Anglo-Saxon Literature Part 23

Whannes beo ?e, faire gumes, That her to londe beoth ic.u.me, Alle throttene Of bodie swithe kene.

"Whence be ye, fair gentlemen, that here to land are come? All thirteen of body very keen. By him that made me, so fair a band saw I at no time; say what ye seek?" Horn tells his story, and Aylmar likes him, and bids Athelbrus, his steward, teach him woodcraft, and the harp and song, and also to carve and be cupbearer:--

Bifore me to kerve And of the cupe serve.

The Princess Rymenhild falls in love with Horn, and this is an occasion to prove the loyalty of Athulf. She orders Athelbrus to send Horn to her; but he, fearing the consequences, and being specially responsible for Horn, sends Athulf instead. Athulf finds that the princess has been deceived, and declares at once that he is not Horn. When at length Horn does meet Rymenhild, he points out to her the inequality of his rank.

She gets her father to knight him. She also gives him a ring, in which the stones are of such virtue that if he looks on them and thinks of her he need fear no wounds:--

The stones beoth of suche grace That thu ne schalt in none place Of none duntes beon of drad.

He rides forth in search of adventures to prove his knighthood. He falls in with a crew of Saracens, slays 100 of them, and brings the head of the master Saracen on the point of his sword to the king, where he sits in hall among his knights, and presents it in acknowledgment of his dubbing (compare p. 130 above). Fikenild tells Aylmar of Horn's love for his daughter, and Aylmar banishes Horn. Departing, he promises Rymenhild to return in seven years or she shall be free to marry another. He leaves the faithful Athulf behind to look after Rymenhild.

He arrives at the court of King Thurston, and there he calls himself Cutberd. The land is infested by pagan invaders. Cutberd slays a giant and many of the Saracens who were with him. Thurston offers him his daughter and the kingdom with her. Cutberd tells the king that it must not be so, but that he will claim his reward when he has relieved the king of all his troubles, which will be at seven years' end (compare p.

131 above).

Meanwhile, Rymenhild is sought in marriage by King Modi, and the day is fixed. In her distress she sends in all directions to seek Horn; her messenger finds Horn and delivers his message, but he never returns to the princess, because he is drowned. Now Horn tells King Thurston his story, and entreats his help. He adds that he will provide a worthy husband for his daughter, namely, Athulf, one of the best and truest of knights. Thurston a.s.sembles his men and they go with Horn. Horn leaves them under the wood while he goes towards the palace. He meets a palmer and changes clothes with him. In the palace he takes his place with the beggars, and when Rymenhild rises to offer wine to the guests he gets speech of her and lets her see the ring she had given him. This leads to a full recognition and the betrothal of Horn with Rymenhild. Such is the tale of King Horn.

But, of all the old native stories that crop up in this later time, the most remarkable is the "Lay of Havelok the Dane," a large subject which we can only just indicate here.[151]

Of the learned branches a good deal continued unbroken by the Conquest.

Such was mostly the case with Homilies and Lives of saints, and Poetry of the allegorical and instructive kind.

In the Exeter Song-book we saw pieces that had been taken from the old book "Physiologus." This allegorical poetry retained its place through all the changes.[152] Here is a pa.s.sage from the "Whale," in the language of the thirteenth century:--

Wiles that weder is so ille, the sipes that arn on se fordriven (loth hem is deth, and lef to liven) biloken hem and sen this fis; an eilond he wenen it is.

Thereof he aren swithe f.a.gen, and mid here migt tharto he dragen, sipes onfesten, and alle up gangen.

Of ston mid stel in the tunder wel to brennen one this wunder, warmen hem wel and heten and drinken; the fir he feleth and doth hem sinken, for sone he diveth dun to grunde, he drepeth hem alle withuten wunde.

