the University, that he sent his son named ^Ifward or Elfward; where profiting in
letters he became eminently learned.' Hist, and Ant. ed. 1792, vol. i. p. 115. There
is some reason, however, to suspect that the learning attributed to y^lfvveard arises
from a confusion between Eadward's son and Alfred's son. The latter is mentioned
by Asser as ludis literaria disciplines tradittis {Mon. Hist. Br. p. 485) ; and a
passage in the Hyde Abbey Chronicle (Rolls Series, p. 1 26) may be compared with
that of Rudbum, already quoted. See ante, p. 49.

^ William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum A^igloriim, lib. II. § 226. Engl. Hist.
Soc. vol. i. p. 197. Appendix A, § 42.



OXFORD DURING THE DANISH INCURSIONS. 137

JEthclstan (925-940), his eldest son; Eadmund (940-946), the eldest
by his third wife ; and Eadrcd (946-955), another son by the same
wife. The Danes seem to have desisted from their attacks while this
policy lasted, and though the Northumbrians under a king by name
Olaf revolted and carried their arms as far as Tamworth, in 943, the
energetic and decisive action of Eadmund soon put an end to the raid,
he making himself at once master of the ' five burhs,' as is told in a
poem introduced into the Chronicle, where the event is described.

On the death of Eadred, however, serious troubles impended. It
would seem that old fires were still burning, and ready to burst out
when least expected. Mercia chose one successor to the throne,
Wessex another. Eadgar, the second son of Eadmund was chosen by
Mercia, but Wessex preferred Eadwig, the son of Edred. In some
way, however, the political difficulty was surmounted by the Witan ;
Eadwig succeeded, and after five years' reign, is in turn succeeded by
Eadgar. Otherwise Oxford would have been again a border town,
and would with its shire have had to elect whether to join the Mer-
cians, in which territory it lay for the longer part of its history, or
Wessex, to which it had been annexed by Eadward.

But these divisions w^ere the beginning of the end. Political intrigues
were rife. Eadward the Martyr, who succeeded in 975, was murdered
at Corfe-gate in 979, as it is said, by his stepmother JElfthryth (who, it
may be mentioned, was a benefactress to Abingdon Abbey^), and his
successor, ^thelred II, had not been two years on the throne before the
Danes, perceiving the change in affairs, and the weakness caused in the
government by internal feuds, began their incursions again. History
repeated itself so exactly that the chronicler seems as if he had gone
back, and was beginning the story of the last hundred and fifty years
over again. Beginning in Thanet on the east, and Cheshire in the
north, the next year the Danes are ravaging the coasts of Devon and
Cornwall. In 832 they ravage Dorsetshire about Portland, and so on,
till emboldened, just as was the case before, they came up the
Thames'^. This was in 993, and they seem at present only to have
reached as far as Staines. The circumstances of their reaching
Oxford belongs to another century and another chapter. Before
passing, however, to this chapter, it is thought well to take a rapid
glance at some points in the ecclesiastical history of the district.

The diocesan history is so meagre and so obscure that, though

* It is probable that her name was given to the little ' ^Ifthryth die,' which
was the boundary ditch separating Fyfield from Tubney in 968, and is so now.
^ Compare the Danish landings referred to at the beginning of the chapter, p. 1 13.



138 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

Archbishop Theodore is accredited with having partitioned Mercia into
dioceses, we hear little or nothing of Dorchester since the appointment
of JEtla already referred to \ At times it may have been the seat of a
bishoprick, but the chief ' stool ' for the district seems to have been
at Leicester during both the ninth and tenth centuries. William of
Malmesbury in his Gesta Pontificuvi ^ professes to have compiled a
list of those of Dorchester, but the first nine are those of Lindsey,
and had probably no connection with Dorchester : his list of
Leicester bishops, however, undoubtedly had, and they are given as
follows — Totta, Edberht, Unwona, Werenberht, Rethune, Aldred,
and Ceoldred. All of these names, excepting Aldred (which is
probably only a misreading of the next), are found in correct suc-
cession amongst signatures to charters between 737 and 869, but they
are not mentioned in any of the Chronicles so as to bring the diocese
into prominence. He then omits Alheard, Ceolwulf, Winsy, and
Oskytel, who were certainly Bishops of Leicester if not all of Dor-
chester as well. Their signatures range between 898 and 956. Of
none of them is there any mention in the Chronicles, except that
Oskytel is said to have been hallowed in 949 as 'Suffragan-Bishop
of Dorchester ^ ' before he was hallowed Archbishop of York. His
signatures extend to 956 ; but under the year 954 one of the
Chronicles has, ' in this year Archbishop Wulstan again succeeded to
the bishopric at Dorchester *.' Leofwin, whose signatures range from
953 to 965, appears also as Bishop of Lindsey, as well as Leicester;
and William of Malmesbury remarks that ' in the time of Eadgar
[959-973] he joined the two bishoprics,' The signatures of Elnod
(written usually Eadnoth) and Escwin range between 965 and 1002,
but these two bishops add nothing to the history of the diocese.

