia, and they continued to burn and plunder that country for the space of three months, and they even penetrated into the wild fens, and slew both men and cattle, and they set all on fire, and they burned the towns of Thetford and Cambridge; and then they returned southward to the Thames, the cavalry keeping up with the ships; and very soon they set forth again, and proceeded westward into Oxfordshire, and thence into Buckinghamshire, and so along the Ouse until they came to Bedford, and thus on to Tempsford, burning wherever they went; and then they returned to their fleet with their plunder, and divided it amongst the ships. And when the English troops ought to have taken the field to repel the invaders they departed home, and when the enemy was in the east these were kept in the west, and when they were in the south our troops were in the north. Then all the Witan were summoned to the King, to consult how this land might be defended, but yet they persevered not for one month in any of the plans determined on; and at length there was no leader who would gather the troops together, but every man fled as best he might, nor indeed would any county unite with another. Then before St. Andrew’s day the Army came to Northampton, and forthwith burned that city, and they seized all that they would in those parts, and thence they crossed the Thames into Wessex, and so along the Caningan marshes (Cannington, Somersetshire?) and they set all on fire, and having gone as far as they would for that time, they returned to their ships at Christmas.

1011.