Part 7 (2/2)

95. What Christianity did.

Christianity, on the contrary, laid emphasis on the virtues of self-sacrifice and sympathy. It took the side of the weak and the helpless. The Church itself held slaves, yet it labored for emanc.i.p.ation. It built monasteries and encouraged industry and education. The church edifice was a kind of open Bible.

Very few who entered the sacred building then could have spelled out a single word of either the Old or New Testament, even if they had then been translated from Latin into English; but all, from the poorest peasant or the meanest slave up to the greatest n.o.ble, could read the meaning of the Scripture histories painted in brilliant colors on wall and window.

The church, furthermore, was a peculiarly sacred place. It was powerful to s.h.i.+eld those who were in danger. If a criminal, or a person fleeing from vengeance, took refuge in it, he could not be seized until forty days had expired, during which time he had the privilege of leaving the kingdom and going into exile.

This ”right of sanctuary” was often a needful protection in an age of violence. In time, however, the system became an intolerable abuse, since it enabled robbers and desperadoes of all kinds to defy the law. The right was modified at different times, but was not wholly abolished until 1624, in the reign of James I.

III. Military Affairs

96. The Army.

The army consisted of a national militia, or ”fyrd,” and a feudal militia. From the earliest times all freemen were obliged to fight in the defense of the country. Under the feudal system, every large landholder had to furnish the King a stipulated number of men, fully equipped with armor and weapons. As this method was found more effective than the first, it gradually superseded it.

The Saxons always fought on foot. They wore helmets and rude, flexible armor, formed of iron rings, or of stout leather covered with small plates of iron and other substances. They carried oval-shaped s.h.i.+elds. Their chief weapons were the spear, javelin, battle-ax, and sword. The wars of this period were those of the different tribes seeking to get the advantage over each other, or of the English with the Danes.

97. The Navy.

Until Alfred's reign the English had no navy. From that period they maintained a fleet of small wars.h.i.+ps to protect the coast from invasion. Most of these vessels appear to have been furnished by certain ports on the south coast.

IV. Literature, Learning, and Art

98. Runes.

The language of the Saxons was of Low-German origin. Many of the words resemble the German of the present day. When written, the characters were called runes, mysteries or secrets. The chief use of these runes was to mark a sword hilt, or some article of value, or to form a charm against evil and witchcraft.

It is supposed that one of the earliest runic inscriptions is the following, which dates from about 400 A.D. It is cut on a drinking horn,[1] and (reproduced in English characters) stands thus:

EK HLEWAGASTIR - HOLTINGAR - HORNA - TAWIDO

I, Hlewagastir, son of Holta, made the horn

[1] The golden horn of Gallehas, found on the Danish-German frontier.

With the introduction of Christianity the Latin alphabet, from which our modern English alphabet is derived, took the place of the runic characters, which bore some resemblance to Greek, and English literature began with the coming of the monks.

99. The First Books.

One of the first English books of great value was the ”Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,” a history covering a period beginning 1 A.D. and ending in 1154. The work was probably written by the monks in Canterbury, Peterborough, and other monasteries. It may be considered as an annual register of iportant events. Thorpe says of it, ”No other nation can produce any history written in its own vernacular, at all approaching the ”Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” either in antiquity, truthfulness, or extent, the historical books of the Bible alone excepted.”

Though written in prose, it countains various fragments of poetry, of which the following (rendered into modern English), on the death of Edward the Confessor (1066), may be quoted as an example:

”Then suddenly came On Harold's self, Death the bitter A n.o.ble Earl!

And that dear prince seized. Who in all times Angels bore Faithfully hearkened His steadfast soul Unto his lord Into heaven's light. In word and deed, But the wise King Nor ever failed Bestowed his realm In aught the King On one grown great, Had needed of him!”

Other early books were Caedmon's poem of the Creation, also in English, and Bede's ”Church History” of Britain, written in Latin, a work giving a full and most interesting account of the coming of Augustine and his first preaching in Kent. All of these books were written by the monks in different monasteries.

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