From the early charters of S. Frideswide being lost we know no more
of the history of that foundation between the time of its establishment
and the restoration of the lands in 1002 (which belongs to the next
chapter) than the summary beginning ' Notandiim quod Didanus ' sup-
plies ; and in that a line will be noticed to the following effect : —

' Some time after the glorious death of S. Frideswide, the Nuns
having been taken away, secular canons were introduced ^.'

^ See anfe, p. 87.

^ William of Malmesbury, Ges^a Pojitificum, Rolls Series, p. 311.

^ See Chronicles B and C, sub anno, 971, 'Se wses serest to Dorkeceastre to
leod-bisceope gehalgod.'

* Chron. D, sub anno : ' Wulstan Arcebiscop onfeng eft biscoprices on Dorce-
ceastre.' He was Oskytel's predecessor at York, and had been banished. There
may be hence some confusion. His name occurs in no list of Bishops of Dorchester.

â– ' Already given from the Ch. Ch. Chartulary, ante, p. 92,



OXFORD DURING THE DANISH INCURSIONS. 139

The question is, had the writer any grounds whatever for the state-
ment beyond the charter of King ^ihelred in which that king is
made to say that ' he has recovered the lands which belonged to the
said monastery ? ' The word arcisierio would apply to a nunnery as
well as to a monastery, and it might have remained a nunnery till its
destruction. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the nuns had
left and that the lands of the nunnery had been transferred to some
' secular canons,' and that the tradition only survived ; if so, the
further question arises did they remain secular, or were they turned
out by Ji]thelwold ? It must be remembered that the superiority of
secular or regular canons was then the great ecclesiastical question of
the day, and ^thelwold, Bishop of Winchester (who was as energetic
as his leader Archbishop Dunstan himself in the promotion of monas-
ticism), had been raised to the episcopate in 963 from the neigh-
bouring Abbey of Abingdon, where he was then ruling as abbot.
That abbey must have been at the time in a flourishing condition,
though it had suffered much, as v^^e learn, from the Danish incursions in
Alfred's reign, when S. Frideswide's may have suffered also. We learn
by one of the Chronicles^ that ^thelwold, in the same year in which he
became bishop, begged of King Eadgar ' to give him all the monas-
teries which heathen men had before ruined, because that he would
restore them ; and the king blithely granted it.' The chronicler, how-
ever, only names two, namely Ely and Peterborough, which he so
restored ; but if S. Frideswide's had suffered from the first series of
Danish incursions as it did in the second, and the foundation with
which J^thelwold, while abbot of Abingdon, must have been familiar,
was amongst the number given to him, we may be sure that he would
have put in regulars and not seculars. At the same time, under
the year 975, we find mention in three of the Chronicles of an
ealdorman of Mercia, by name ^Ifhere, destroying the monasteries
which ^thelwold had restored : —

' ^Ifthere ealdorman, and others many, the monkish rule obstructed,

and monasteries destroyed, and monks expelled, and God's servants

persecuted -.'
This exaggerated language probably only means that the monks
were turned out and the original secular priests restored; it is just
possible, therefore, that S. Frideswide's was first occupied by secular
canons, then by monks in 963, and then again by secular canons in
975. There is another passage, also introduced into the Cartulary,
in reference to the turning out and then the restoration of the
• A. S. Chronicle, E. sub anno 963. ^ Ibid. Chrons. D. E. Y.sub anno 975.



140 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

seculars, purporting however to belong to a later period : this will
be best considered further on in its place ^.

