|
Baldred, the vassal of Mercia,51 fled
before him, and all Kent made submission.52 In 838 a
firm alliance was made between Egbert and Ccolnoth, archbishop of
Canterbury, at the council of Kingston.53 The district
thus conquered was made an appanage of Wessex under Ethelwulf, and on
Egbert’s death in 839 it passed to another son, Athelstan, while
Ethelwulf succeeded to Wessex.54 But before this a new
invader had appeared. The first recorded landing of the Danes in Kent
took place probably in 835, when they ravaged Sheppey.55
In a Kentish will of about this time leaving certain rents to St.
Augustine’s, Canterbury, provision is made for the case that in some
years payment may be impossible ‘through heathen folk.’56
Some years later Herbert, an ealdorman of Mercia, was defeated and
killed by the Danes among the ‘marshmen’ (of Romney),57 and
in 842 London and Rochester were sacked with great slaughter.58
In 851 a fleet of 350 ships sailed up the Thames and ‘broke’
Canterbury and London. Ethelwulf and Ethelbald met and defeated the
Danes at Ockley in Surrey, and this was followed by a victory of Athelstan,
king of Kent, and Ealher, ‘dux’ or ealdorman, at Sandwich, where
they captured nine Danish ships.59 In this year
‘heathen men first wintered in Thanet.’ Shortly afterwards Ealher
was defeated and killed in another fight at Thanet,60
and in 855 the Danes wintered in Sheppey.61 These
winterings mark the transition from the merely plundering stage of their
invasion to that of regular settlement. But if the evidence of
place-names may be trusted, Kent was never permanently occupied to any
extent by the Danes, though it suffered constantly from their raids.
In 855 Ethelwulf made his famous pilgrimage to Rome,
taking with him his young son Alfred. Asser has a story of a conspiracy
during his absence, which resulted, on his return, in the division of
the kingdom, his son Ethelbald obtaining Wessex itself, while Ethelwulf
had to be content with the eastern part, including Kent.62 It
is more probable that at his departure he divided the kingdom as it was
divided on his death in 858, when Ethelbald succeeded to Wessex and
Ethelbert, his second son, to Kent.63 According to
Asser, Ethelwulf left his kingdom in this way by will, but the will is
not extant,64 so that its terms must remain doubtful.
In any case, on Ethelbald’s death in 860, Ethelbert succeeded to the
united kingdom,65 and the kingdom of Kent was finally merged
in Wessex.
51 So Hodgkin, Pol. Hist. Engi. to 1066,
264. Stubbs, Const. Hut. (ed. 4), i, 190, and Mr. Hunt in Dict.
Nat. Biog. take the view that Baldred was in revolt against Mercia.
52 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub
anno 823 (825). 53 Stubbs, op. cit. i, 257.
54 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 836 (839).
The expression used in MS. A seems to make Athelstan Ethelwuif’s son,
but does not necessarily bear this meaning (Plummer, op. cit. U, 75).
55 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 832 (835).
56 Birch, Cart. Sax. No. 501 (cited by
Plummer, op. cit. ii, 74).
57 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 838 (?841);
and Plummer’s note, ii, 76.
58 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 839
(842). Some authorities add Canterbury, through a misreading of the Chronicle’s
‘Cwantawic,’ i.e. Etaples (Bede, Hist. Eccl. iv, i,
mentions Quentauic). Gaimer, Lestorie des Angles (Rolls Ser.), i,
97, records another Danish victory at Sandwich.
59 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno. The order
of the events of this year is doubtful. This is one of the few places
where an ealdorman of Kent is mentioned. See ann. 897.
60 Angl.-Sax. Chron. 852 (853).
61 Ibid. sub anno.
62 Life of Alfred in Monutnenta Hist.
Brit. 470.
63 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno 85;.
64 A part of it is recited in Alfred’s will
(Birch, Cartul. Sax. No. 553).
65 Angl.-Sax. Chron. sub anno. |