These examples may suffice to represent that new literature which began to rise after the violent removal of the old. They do not belong to the history of Anglo-Saxon literature except indirectly as a foil and a contrast. They show how ready were new forms to take the place of the old. But while the English language was thus following the natural and spontaneous course of its development, there still survived a powerful interest in the old cla.s.sical Englisc. The seat of this literature was in the old monasteries, which became strongholds of ancient culture and tradition. The old books were perused and re-copied, and a scholarly knowledge of the old language was made an object of study. This was sustained not only by sentiment, and curiosity, and literary taste, but also by a sense of corporate interest. The t.i.tles of the old monasteries to their lands were wholly or very largely contained in Saxon writings, and these grew in importance with the growing habits of doc.u.mentary legality under Norman rule. A language which was at once native and recondite, far more recondite than the Latin of the ordinary scholar, could not but be impressive as a doc.u.mentary medium. The number of extant Saxon books and deeds which were either originally composed after the Conquest, or at least re-copied and re-edited, is quite enough to prepare us to receive what Matthew Parker said in the Latin preface to his edition (1574) of "a.s.ser":--

"Furthermore; inasmuch as the medium of many legal doc.u.ments and venerable memorials and royal charters preserved in archives, dating, some before, some after, the coming of the Normans into England, is Saxon both in language and in writing, I will advise all who study the inst.i.tutions of this realm, to undergo the slight and insignificant labour which is necessary to make themselves masters of this language. If they will but do this, they will doubtless make discoveries daily, and will bring to light things which now lie hidden and remote; yea, they will without effort clear up the intricacies and perplexities of a great number of things. And in ages past there were societies of religious persons who were ordered by our forefathers for this work, that some among them might be trained in the knowledge of this tongue, and might transmit the same in succession to those who came after. To wit, in Tavistock Abbey, in the county of Devon, and in many other fraternities (within my memory) this was an established thing; to the end, as I suppose, that acquaintance with a literature whose language is antiquated might not perish for lack of use."

Thus we see that in the centuries between the Conquest and the Reformation the old ENGLISC was a recognised subject of study; and that it enjoyed, as the Latin did, the honours of an ancient language which was too much esteemed to be allowed to perish. And, therefore, it was said above that the Anglo-Saxon language and literature never died out; for the knowledge of it was kept up till the time when, through the general Revival of learning, new motives were supplied for its diligent study, and the very man in whom the new movement is impersonated is he who testifies that the study had lasted down to a time within his own memory.

FOOTNOTES:

[145] Written and ill.u.s.trated with miniatures by order of aeelwold, Bishop of Winchester, A.D. 963-984. Hexameter verses in a superior style of penmans.h.i.+p, namely, the old Latin rustic, record the history of the book, and give the scribe's name as G.o.deman, perhaps the Abbot of Thorney, who began A.D. 970. The illuminations are engraved in "Archaeologia," xxiv.

[146] The "Leofric Missal," edited by F.E. Warren, B.D., Clarendon Press, 1883.

[147] Particulars may be found in my "English Plant Names from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century," Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880.

[148] The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (Rolls Series) by Mr. c.o.c.kayne, under the t.i.tle of "Saxon Leechdoms."

[149] There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one in Cambridge University library; some also in other collections. It has been printed from a Cotton ma.n.u.script written, the editor says, about A.D. 990. "Popular Treatises on Science," edited by T. Wright, 1841.

[150] "La Chanson de Roland," par Leon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), Introduction.

[151] This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long been given up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and was accidentally discovered in a Bodleian ma.n.u.script, latent amidst legends of saints. From this unique MS. it was edited by Sir F. Madden; and again (1868) by the Rev. W.W. Skeat, who says in his preface:--"There can be little doubt that the tradition must have existed from Anglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us in the French version of the Romance.... The story is in no way connected with France; ... From every point of view, ... the story is wholly English," p. iv.

[152] An old English Miscellany, containing a "Bestiary," &c., ed. R.

Morris (E.E.T.S.), 1872, p. 17. The "Phisiologus" is quoted in Chaucer, apparently from this very "Bestiary"; and Dr. Morris says that sc.r.a.ps of it are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of the piece quoted:--"Whilst that weather is so bad, the s.h.i.+ps that are driven about on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about them and see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, and with all their might they draw towards it, make the s.h.i.+ps fast, and all go ash.o.r.e. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire on this monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whale feels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, he kills them all without wound."

THE END.