The Danish intrusion into South Britain : read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, January 26, 1874 / by Joseph Boult.

  • Boult, Joseph.
Date:
[1874]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Danish intrusion into South Britain : read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, January 26, 1874 / by Joseph Boult. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    lows: Murac i leaba-fhrasich; luaigli-rian i liu-unga; tim in geist te i ga-ungna: “ It is gloomy on the bed of heath, hut the way is pleasant for the foot to pursue ; it is time for the custom-person to his footing.” It was gloomy in the reeking cabin within which the heather-bed lay long after break of day, or even after the sun’s first rays appeared; and it was time the traveller was afoot if he would make the most of daylight. Phonetically, I believe there is not much differ- ence between the Irish form and the words actually quoted by Worsaae from Hibbert; literally, the words I have rendered foot, O’Keilly glosses claw, talon, nail, hoof; and in the words geis-te, for custom-person, probably customary person would be more idiomatic ; it being customary to give enter- tainment to wayfarers ; in some cases it was compulsory to do so, as part of the tenure by which land was held. The resemblance between the English guest and geis-te is note^ worthy. These verbal similarities, and others which will come under notice, seem to indicate a prior relationship between the native and the invader, rather than the supremacy of the latter. A.D. 787 is the date usually assigned to the first Danish aggression upon England, and that for plunder only. At Dorchester, ten years later, 797, they are spoken of as ravaging the Anglian (? Sacsan) coasts; they appeared again, in Somerset, in 828, and, after several successful raids, sustained “a tremendous overthrow” at Ockley, in Surrey, in 857 ; after which they withdrew, broken and dismayed, leaving the land a respite of a few short years.* yEgberht’s successful reign lasted from 800 to 838. The pact between Alfred and Guthrum, Gudrum, or Gorm, was made in 878; and no sovereign authority can be ascribed to the Danes before that date. It was a condi- * Pearson’s Hist. Eng. during the Early and Middle Agee, 1868, vol. i., p. 151.