Edwy the Fair or the First Chronicle of Aescendune, Page 3

unlike the castellated buildings which,at a later period, formed the dwellings of the proud Norman nobility, itwas a low irregular building, the lower parts of which were of stone,and the upper portions, when there was a second story, of thick timberfrom the forest.

  A river, from which the evening mist was slowly rising, lay beyond, andsupplied water to a moat which surrounded the edifice, for in thosetroublous times few country dwellings lacked such necessary protection.The memory of the Danish invasions was too recent; the marauders ofeither nation still lurked in the far recesses of the forest, andplundered the Saxon inhabitant or the Danish settler indiscriminately,as occasion served.

  On the inner side of the moat a strong palisade of timber completed thedefence. One portal, opening upon a drawbridge, formed the sole apparentmeans of ingress or egress.

  Passing the drawbridge unquestioned, the boys entered the courtyard,around which the chief apartments were grouped. Before them a flight ofstone steps led to the great hall where all the members of the communitytook their meals in common, and where, around the great fire, they wiledaway the slow hours of a winter evening.

  On each side of the great hall stood the bowers, as the smalldormitories were called, furnished very simply for the use of the higherdomestics with small round tables, common stools, and beds in recesseslike boxes or cupboards. Such were commonly the only sleeping chambers,but at Aescendune, as generally in the halls of the rich, a widestaircase conducted to a gallery above, from each side of which openedsleeping and sitting apartments allotted to the use of the family. Itwas only in the houses of the wealthy that such an upper floor was found.

  On the right hand, as they entered the courtyard, stood the privatechapel of the household, where mass was said by the chaplain, to whomallusion has been already made, as the first duty of the day, and whereeach night generally saw the household again assembled for compline orevening prayers.[iii] On the left hand were domestic offices.

  Upon the steps of his hall stood Ella, the Thane of Aescendune, therepresentative of a long line of warlike ancestors, who had occupied thesoil since the Saxon conquest of Mercia.

  He was clad in a woollen tunic reaching to the knee, over which a cloakfastened by a clasp of gold was loosely thrown; and his feet were cladin black pointed boots, while strips of painted leather were wound overred stockings from the knee to the ankle.

  "You are late, my sons," he said, "and I perceive you have brought us avisitor. He is welcome."

  "Father," said Elfric, in a voice somewhat expressive of awe, "it isPrince Edwy!"

  The thane had in his earlier days been at court, and had known themurdered Edmund, the royal father of his guest, intimately. It was notwithout emotion, therefore, that he welcomed the son to his home, andsaluted him with that manly yet reverential homage their relativepositions required of him.

  "Welcome, thrice welcome, my prince," he said, "to these humble halls."He added, with some emotion, "I could think the royal Edmund stoodbefore me, as I knew him while yet myself a youth."

  The domestics, who had assembled, gazed upon their visitor with countrycuriosity, yet were not wanting in rude but expressive courtesy; andsoon he was conducted to the best chamber the house afforded, wherechange of raiment and every comfort within the reach of his host wasprovided, while the cooks were charged to make sumptuous additions tothe approaching supper.

  CHAPTER II. THE HOUSE OF AESCENDUNE.

  The earlier fortunes of the house of Aescendune must here obtrudethemselves upon the notice of the reader, in order that he may moreeasily comprehend the subsequent pages of our veritable history.

  Sebbald, the remote ancestor of the family, was amongst the earliestSaxon conquerors of Mercia. He fell in battle with the Britons, orWelshmen as our ancestors called them, leaving sons valiant as theirsire, to whom were given the fertile lands lying between the river Avonand the mighty midland forests, to which they gave the name "Aescendune."

  They had held their own for three hundred years with varying fortunes;once or twice home and hearth were desolated by the fierce tide ofDanish invasion, but the wars subsided, and the old family resumed itsposition, amidst the joy of their dependants and serfs, to whom theywere endeared by a thousand memories of past benefits.

  But a generation only had passed since the shadow of a great woe fell onthe family of Aescendune.

  Offa, who was then the thane, had two sons, Oswald the elder, and Ellathe younger, with whom our readers are already acquainted.

