CHAP. IX. The Laws of "43.-OF WOOD BURNING. "When a man burns a tree in a wood, and it be found out against him who did it, let him pay the full wite [fine]; let him give sixty shillings, because fire is a thief. If a man fell in a wood a good many trees, and it be afterwards discovered; let him pay for three trees, each with thirty shillings. He need not pay for more of them, were there as many of them as might be, because the axe is an informer, not a thief." "44.-OF TAKING WOOD WITHOUT LEAVE. "But if a man cut down a tree under which thirty swine may stand, and it be discovered, let him give sixty shillings." CHAPTER X. ANGLO-SAXON HISTORY CONTINUED.-EGBERT TO ALFRED. A CHAP. X. A.D. 800 to FTER the death of Offa of Mercia, A.D. 794, and the fruitless attempt made by the Kentish men to regain their independence during the reign of his successor, 871. Cenulph, A.D. 796, Kent continued dependent on Mercia. In the meantime Wessex became the paramount state of Mercia, and Brithric, its king (the son-in-law of Offa), to secure his usurped throne, put to death all the kindred of Ina with one exception, Egbert, who escaped to the continent, and spent a portion of his early life profitably in the court of Charlemagne. On the death of Brithric (who was poisoned by his wife Edburga) Egbert was recalled and placed on the throne. While in exile he had learnt so well the arts of war and government, that he was enabled to extend the bounds of his kingdom, which soon included Kent; and Ethelwulf (the son of Egbert) having driven Baldred beyond the Thames, ruled over Kent as his father's viceroy. Towards the end of Egbert's life, and having disbanded The Danes. his army, the Danes made a descent upon England, and landed in Scepige, or Sceapige (the Isle of Sheppy), and disturbed the close of a career which had been otherwise most prosperous. These piratical barbarians, unsoftened by Christianity, continued for nearly two centuries to ravage England and spread devastation throughout the land, but more especially in Kent, whose coast lay open to their debarcations. CHAP. X. Macaulay, Vol. I., P. 10. It may not be out of place to give here a brief history of this people, especially as we shall have occasion to refer to them as we proceed. They were Scandinavians, and though called Danes, were mainly composed of nations living in the regions of Norway and Sweden. The Danes, who ultimately established themselves in Britain, were the most terrible and most successful. Their highest title was Vikinge, or Vikingar (sea kings-kings of bays). They visited countries with no intention of forming settlements, but solely to plunder. The great horror and detestation which the Saxons had of them is exemplified in their chronicles and charters, where they are called "Heathens; and the Saxons were now to suffer at the hands of the Danes the same atrocities, after the lapse of years, which had attended the victories of their ancestors over the Celts. Thus civilization, just as it begun to rise, sank down once more. For without one yard of territorial property, without any towns or visible nation, with no wealth but their ships, no force but their crews, and no hope but their swords, these sea kings swarmed Turner, Vol. I., on the boisterous ocean, and plundered in every district they could approach. Their boast was never to sleep under a smoky roof, nor to indulge in the cheerful cup over the hearth." The eldest son usually ascended the paternal throne, and the rest of the family hastened like petty Neptunes to establish their kingdoms on the waves. When at peace they were kept in amity by the most studied equality; when at war they lashed their ships together, and from the prows rushed on like our famed naval hero, Nelson, to victory or death. They despised tears and mourning as a badge of weakness, and never made any outward show of sorrow for their deceased relations. p. 435. Familiar with misery from their infancy, they knew no glory but from the destruction of their fellow creatures, and yet from the descendants of these men some of the noblest people in Europe have originated.* *The complimentary address of the Danish residents to the Princess of Wales on her recent visit to Hull contained the following passage : CHAP. X. Egbert died about the year 837, having reigned upwards of thirty-seven years. He appears to have given the kingdom A.D. 837. of Kent with the adjoining kingdoms to his son Athelstan, while to Ethelwulf descended the kingdom of the West A. S. C., 347. Saxons, and thus he weakened the influence of the Bretwalda. For the succeeding forty-four years we meet with con stant conflicts between the Danes and Saxons. A.D. 858. The next mention we find made of Athelstan as King of A.D. 851. Kent is in the year 851, when, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us, he fought on shipboard at Sandwich and took nine ships and put the others to flight, but his victory was not decisive, for the "heathen men soon after took both Canterbury and London by storm, and for the first time remained through the winter in Kent; Athelstan died soon after. Ethelwulf survived him seven years, and by his will, which was confirmed by a general assembly of his nobles, he bequeathed Kent to his second son Ethelbert, and Wessex to Ethelbald. Ethelbald however died five years afterwards, and Ethelbert, in contravention of his father Ethelwulf's will, succeeded to all his possessions. In the fifth year of his reign the Northmen landed in the Isle of Thanet, and the men of Kent agreed to pay a sum of money for peace; but pending this negotiation the invaders burst from their camp at night and ravaged all the eastern part of the county. Ethelbert died A.D. 866. Ethelred his A.D. 861. Dr. Lappenberg, p. 29. brother then ascended the throne, and was succeeded in in 871 by his brother Alfred, justly styled the Great, who A.D. 871. was the youngest son of Ethelwulf. Having thus referred to the several Kings who reigned over Kent until the accession of Alfred, we will now briefly notice a few more of the grants made by them, of lands on "Our neighbourhood abounds with reminiscences of the Dane, and it is G CHAP. X. Philipot, P. 105. Kilburne, P. 4). Hasted, p. 438. the confines of the Forest. Among the numerous possessions which that public pilferer," Offa, had seized, "and violently torn from Archbishop Janobert" or Lambert, was 66 Chart," called in the Saxon times "Selebertes Ceart," which has a note of antiquity and eminence about it. It was originally a hundred of itself, and the Archbishops of Canterbury had a mansion there. It then included Little Chart, and Cenulph re-granted it to Christ Church, Canterbury, at the request of Archbishop Athelard, for the clothing of the monks. The ecclesiastics soon lost it again, and in the year 839 Archbishop Ceolnoth bought it, and with the consent of King Ethelwulf it was given to Christ Church, Canterbury. The adjoining district of Charing had also been taken by Offa from the See of Canterbury, and was also restored Vol. III., p.211 by Cenulph; and he and his brother Cudred (who, it will be remembered, held Kent under him) in 804 granted Lenham, in the same locality, to Wernoth, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Augustine, Canterbury, in respect of his kindred to Ethelwulf and Cenulph, comprising twenty plough lands, and likewise certain "Denes bearing acorns Ibid., Vol. II., in the Weald." Ethelwulf augmented this grant in 839, and again in 850, when he gave 40 cassatos [hides, sulings]. Cod. Dip.,1049. The gift was made in the Vill of Faversham, and the Denes are all mentioned by name; but, with the exception of Frittenden, they cannot be satisfactorily identified, and therefore I will not enumerate them. Somner, in referring to this grant, thus describes it:-"XIII Denberende in Andred, so the Saxon;" which, he says, "the chronicler of the place turns XIII dennas glandes portantes," or Denes bearing acorns. P. & F., P. . 109. We will next refer to two curious documents, to be found in the Codex, which, though otherwise very obscure, throw some light on the names and boundaries of places in this part of the county during the ninth century. One of them Cod. Dip., 281. appears to be an exchange by Ethelbert of Kent (the son of Ethelwulf) in 858 with Wullaf his faithful servant, of land owned by him in a place called Wasyngwelle [West |