CHAP. X.

Glossarium, p. 167.

Thorpe's Glos sary, 655,

Bosworth.
Kemble.

and here (Great Yarmouth) the liberty is granted for the Ports fishermen to beet or mend and to dry their nets upon marsh lands there, yet [1737, and still] called 'The Dennes,' during all the herring season."

But the following translation from Spelman gives, to my mind, the best and most comprehensive definition of the word as applicable to this work, while it is at the same time one of the most ancient. He first quotes the Domesday of Kent, and refers to the small and large denes described under the head of Tarentford, and of half a dene in the Weald under Middletune, and then proceeds :

"I repeat the word over and over that the light may be let in by
chinks. Agarde has pronounced an opinion that 'dene' means wood for
cutting down enclosed in a hedge. I doubt : query. But the Saxon
word 'den,' alias 'dene,' is the same as lair, cave, valley; sometimes
[sheep] cote, a resting place [of beasts], whence the origin of the word
seems to be derived. For I have heard some calling it a bed of wood,
and it has otherwise been called a yoke by others. That is 'jugum,'
which see.
It does not contain a fixed measurement of land, but some-
times 500 acres or more-sometimes less than half; whence comes that
expression in Domesday of small denes' and 'large denes.' In the
woody part of Kent it has given a name to several vills. Tenterden,
Rolvenden, Newenden, Benenden, Horsmonden, Spelmonden, &c. ; but
rather with the signification of a valley. Now in these some write don,

or dun, for den, i.e., 'hill' for 'valley:' wrongly."
Thus much-

"In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den."-Milton.

In two of the charters just referred to we find "Denbera," a name given by the Saxons to pasturage. Somner says Denbera for the most part (sometimes Wealdbera) was the usual word and expression by which this liberty of pasturage did pass and was conveyed.

"DENBÆRU (m.) pl., denbæra, a pasture for swine: from den (denu) a valley, hollow, and bæro, a wood, grove, particularly, it would seem, one affording mast, &c., for swine."

"DEN-BÆRE-Wood bearing-woody, yielding mast."

"DENBERS (n.pl.) pasture for hogs."

Next as to "Cassatos," "Hides," "Sulungs." In the Charing charter forty cassatas are granted. Now cassatum I find in an old Law Latin Dictionary to be "a house and land sufficient to maintain one family."

Mr. Thorpe defines a hide

"HID (f.) hide, a space of land of uncertain extent, varying it would seem, from 96 to 120 acres. It has been assumed to have originally been a sufficiency of land for the support of one family, a vague definition, though sanctioned by Beda.

Founded on calculation, Mr. Kemble's opinion is, that the hid contained about thirty acres of our measurement; but that the Saxons had a large and a small acre as well as a large and small hundred.

The quantity of a hide was never expressly determined. Sometimes it is stated to be as much as was sufficient for the cultivation of one plough. One hundred acres, sixty acres, and even twenty acres, have been named. probability is, that it contained no certain number of acres, but varied in different places.

The

Domesday.

Sulung, sowling, or solin, was a measure of land peculiar to Kent, the name being derived from sul, a plough or ploughshare. It is supposed to represent the same quantity as a cassatum, and to be equivalent to a hide. But we will not dwell longer on these three words. No two writers appear to have agreed on the subject; and the late Mr. Larking says that this all arises from the fact that Notes on measurements were not made, as now, by graduated lines Domesday (44) and rods, but by a much more practical standard, viz., the actual work done by the plough or the labourer in a given space of time, which of course must vary in varying soils.

p. 160.

The salthouses and boiling pits of salt referred to in these charters remain to be noticed. The salt works in counties bordering the coast were ponds and pans for procuring marine salt by evaporation. Those in more Introduction. inland parts were what are called the refiners of brine to Domesday, fo., p. 413. or salt springs. Rock or fossil salt was not known in England at this time.

Before I conclude this chapter, I would remark that it is not unusual to find different kings (especially those who were only de facto kings of Kent) granting the same estates as they from time to time seized on them; and in many

CHAP. X.

Kemble's
Saxons in
England,
Vol. I., p. 70.

instances the words used are sufficiently comprehensive to pass the whole of a district, whilst only a part is intended to be granted. Thus far we find no mention of Tenterden, Cranbrook, Tunbridge, and other important places in the Weald which have since reared their heads. The density of the centre of the forest remained. The places already noticed were situate chiefly on its borders, except Newenden, which owed its early importance to the Limen and the sea, and except Sandhurst, Frittenden, and the other denes over which a mere right of feeding had been granted.

The selection by mankind of fertile valleys for their abode and sustenance has been uppermost in their thoughts and desires from the time that Lot lifted up his eyes and chose the well-watered plain of Jordan. This is strongly evinced by the spots on which the founders of the Anglican Church erected their cathedrals and monasteries. Fostered by that church, the industry, perseverance, and judgment of the inhabitants soon altered the face of this country. There was nothing new however in the process; it had been going on for centuries, and it is still going on in all our colonies. The supply of food keeps pace with the demand. There are millions of acres on the face of the earth yet capable of being brought into cultivation to supply the wants of the millions yet unborn. The well-watered plain will ever be the most favoured and first selected spot; and when that is covered with habitations, then the lofty trees of the forest are laid low, the wood is cleared, and light and air in process of time dispel the gloom and solitude which have so long prevailed. Slowly and step by step the bow and quiver are laid aside for the ploughshare, and the peaceful herdsman, instead of wandering with his swine over the forest is taught to keep them within a defined dene or boundary to which some influential cultivator of the soil has given a name. Meantime on the borders of the forest "the ford, the mill, the bridge, have become the nucleus of a village, and the blessings of

mutual intercourse have converted the squatters' settlement into a centre of happiness." And thus the first inhabitants of the Weald, without any main thoroughfares, lived within their own limits, with little inducement to wander from home, and content with the cultivation of a peaceful plot sufficient for the wants of a few simple households.

CHAP. X.

CHAP. XI. A.D. 872.

A.D. 878.

Wm. of Malmesbury, p. 113.

WE

CHAPTER XI.

ALFRED THE GREAT.

WHEN Alfred, the fourth son of Ethelwulf, ascended
the throne he was only twenty-two years of age,
and the Danes were masters of great part of England.
He took the field against them immediately after his coro-
nation, and we find him continually engaged in opposing
their incursions in almost every part of his kingdom, but
with so little success, that at last scarcely three counties
(Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire) adhered to
their allegiance. His retreat to the Island of Athelney,
and his entering the tent of the Danish monarch disguised
as a minstrel, are some of the most cherished portions of
his chequered life. The story however rests on the
authority of Ingulf and William of Malmesbury; Asser
does not notice it.

After a three months' residence in Athelney, Alfred
assembled all the forces he could collect, and attacked and
routed the Danes with incredible slaughter. Some, under
Guthrum, embraced Christianity, and settled in the east
of England; others, under Hasten, quitted England.
For years they ravaged Italy and France, and at length.
(A. D. 893) they resolved on a fresh attack on this country.
Hasten, arriving at Boulogne, there collected a fleet of
250 vessels, which he despatched to the coast of Kent.
They landed at Appledore, on the borders of the great
forest.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle thus describes the

event :