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VERSION

OF

THE SAXON ODE,

On the Victory of King Athelstan, at Brunanburgh.

A. D. 938.

BY THE EDITOR.

THIS ODE, which is generally supposed to have been the composition of some Saxon bard cotemporary with the event it celebrates, is here versified from the text of the original, given in Ellis's Ancient Romances, v. i, 14; to which is annexed, an exactly literal prose translation. This copy, which Mr. Ellis received from a learned friend, was taken from two MSS. in the Cotton. Lib., British Museum,-Tiberius, B. IV. and A. VI.; and it differs materially from the version given in Hickes' Saxon Grammar, and that in the Saxon Chronicle, which latter appears now in the garb of prose. On the respective merits of these, and on the points of difference, the Editor will not presume to give any opinion. His object has been, simply to offer a close and literal version of Mr. Ellis's copy, with no other interpolations than were absolutely necessary in giving it a metrical form : and he deemed it more advisable, in this manner, to shew the precise character and genius of the original, and the intimate connexion between the two languages, than to attempt investing it with the artificial decorations of modern refinement. The reader will, therefore, not expect any of that romantic beauty which is to be found in Gray's imitations of ancient Northern Poetry. An account of the circumstances of the battle, may be seen in Hume's or in Goldsmith's History, or any similar work.

*

KING ATHELSTAN of warlike mould,
The chief of earls and barons bold,
And, second from that noble spring,
His brother Edmund Atheling,*

Ætheling signifies "the young noble :"-Æthel-stan, "the very noble."

B

Of elders good a mighty train

In shock of war have featly slain.
Round Brunanburgh the field was spread,*
Their blades a deadly course have sped,
They cleave of shields th' united wall,
They hew to earth the leaders tall, †
The troubled Marches rest serene,
As late in Edward's days was seen.

To them, of ancient race and name,
A fate of blest deliverance came,
That oft, before their dreaded hand,
Should flee each traitorous robber band,
And leave, unvexed, the glad domain
Το prosper in a noble reign.

Scotland's sons of land and deep, ‡
Found many a youth the deathly sleep.
The din of war rose sharp and dread,

Thick sweat the warriors' limbs o'erspread,

Camden places this in Northumberland, on the coast between Bamborough, and Coldingham in Scotland, and opposite to Lindisfarn, or Holy Island; and the name of the village at present nearest the site, he represents to be Ford, near Bromeridge. But Bishop Gibson, on the authority of Florence of Worcester, who pronounces the hostile fleets to have entered the Humber, offers a conjecture, that the site of the engagement might have been much higher up;-in Yorkshire or Lincolnshire. Such vexatious differences the Editor has before found to be not uncommon amongst antiquaries; but he believes that, in the present instance, the former idea has by far the more numerous supporters. Mr. Hutchinson, in his History of Northumberland, inclines to Bishop Gibson's opinion of Broomridge, in that county, being the site of the battle; adding, that "the many lines, breastworks, and entrenchments still remaining, testify that this was the place of some great action." He also (on the authority of some one of our old chroniclers) adds, as an ally to Constantine and Anlaf, Eugenius, Oweine, or Ewaine, King of Cumberland, who fell in the engagement, and whom he supposes to have been buried in Penrith Church-yard, under a curious old monument, which remains to this day.

+ In one literal translation, this is rendered "banners."

The Saxon answers to the English "lad."

-Since o'er the fields at morning tide
The greater Light began to glide,*
God's candle-he of grace ador'd,
Eternal and Almighty Lord,—
Till latest in the fading west
That creature of the High had rest.

Full many a soldier strewed the field;
The North-man + stretched on useless shield,
And noble Scottish chief from far,
Red from the worrying shocks of war.

The Wessex army all the day
(A chosen herd) the rear assay,
Their loathed foes they closely press,
The lingering rearward sore distress;
The fugitives unhappy feel

The sharpness of their piercing steel.‡
No rest th' unwearied Mercians knew;
Their hardy hands were firm and true.
Health then to Anlaf's host was none,-
By gales of favouring wind o'erblown,
Who, o'er the bosom of the sea,
Had sought this land, for sovereignty.
Five sons of kings there prostrate lay, §
By swords untimely swept away;
And seven, the earls of Anlaf's train.
Unnumbered pirates from the main, ||

* Saxon," the more (i. e. greater) twinkler.”

+ North-men,- a general term for Danes, called also Dacians, Norwegians or Norse, Icelanders, and others; also, for the inhabitants of Orkney and Shetland, who were eminent for piracy on a large scale, and styled themselves sea-kings, or earls, and their ships sea-dragons. They here appear as allies to Scotland, although generally opposed, as in the modern ballad of Hardyknute, which is yet true to history.

Literally, they "drilled" holes, or wounds, with their swords.

This may also mean that they were kings at the time.

The Saxon word is "unrim," said to be from the Latin innumerus.—

The next word signifies, literally, "harassers."

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