But there is one event which is recorded as having occurred at this
time at a place which there seems every reason to identify with Kirt-
lington near to Oxford, and which may therefore be here noticed. The
Chronicles B and C under the year 977 have the following: —

* This year after Easter (Ap. 8) was the great " gemot " ( = Council)
at Kyrtlingtun ; and there died Bishop Sideman by sudden death, on
the 2nd of the Kal, of May (Ap, 30). He was Bishop of Devonshire,
and he desired that his body's resting place might be at Crediton at
his Episcopal see. Then commanded King Eadward and Archbishop
Dunstan that he should be conveyed to S. Mary's Monastery which is
at Abingdon, and so it was also done ; and he is also honourably buried
on the north side of S. Paul's Porch.'

The subjects which were debated at this council have not been
handed down to us, or any list of those who were present ; but the
death of the bishop of Crediton shows that the bishops of the country
had attended from some distance. It would appear also that the
king and the archbishop were present. The question naturally arises,
why should they not have held the council in Oxford itself? Further,
why should they not have buried Bishop Sideman at S. Frideswide's if
that monastery had been restored, and was in a flourishing condition ?
The body no doubt, when carried to its resting-place, would enter
Oxford by the northern road already mentioned; it would pass the
very gates of S. Frideswide's, and out through the south gate of the
town, and over the river by the ford, and thence on to Abingdon ^

On the whole then, from the negative evidence, although it must be
admitted such is not satisfactory, we must assume that S. Frideswide's
was not in a flourishing condition. It existed as a monastery, and
some of the buildings were no doubt standing, as we hear of the
church at the beginning of the next century; and if we accept William
of Malmesbury's version of the story, it had a tower into which, as
will be seen in the next chapter, certain Danish fugitives took refuge.

^ S&e post, Chapter IX. p. 166.

^ Of course it is possible that the corpse may have been conveyed by water, for
the Cherwell passes near to Kirtlington, or it may have been transferred on to a
boat at Oxford. But on the whole the road journey would be the more probable.
The north porch of St. Paul would mean the apse either at the east end of the
northern aisle or on the eastern side of the northern transept. It is not certain
whether the church existing at this time was on the site of the large twelfth century
church afterwards erected : that stood in what are now Mr. Trendell's private
grounds at Abingdon, though not a single stone of the vast building has been left
in situ. In all probability it was south of this, namely within the precincts of
Mr. Morland's brewery.



CHAPTER VIII.
Oxford during the Danish Invasion in the early

PART OF THE ELEVENTH CeNTURY.

The reign of Ethelred II, which brought the tenth century to a
close, and with which the eleventh century opens, was perhaps the
saddest of any which England had yet seen. The long thirty-seven
years seem to have been fraught with disasters throughout. The
name ' Unready,' commonly applied to the sovereign, though in its
true signification it meant ' badly counselled,' or perhaps without
counsel at all, might have been justly applied in its modern significa-
tion as regards his meeting the attacks of the Danes; rash and impro-
vident, he seems to have exerted energy when not wanted, and never
to have been ready when it was wanted. For the first twenty years
the inland parts were not threatened, but this seems not to have been
from the Danes fearing the valour of the English people, but from
Ethelred buying them off when they made raids upon the coast,
and obtained a footing in any town. It seemed to be a continuous
policy of yielding for the sake of peace at one moment, and resorting
to any method to get over some difficulty the next.

The year 1002 saw an example of this latter policy which was as
wicked, if not as foolish a one as could well be devised. The king
seems to have issued an edict throughout the country to all the
ealdormen and reeves to have the Danes massacred on a certain day,
wherever they were found — not those in arms only but the peaceful,
and there is some reason to suppose the women and children also.
The Chronicle runs : —

'A.D. 1002. . . . And in that year the king commanded all the
Danish men who were in England to be slain. This was done on the
Mass-day of S. Bricius ; because it had been made known to the king
that they would plot against his life, and afterwards those of all his
witan, and then have his realm without any gainsaying ^'

^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, C, D, E, F, sub anno. Appendix A, § 43.



142 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

Passing by the somewhat feeble excuse which the chronicler makes
for the infamous act, it is only necessary to note how it affected
Oxford. The Chronicles are wholly silent as to the result of the
edict, and we do not know whether it was generally carried out or
not; but we have remaining transcripts of an important charter, of
which some account has already been given on a previous page^
which shows that in Oxford not only the Danes suffered, but also
the religious foundation of S. Frideswide's.

