Athelney

One stoop to stroke the grass, as if the earth were all one kind beast that could feel.

Why does no decent person write an historical novel about Alfred at his fort in Athelney, in the marshes of the Parrot? Not a very historical novel, not about his truth-telling pleas, or his founding the British Empire, or the British Navy, or the navy league or whichever it was he founded not about the treaty of wedmore and whether it ought as an eminent historian says to be called the pact of chippenham but an aboriginal romance for boys about the bare bald beatific fact that a great hero held his fort at an island in a river an island is fine enough in all conscience or piratic unconsciousness but an island in the river sounds like the beginning of the greatest adventure story on earth.

Robinson Crusoe is really a great tale, but think of Robinson Crusoe's feelings if he could have actually seen England and Spain from his inaccessible isle.

Treasure Island is a spirit of genius, but what treasure could an island contain to compare with Alfred? And then consider the further elements of Juvenile Romance in an island that was more of an island than it looked athelny was massed with marshes many a heavy harnessed viking may have started bounding across a meadow only to find himself submerged in a sea i feel the full fictitious splendour spreading round me i see glimpses of a great romance that will never be written i see a sudden shaft quivering one of the short trees I see a red-haired man waiting madly among the tall gold flowers of the marshes, leaping onward and lurching lower.

One stoop to stroke the grass, as if the earth were all one kind beast that could feel.

Why does no decent person write an historical novel about Alfred at his fort in Athelney, in the marshes of the Parrot? Not a very historical novel, not about his truth-telling pleas, or his founding the British Empire, or the British Navy, or the navy league or whichever it was he founded not about the treaty of wedmore and whether it ought as an eminent historian says to be called the pact of chippenham but an aboriginal romance for boys about the bare bald beatific fact that a great hero held his fort at an island in a river an island is fine enough in all conscience or piratic unconsciousness but an island in the river sounds like the beginning of the greatest adventure story on earth.

Robinson Crusoe is really a great tale, but think of Robinson Crusoe's feelings if he could have actually seen England and Spain from his inaccessible isle.

Treasure Island is a spirit of genius, but what treasure could an island contain to compare with Alfred? And then consider the further elements of juvenile romance in an island that was more of an island than it looked athelny was massed with marshes many a heavy harnessed viking may have started bounding across a meadow only to find himself submerged in a sea i feel the full fictitious splendour spreading round me i see glimpses of a great romance that will never be written I see a sudden shaft quivering one of the short trees.

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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Mike Harris The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty Chapter 11 The Isle of Athelney Edmund spent a month on his lands, moving about among his vassals and dwelling in their abodes.

He inspired them by his words and with fresh spirit and confidence, telling them that this state of things could not last, and that he was going to join the king, who doubtless would soon call them to take part in a fresh effort to drive out their cruel oppressors.

Edmund found that although none knew with certainty the hiding place of King Alfred, it was generally reported that he had taken refuge in the lowlands of Somersetshire, and Athelney was specially named as the place which he had made his abode in.

It's a good omen, Edmund said, for Athelney lies close to the parrot where my good ship the Dragon is laid away.

After visiting all the villages in his earldom, Edmund started with Egbert and four young men, whom he might use as messengers, for the reported hiding place of the king.

First they visited the Dragon and found her lying undisturbed.

The man on hearing the footsteps came to his door with a bent bow.

Alfred escaped with a small band of followers into the marshes of Somerset.

From a base at Athelney, surrounded by wetlands and difficult country, He began organising resistance.

For a time, Guthrum seemed to have won.

Northumbria had fallen, East Anglia had fallen, Mercia had fallen, and now the King of Wessex was a fugitive.

Hilton, for the stay.

We’ve trekked from Ashdown to Athelney, seen a king wrestle with marauding Danes, and watched him transform Wessex into an enduring polity.

The arc of his reign shows how decisive leadership can tip the scales against overwhelming odds.

Alfred wasn’t just fighting Vikings; he was laying groundwork for an England that could stand as a nation in its own right.

His maritime reforms helped secure supply lines and gave Wessex a foothold beyond its borders.

There’s also a fascinating psychological angle.

Alfred’s retreat into Athelney was as much a statement about resilience as it was a strategic pause.

In those marshes, he survived on local resources and relied on the goodwill of peasant farmers.

Thomas Bakewell, ten pounds.

Nay, Master Bakewell, surely out of three farms on the banks of Tone, and grazing land in the fattest part of Athelney, you can spare more than this for the good cause.

