Extract from The Death of King William (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1087)
He sætte mycel deorfrið, & he lægde laga þærwið
þet swa hwa swa sloge heort oððe hinde, þet hine man sceolde blendian.
He forbead þa heortas, swylce eac þa baras.
Swa swiðe he lufode þa headeor swilce he wære heora fæder.
Eac he sætte be þam haran þet hi mosten fre faran.
His rice men hit mændon, & þa earme men hit beceorodan.
He established a great royal forest, and he imposed laws therewith that whoever slew a hart or a hind should be blinded. He forbade the harts, and the boars. He greatly loved the stags as if he were their father. Also he decreed regarding the hares that they should go free. His magnates complained of it; and his poor men lamented it.
The Disuse of English (13th c.)
Sanctus Beda was iboren her on Breotene mid us, 1. Deuteronomy 31:11. |
Saint Bede was born here in Britain with us, And wisely he translated books So that the English people were taught by them. And he unraveled the problems, called the Questiones, That obscure enigma which is precious. Abbot Ælfric, whom we call Alcuin, Was a writer and translated the five books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. With these our people were taught in English. There were these bishops who preached the Christian faith: Wilfrid of Ripon, John of Beverly, Cuthbert of Durham, Oswald of Worcester, Egwin of Evesham, Aldhelm of Malmesbury, Swithun, Ethelwold, Aidan, Birinus of Winchester, Paulinus of Rochester, Dunstan and Alphege of Canterbury. These taught our people in English. Their light was not dim, but shone brightly. Now that teaching is forsaken, and the folk are lost. Now there is another people which teaches our folk, And many of our teachers are damned, and our folk with them. Now our Lord speaks thus, "As an eagle stirs up her young To fly, and hovers over them." This is the word of God, sent to the world That we shall fix a beautiful faith upon him. |
Laȝamon's Brut, lines 15971-76 (c. 1200)
hu he sette moting & hu he sette husting,
and hu he sette sciren and makede frið of deoren,
& hu he sette halimot & hu he sette hundred,
and þa nomen of þan tunen on Sexisce runen,
& ȝilden he gon rere mucle & swiðe mære.
& þa chirchen he gon dihten after Sexisce irihten.
how he established courts; and how he set up assemblies; and how he established shire courts and made deer-forests; and how he set up courts in manors; and how he established the hundreds, and changed the names of the towns into the Saxon language; and how he set up very many and very important guilds, and then reconstructed the churches according to the Saxon custom.
Laȝamon's Brut, The Death of King Arthur, ll. 14272-14297
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Costæntin þu art wilcume; þu weore Cadores sone. Ich þe bitache here; mine kineriche. and wite mine Bruttes; a to þines lifes. and hald heom alle þa laȝen; þa habbeoð i-stonden a mine daȝen. and alle þa laȝen gode; þa bi Vðeres daȝen stode. And ich wulle uaren to Aualun; to uairest alre maidene. to Argante þere quene; aluen swiðe sceone. & heo s[c]al mine wunden; makien alle isunde. al hal me makien; mid haleweiȝe drenchen. And seoðe ich cumen wulle. to mine kineriche. and wunien mid Brutten; mid muchelere wunne. Æfne þan worden; þer com of se wenden. þat wes an sceort bat liðen; sceouen mid vðen. and twa wimmen þer-inne. wunderliche idihte; and heo nomen Arður anan; and aneouste hine uereden. and softe hine adun leiden; & forð gunnen liðen. Þa wes hit iwurðen; þat Merlin seide whilen. þat weore uni-mete care; of Arðures forð-fare. Bruttes ileueð 3ete; þat he bon on liue. and wunnien in Aualun; mid fairest alre aluen. and lokieð euere Bruttes ȝete; whan Arður cumen liðe. Nis nauer þe mon iboren; of nauer nane burde icoren. þe cunne of þan soðe; of Arðure sugen mare. Bute while wes an witeȝe; Mærlin ihate. he bodede mid worde; his quiðes weoren soðe. þat an Arður sculde ȝete; cum Anglen to fulste. |
Constantine, you are welcome; you were Cador's son. I bequeath to you here my kingdom, and guard my Britons for all your life, and uphold all the laws which have stood in my days, and all the good laws which stood in Uther's days. And I will go to Avalon, the the fairest of all maidens, to Argante, a very radiant elf, and she shall make sound all my wounds, and make me whole with healing potions. And afterwards I will come to my kingdom and dwell with the Britons with great joy. After these words there came travelling from the sea what seemed a short boat gliding, pushed by the waves, and two women therein, wondrously dressed; and they took Arthur at once and immediately carried him, and laid him softly down, and began to glide away. Then it happened as Merlin once said that there was grief without measure for Athur's passing. The Britons still believe that he is alive and dwells in Avalon with the fairest of all elves; and the Britons still look ever for Arthur to come gain. There is never a man born of any favoured lady who knows how to say any more of the truth about Arthur. But once there was a prophet called Merlin; he predicted with words--his sayings were true-- that Arthur should yet come to aid the English. |
Arthur's Death according to Geoffrey of Monmouth
The fight now grew more furious than ever, and proved fatal to almost all the commanders and their forces. For on Modred's side fell Cheldric, Elasius, Egbrict, and Bunignus, Saxons; Gillapatric, Gillamor, Gistafel, and Gillarius, Irish; also the Scots and Picts, with almost all their leaders: on Arthur's side Olbrict, king of Norway; Aschillus, king of Dacia; Cador Limenic Cassibellaun, with many thousands of others, as well Britons as foreigners, that he had brought with him. And even the renowned king Arthur himself was mortally wounded; and being carried thence to the isle of Avalon to be cured of his wounds, he gave up the crown of Britain to his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador, duke of Cornwall, in the five hundred and forty-second year of our Lord's incarnation.
Arthur's Death according to Wace
There perished the brave and comely youth Arthur had nourished and gathered from so many and far lands. There also the knights of his Round Table, whose praise was famed throughout the whole world. There, too, was Mordred slain in the press, together with the greater part of his folk; and in the self-same day were destroyed the flower of Arthur's host, the best and hardiest of his men. So the chronicle speaks sooth, Arthur himself was wounded in his body to the death. He caused him to be borne to Avalon for the searching of his hurts. He is yet in Avalon, awaited by the Britons; for as they say and believe that he will return from whence he went and live again. Master Wace, the writer of this book, cannot add more to this matter of his end than was spoken by Merlin the prophet. Merlin said of Arthur—if I read aright—that his end should be hidden in doubtfulness. The prophet spoke truly. Men have ever doubted, and—as I am persuaded—will always doubt whether he lives or is dead. Arthur commanded that he should be carried to Avalon in this hope in the year 642 of the Incarnation. The sorer sorrow that he was a childless man. To Constantine, Cador's son, Earl of Cornwall, and his near kin, Arthur committed the realm, commanding him to hold it as king until he returned to his own. The earl took the land to his keeping. He held it as bidden, but nevertheless Arthur came never again.