' In the Year of our Lord 1004, in the second indiction and in the
twenty-fifth year of my reign, according to the disposal of God's
providence, I ASelred ruling over the whole of Albion have for the
love of the Almighty established with liberty of charters and by royal
authority a certain monastery situate in the city which is called
Oxoneford, where the body of St. Frideswide reposes, and have
recovered the lands which belonged to the said monastery of Christ
by the restoration of this new book [of charters] and for all those
who shall look upon this page I will recount by means of very few
words the reason why this was done. For it is certain enough that it
must be very well known to all inhabitants of this country that since
there was issued a certain decree made by me with the advice of my
nobles and princes, that all the Danes who had risen up in this island
by increase like tares amidst the wheat should be slain by a most just
destruction. And this decree was carried into effect to the very
death; but whatever Danes were living in the aforesaid city in
attempting to save themselves from death, entering this Sanctuary
of Christ, breaking by force the doors and bolts determined therein
that what was a refuge for themselves, should become a fortress
against the inhabitants of the city, both those who lived within and
without the wall {urbanos vel suburbanos). But when the people in
pursuit of them compelled by necessity strove to eject them, and
could not, having thrown fire upon the planks [of the roof] they
burnt this church, as it seems, together with the ornaments and the
books.

* Afterwards with the help of God, it is now restored by myself, and
by my subjects, and as I have before said, having retained all its
customs entire by the dignity of charters which for the honour of
Christ have been confirmed together with all the territories adjoining,
and with every liberty granted both as to royal as well as ecclesiastical
dues.

'But if by chance it should happen at any time that any one of
unsound mind ^ '

* See ante, page 91. As the first part refers to the foundation of S. Frideswide's
in 727, and the last belongs more especially to the present date, it has been thought
well to divide it, a few lines however at the beginning of the charter being repeated.

^ Ex CarUdario S. FnJeswidae. The passage will be found in Appendix A,
§ 29.



OXFORD DURING THE DANISH INVASION.



H3



It will be convenient before considering the political aspect of the
massacre to complete the description of the charter and to add such
other evidence as bears upon the event. The charter ends with one
of the usual anathemas, which, apart from defying translation into
EngHsh, is of no special interest ^

Next, in the larger chartulary of S. Frideswide's, namely that pre-
served in Christ Church, a series of boundaries of lands are inscribed, *
which have the appearance of being copied from those attached to
the original boundaries, but which in the process of transcription
have been somewhat altered, the transcriber sometimes misreading
the original, at others substituting his own readings.

The first plot of land named is that of Winchendon of ten hydes.
It agrees exactly with what is found in the Domesday Survey of 1086
under Terra Canonicorum Oxeneford ^ in the county of Buckingham-
shire. It is evidently to be identified with the Nether Winchendon of
the map, which lies on the banks of the river Thame, about four
miles north-east of the town of Thame, and four miles south-west of
Aylesbury : since ' along Thame stream ' occurs as a portion of the
boundary of the land in question.

The second plot of land named is that of Whithull, consisting of
three hydes. As it seems to he between the Port-strete and the Cher-
well, it may perhaps be assigned to the land at the south of Tackley
where Whitehill farm still preserves the name; it would therefore lie
several miles to the north of Oxford. There is nothing amongst the
lands in the Domesday Survey to assist in the identification, and it
cannot well be included under the four hydes mentioned as belonging
to the monastery in the neighbourhood of Oxford.

The third plot which appears to have been given, or which, if we
believe the charter literally, was restored to the monastery, has the title
of Bolles, Covele, and Hedington, that is of BuUingdon, Cowley, and
Headington. It is described as of three hydes, and as the circuit
starts from Cherwell bridge, and as Ziflele, i.e. Iffiey, is named amongst
the boundaries, we may conclude it occupied a large tract to the
East of Oxford. This probably is included in the iiij hydes which the
Canons of S. Frideswide's held of the king 'â– jiixla Oxeneford'; and the

' It will however be found printed in the Appendix, with the rest of the charter.
Appendix A, § 29.

■•' Domesday Survey, folio 146 a. The other Winchendon in the Survey occurs
under the lands belonging to Walter Gifard, folio 147 a, col. 2, and is to be identi-
fied with the manor, and so with the parish of Upper Winchendon, which lies high
up on the hill.