We shall doubtless see you again.' alderman smithson ninety pounds aha there is a slap for the scarlet woman a few more such and her throne shall be a ducking-stool we shall break her down worthy master smithson even as jehu the son of nimshi broke down the house of baal so he babbled on with praise precept and rebuke though the grave and solemn burghers took little notice of his empty clamour at the other side of the hall were several long wooden drinking-troughs which were used for the storing of pikes and scythes special messengers and tithing men had been sent out to scour the country for arms who as they returned placed their prizes here under the care of the armourer-general besides the common weapons of the peasants there was a puncheon half full of pistols and petronels together with a good number of muskets screw guns snap-hances birding pieces and carbines with a dozen bell-mouthed brass blunderbusses and a few old-fashioned wall pieces such as sakers and culverins taken from the manor houses of the county from the walls and the lumber-rooms of these old dwellings many other arms had been brought to light which were doubtless esteemed as things of price by our forefathers but which would seem strange to your eyes in these days when a musket may be fired once in every two minutes and will carry a ball to a distance of four hundred paces There were halberds, battle-axes, morning-stars, brownbills, maces, and ancient coats of chain-mill, which might even now save a man from sword-stroke or pike-thrust.

in the midst of the coming and the going stood master timewell the mayor ordering all things like a skilful and provident commander i could understand the trust and love which his townsman had for him as i watched him laboring with all the wisdom of an old man and the blithesomeness of a young one he was hard at work as we approached in trying the lock of a falconet but perceiving us he came forward and saluted us with much kindliness i have heard much of ye said he how ye caused the faithful to gather to a head and so beat off the horsemen of the usurper it will not be the last time i trust that ye shall see their backs i hear colonel saxon that ye have seen much service abroad i have been the humble tool of providence in much good work said saxon with a bow i have fought with the swedes against the brandenburgers and again with the brandenburgers against the swedes my time and conditions with the latter having been duly carried out i have afterwards in the bavarian service fought against swedes and brandenburgers combined besides having undergone the great wars on the danube against the turk and two campaigns with the masseurs in the palatinate which latter might be better termed holiday-making than fighting a soldierly record in very truth cried the mayor stroking his white beard i hear that you are also powerfully borne onwards in prayer and song you are i perceive one of the old breed of forty-four colonel the men who were in the saddle all day and on their knees half the night when shall we see the like of them again a few such broken wrecks as i are left with the fire of our youth all but burned out and naught left but the ashes of lethargy and lukewarmness nay nay said saxon your position and present business will scarce jump with the modesty of your words but here are young men who will find the fire if their elders bring the brains this is captain michael clarke and captain lockarby and captain the honourable sir jervis jerome who have all come far to draw their swords for the down-trodden faith taunt and welcome ye young sirs said the mayor looking a trifle askance as i thought at the baronet who had drawn out his pocket-mirror and was engaged in the brushing of his eyebrows I trust that during your stay in this town ye will all four take up your abode with me.

The reason I use Alfred as the one, the culmination of those other options is 'cause Alfred is a kind of culmination of the Augustine, the um, Boniface, and the Benedict together.

There was a sense of him having to withdraw, 'cause he had to withdraw to Athelney and, and, and consolidate strength when the, the Vikings had, had beaten them in battle, and he had to kind of come together.

Just clear Wessex.

Yeah, exactly.

in the midst of the great marsh of sedgemoor in somersetshire now intersected by drains and ditches is a small eminence covering about two acres of ground near the junction of the rivers parrot and tome at that time the spot was frequently transformed into an island when an incoming tide swept up the bristol channel turning the peat bogs and swamps into broad lagoons the rising ground which was afterwards named athelney or prince's island was at such times very difficult to reach except in a small boat and even then only by those well acquainted with the marshes it was covered by a great wood of alders in which roamed stags goats and other animals in this desolate spot alfred with his wife and family and a few faithful followers had taken refuge there they erected some rude fortifications and built wooden huts in which they lived for several months enduring many hardships from the cold and scarcity of food as supplies were difficult to obtain the king's life was in constant danger for at this time it was believed that numbers of his own subjects were offended with him for the stern measures he had adopted to raise money and troops against the enemy some of these would have betrayed him willingly to the danes but the poor peasants of somerset who knew this place of retreat refused to do so even for the large sum of money which they would thus have obtained from the invaders It was the month of January when the royal fugitives took refuge in the marshes, and they remained there until May.

Such valuables as they had been able to save had been taken with them.

In the year 1693, more than 800 years after Alfred's sojourn in Athelney, a wonderful jewel was found there.

it was discovered at newton park in somersetshire near the river paret somewhat to the north of the spot where the island and fortress of athelney were formerly situated This jewel, which is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, is believed to have formed part of the royal scepter and was probably lost by Alfred in the days of his homeless wanderings.

It consists of an oval-shaped polished crystal about two inches long and half an inch thick.

you will not trouble to look after the cakes though you will be quick enough to eat them she said some writers state that the name of the loyal cowherd was den of wolf alfred had first met him while wandering in the forest and on entering into conversation with the man was struck by his remarkable intelligence The king afterward caused him to be educated, and he rose to be bishop of Winchester.

It is well known that a certain Danawolf, who had risen from a very humble position, became Bishop of Winchester in 879.

But as it seems unlikely that he could have risen in so short a time, his first meeting with the King most probably occurred before Alfred's sojourn in Athelney.