Extract from The Story of Corfe Castle and of many who lived there 1853 Part 3 By George Bankes After the Death of Edward “Nought’s bad, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content: ‘Tis better to be that which we destroy, Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy Lady Macbeth The murder of the Good King Duncan occurred in the century next following that in which Elfrida so fatally figured. It may seem as if ordained by fate, that no crime, however strange in circumstances and atrocious in degree, can long stand alone and without parallel in history. Who that saw the once proud and beautiful queen Elfrida walking a penitent, with a taper in her hand, could have believed that such another woman would ever be found, to contrive such another treachery, in her own castle, upon a confiding guest, and that guest her King? We are told that “Happiness was born a twin,” And some future bard may suggest that Wickedness was born an elder sister. This atrocious murder proved in its consequences to be the death blow of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty, just after it had been raised by King Edgar to a high degree of renown, and he had obtained for himself the title of the Honour and Delight of the English nation. He was also surnamed Edgar the Peaceable, being so well prepared for war, that neither his own subjects nor other nations dared to disturb the tranquillity of his dominions. His attention to maritime affairs was the chief glory of his reign, and his fleet was at once so powerful and so well conducted, that it effectually secured the coasts from all aggression. He retained also a permanent military force, composed of Danes, nor does it appear that any jealousy arose from this circumstance amongst the masses of his Anglo- Saxon subjects. In the higher ranks it is true that some uneasiness was felt, for we are told by the ancient chronicles, that these martial Danes introduced as courtly fashions, the habit of combing their hair once a day, washing themselves once a week, and frequently changing their vestments-manners which, though censured as effeminate by the Anglo-Saxon nobles, met with the decided approval of their wives and daughters, the gay beauties of King Edgars court. When the crown of England, in consequence of the assassination of young Edward, devolved on a boy who was barely seven years of age, and when she who aspired to be his governor and the regent of his kingdom, was blasted in character, and powerless from loss of reputation, a period ensued which is justly considered as the most calamitous in English history. The piratical Danes, who for more than half a century had given the English very little disturbance, began again to cast their rapacious eye on this country. When Ethelred grew up to manhood, he was found to possess no one quality that was suitable to the high position to which his mother’s guilt had raised him. As the brother of a king, he might have performed courtly functions with honour and fidelity. There does not appear to have been any predominant corrupt passion in his nature, but he was cowardly and sluggish, and he lived at a period when activity and bravery were essential to the existence of the people who owned his sway. The surname of the Unready applied to everything he undertook or ought to have undertaken. When he designed to oppose the landing of the Danes, they were in the heart of the county before he had brought his forces to the coast; and then he resorted to the fatal plan of promising large bribes for their departure, he found on the day fixed for payment, that he was unprovided with money, and the rage and ravages of the invaders broke out with redoubled fury. The houses, monasteries, and churches that were built on the old principle with timber, were now destroyed by fire throughout all the south-western counties. Corfe Castle could set at defiance every attempt of the Danish force; but with the exception of the few places that were fortified, all parts of Dorsetshire fell under the Danish rule. In the year 1002 the disgraceful tribute of Danegeld was fixed upon the nation, and the whole kingdom stood in such fear of the Danish power that the appellation of Lord Danes was given to them throughout the land. Irritated by the indignity of the tax, and of their slavish position, Ethelred found his subjects willing to concur with him in the infamous project of a general massacre of all the Danes then resident in England. This was carried into effect in one day, with wonderful secrecy of preparation, and the slaughter included the sister of Sweyne, who was married to an English noble. Revenge for this atrocity was not far distant. Sweyn in the next year landing in Cornwall marched to Exeter and entirely destroyed that city, putting all the inhabitants to the sword. No misfortune which can befall a nation was now spared to the English. A grievous famine which occurred in 1005 was considered a blessing by those who had any means of procuring food, because it had the effect of driving the Danes back, for a time to their native country: but with the first appearance of returning prosperity in England, the Danes came to resume their lordly demands; and in 1014, Ethelred having fled with his family to Normandy, Sweyn was acknowledged king of England. Sweyn died in the same year, whether from poison or from what other cause is uncertain, and the fugitive Ethelred was with difficulty induced to return to his throne. This he occupied through two more years of misery and contest, finishing his ignoble reign in the year 1016. The brave Edmund, his eldest son was immediately crowned in London, but the gallantry of his spirit and all the noble qualities of his nature were in vain. The curse of bloodshed seemed to rest upon his house; his reign did not continue for a year; he was murdered by the contrivance of a traitor, one of his family, before the close of the year 1017, Edmund left two sons, neither of whom succeeded to the throne. The line of his descendants, excluded first by Danish usurpation and afterwards by the Normans, was restored to the crown after the lapse of six hundred years; but it was restored in that fated royal line, of whose destiny this ruined castle stands the monument[-- as it was the victim. Before we quit the period of Anglo-Saxon history, a remark offers itself illustrative of the domestic manners of the time, arising from an incident mentioned above, in the fearful history of Queen Elfrida. She corrected her son as we have observed, with wax candles, having no other instrument of punishment near at hand. Juvenile readers in particular may have some curiosity on the subject and wish to be informed what sort of wax candles these were. A drawing room wax candle could hardly inflict such a blow, as to induce the subject of correction to remember it during the whole remainder of his life, and a chapel candle, even the daring spirit of Elfrida would not have ventured to apply to such a purpose. We must remember that one of the noble institutions of King Alfred being then and long afterwards, in force, the lapse of time was measured by the gradual consumption of wax candles, and Elfrida, in fact, corrected her son with the castle clock—a weapon of no small weight and magnitude. Alfred (we are told by the learned Spelman) measured time by means of wax candles marked by circular lines of divers colours, which served as so many hour lines. These candles were committed by him to the keepers of his chapel, whose office it was to put him in mind how each hour passed. Glass was then a great rarity in England, so that the king for the defending of these lights was obliged to have recourse to white horn scraped very thin. Thus it was that the Royal Alfred became inventor at once of both clocks and lanterns. Ethelred the Unready would probably have hated clocks under any circumstances, for he very naturally discountenanced every expedient which promoted an accurate computation of time.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 11:52:52 +0000
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