144 THE EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD.

difference between the three and the four hydes may be that the latter
includes the land on which the monastery itself was built, and the
' curia ' thereto belonging. The fourth plot, consisting of two hydes,
â– was in Cutslow ; this is duly entered in the Domesday Survey as of
two hydesS and the name is still found as that of a farm, on the north-
eastern side of Oxford ; like the rest the boundaries are of uncertain
identification. The fifth paragraph consists of a recital of the liberties
of S. Frideswide's, and these amongst other general customs include
the tithing of Headington, at which latter place it will be observed that
the charter is supposed to be signed. It is called a ' royal vill,' but
whether that involves the king having a definite residence there may
be open to question.

That this series of boundaries are copied from genuine documents
by the transcriber of the S. Frideswide cartulary, there is no valid
reason to doubt, nor w^ill it be disputed that they belong substan-
tially to the year 1004. S. Frideswide's, therefore, though in com-
parison with that of the neighbouring Abingdon Monastery, it was a
poor foundation, held considerable property as the total of eighteen
hydes testifies.

The entries conclude with a list of the signatures attached to the
charter as follows :—

This schedule was written by command of the aforesaid king in the
royal vill, which is called Hedyndon, on the day of the octaves of
S. Andrew the apostle [i.e. Dec. 7] with the consent of these chief
men who appear written beneath.

I, Etheldred, King of the English, have granted this charter to the
aforesaid with perpetual liberty in the name of Christ.

I, Alfrich, Archbishop of the church of Canterbury, have corrobo-
rated the same under anathema.

I, Wulfstan, Archbishop of the city of York, have confirmed it.

I, Elfgifu, the royal spouse, have honoured this gift.

I, Athelstan, the eldest of the royal family, together with my brother,
was kindly present as a witness.

I, Alfean, Prelate of Venta, have subscribed thereto.

I, Alstan, Bishop of the church of Wells, thereto have confirmed it.

I, Alfun, Bishop of the church of London, have consecrated it.

I, Godwine, Bishop of the church of Lichfield, have secured it.

I, Orbyrht, Bishop of the South Saxons, have concluded it.

I, Ethelrich, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, have consented.

I, Alfwod, Bishop of the church of Crediton, have revived it.

* The Domesday Survey under 'Land of the Canons of Oxford and of other
clerks' gives four hydes near Oxford, and two hydes at Cutslow. The other lands
under the same head are those of the clerks, and apparently have nothing to do
with S. Frideswide.



OXFORD DURING THE DANISH INVASION. 145

I, Alfric, ealdorman. I, ^Ifgar, earl.

I, Leofwyne, ealdorman. I, Goda, thane.

I, Wulfgar, abbot. I, yEthclwerd, earl.

I, Alsigge, abbot. I, Athlwyne, earl.

I, Athelmer, earl. I, Ordmere, earl.

I, Ordulf, earl. I, Leofwyne, earl.

I, Athelmer, earl. I, Godwyne, earl.

I, iElric, earl. &c., as in the aforesaid codicil.

Without entering into many details which a survey of these wit-
nesses suggest, such as their rank, their style and title, or the
fanciful mode of signature, no doubt due to the ingenuity of the clerk
who drew up the charter \ it is important to consider their bearing
upon the date. It may be said generally that a correlation of the whole
series as far as dates are known agrees very well indeed with the date
in the body of the charter ^. Consequently there are none of the
difficulties which so constantly beset the historian in assigning the date

' It will be observed that there are besides the King, eleven Prelates, the
Queen (the expression used is ' thoro consccrata reg-io'), the king's eldest son
^thelstan, two nobles with the titles of 'dux'' (which has been translated 'eal-
dorman'), nine with the title of 'â– comes'' (which has been translated earl), one
minister (translated 'thane'), and two abbots.

- The following are the dates which should tally with 1004. Ethelred the King,
979-1016 : /Elfgifu must be Emma, the second wife, who came over from Nor-
mandy in 1002 according to the Chronicles C, D, E, F, during Lent (that is, some
six months before the edict was issued for the massacre of the Danes), and who seems
to have assumed on her marriage the name of ^Elfgifu, the first wife not signing
apparently any charter whatever, the queen-mother yElfthyth signing throughout
either as regina or as 7nater regis. In one charter, dated 1002 (K. D. D. No. 1296),
we have the signature yElfgifu conlaterana regis, but as the same form occurs in
1005 and after, it must belong to ^Ifgifu-Emma, though occasionally she signs also
as Queen. That ^thelstan was the eldest son is borne out by signatures in some
twenty charters or more, where his name comes before that of his three or four
brothers. His style is sometimes _;i?/?«j- regis, sometimes cliio. The first time his