  The elder possessed few of the family virtues save brute courage. He wasever rebellious, even in boyhood, and arrived at man's estate in themidst of unsettled times of war and tumult. Weary of the restraints ofhome, he joined a band of Danish marauders, and shared their victories,enriching himself with the spoils of his own countrymen. Thus heremained an outlaw, for his father disowned him in consequence of hiscrime, until, fighting against his own people in the great battle ofBrunanburgh, [iv] where Athelstane so gloriously conquered the alliedDanes, Scots, and Welsh, he was taken prisoner.

  The victor king sat in judgment upon the recreant, surrounded by hischief nobility and vassal kings. The guilt of the prisoner was evident,nay undenied, and the respect in which his sire was held alone delayedthe doom of a cruel death from being pronounced upon him.

  While the council yet deliberated, Offa appeared amongst them, and, likea second Brutus, took his place amongst his peers. Disclaiming allpersonal interest in the matter, he sternly proposed that the claims ofjustice should be satisfied.

  Yet they hesitated to shed Oswald's blood: the alternative they adoptedwas perhaps not more merciful--although a common doom in those times.They selected a crazy worm-eaten boat, and sent the criminal to sea,without sail, oar, or rudder, with a loaf of bread and cruse of water,the wind blowing freshly from off the land.

  Oswald was never heard of again; but after his supposed death,information was brought to his father that the outlaw had been marriedto a Danish woman, and had left a son--an orphan--for the motherdied in childbirth.

  Offa resolved to seek the boy, and to adopt him, as if in reparation forthe past. The effort he had made had cost him a bitter pang, and thefather's heart was well-nigh broken. For a time the inquiries wereunsuccessful. It was discovered that the mother was dead, that she haddied before the tragedy, but not a word could be learned respecting theboy, and many had begun to doubt his existence, when, after years hadelapsed, one of the executioners of the cruel doom deposed on hisdeathbed that a boy of some ten summers had appeared on the beach, hadcalled the victim "father," and had so persistently entreated to sharehis doom, that they had allowed him to do so, but had concealed thefact, rightly fearing blame, if not punishment. The priest who hadattended his dying bed, and heard his last confession, bore the tidingsto Offa at the penitent's desire.

  The old thane never seemed to lift up his head again: the sacrifice hissense of duty had exacted from him had been too great for a heartnaturally full of domestic affection, and he sank and died after a fewmonths in the arms of his younger and beloved son Ella.

  The foundation of the neighbouring priory and church of St. Wilfred hadbeen the consolation of his later years, but the work was only halfcompleted at his death. It was carried on with equal zeal by Ella, nowthe Thane of Aescendune.

  He married Edith, the daughter of a rich thane of Wessex, and themarriage proved a most happy one.

  Sincerely religious, after the fashion of their day, they honoured Godwith their substance, enriched the church of St. Wilfred, where the dustof the aged Offa awaited the resurrection of the just, and continued thelabour of building the priory. Day after day they were constant in theirattendance at mass and evensong, and strove to live as foster parents totheir dependants and serfs.

  The chief man in his hundred, Ella acted as reeve or magistrate, holdinghis court for the administration of justice each month, and giving suchjust judgment as became one who had the fear of God before him. Noappeal was ever made from him to the ealdorman (earl) or scirgerefa(sh
eriff) and the wisdom and mercy of his rule were universally renowned.

  His land was partly cultivated by his own theows, who were in those daysslaves attached to the soil, and partly let out to free husbandmen (orceorls) who owed their lord rent in kind or in money, and paid him, as"his men," feudal service.

  Around his hospitable board the poor of the district found sustenance,while work was made for all in draining meres, mending roads, buildingthe priory, or in the various agricultural labours of the year.

  In the first year of King Edmund the lady Edith presented her lord withhis first-born son, to whom in baptism they gave the name Elfric, and ayear later Alfred was born, and named after the great king. Onedaughter, named Edgitha, completed the fruits of their happy union, andin their simple fashion they strove to train their children in the fearof the Lord.

  We will now resume the thread of our story.

  It was now the hour of eventide, and the time for "laying the