19 



30 much to describe the many fights which have 

 taken place in this brave old county, as to point 

 to the places where they were fouj^ht, and so to 

 preserve many a glorious memory over which the 

 silt of the stream of time has gradually been 

 accumulating, and which in some instances it has 

 aloioot obliterated. 



"If this work should possess any value, that value 

 will toasist inaruusing the notice of the historians 

 and archae ilogists of the county to its short-com- 

 ings and omiisions. Many a local tradition, em- 

 bodiei it may be in local names, may preserve the 

 memory of battles whxh historj' has not recorded, 

 and to collect and preserve these would add to 

 the interest of the county. 



"The materials with which I have built up these 

 pat^es ard drawu mainly from the Saxon and 

 other old English chronicles, and from our chief 

 hisior aas, especially the works of Professor E. A. 

 Fctemio; the rta^Jer will see for himself how 

 much I am indeb'-ed to the Rev. Francis T. Vine's 

 admirable * Caesai in Kent.' " 



After a leterence to the stand made by the 

 Britons, under Vortigern, at Aylesford against 

 the Teutonic invader in 455, the author proceeded 

 to quote at length from the Rev. Francis Vine's 

 well-known "Caesar in Kent" regarding the 

 mtm -rabla buttles witnessed on Barham Downs ; 

 a-so to ].a t events at Bursted. 

 Canterbury. 



The traditional sanctity of the Metropolitan 

 City afforded it no prott ction from Danish 

 fero;ity. The fire which destroyed the City in 

 754- is only what might have been expected in 

 days when houses were built mainly of wood, and 

 need not be laid to the charge of au enemy. 



839. We first hear of the Danes at Canterbury 

 in 839, when the short but significant entry occurs 

 in ttie Chroaicle, " This year there was great 

 slaughter at Lundon, and at Canterbury, and at 

 Ktc , ester." 



851. This determined enemy wintered in 

 Thauet for the first time in 851, and "the same 

 year came three hundred and fifty ships to the 

 mouth of the Thames, and the crews landed and 

 took Canterbury and London by storm." 



1009. Again in 1009 the Danes tried to storm 

 the City, but the citizens, with the people of East 

 Kent, quickly sued for peace, and obtained it on 

 paymtnt of three thousand pounds. 



1011. But this ill-gotten peace did not last 

 long. The enemy came again, and on the 8th 

 S iptember, 1011, they dag a trench round Canter- 

 bury and laid seige to it. Florence thus describes 

 the attack : " Oa the twentieth day of the siege, 

 through the treachery of Alfmar, the Archdeacon, 

 whoio life Archbishop Alfhead (Saint Alphege) 

 had formerly saved, one quarter of the City was 

 set on fire, the army entered, and the place was 

 taken ; some of the townsmen were put to the 

 sword, others perished in the flames, many were 

 thrown headlong from the walls; matrons were 

 dragged by their ha irthroughthestreetsofthecity, 

 and then cast into the fire and burnt to death ; in- 

 fants, torn from their mothers' breasts, were caught 

 on the points of spears or crushed in pieces under 

 the wheels of waggons." The chronicle adds : 

 '" And they remained within the city afterwards 



as long as they would. And when they had 

 thoroughly searched the city, then went they to 

 their ships and led the Archbishop with them." 



The story of the martyrdom is thus told in the 

 Chronicle : 



MXII. In this year came Eadric the Alderman, 

 and all chief Witan, priests and laymen of the 

 English to London, before Easter — Easter Day 

 was that year on the Ides of April (April 13) and 

 they were there so long as until all tribute was 

 paid, after Easter ; that was eight and forty 

 thousand pounds. Then on the Saturday was the 

 army much stirred against the Bishop, because he 

 would not promise them any money and forbade 

 that any thing should be given for him. They 

 were also very drunken, for wine had been brought 

 there from the south. Then took they the 

 bishop and led him to their husting on the eve of 

 Sunday the octave of Easter which was on the 13, 

 before the Kalends of May (April 19), and him 

 then shamefully slaughtered. They pelted him 

 with bones and the horns of oxen, and then one of 

 them struck him with an axe-iron on the head, so 

 that with the blow he sank down, and his holy 

 blood fell on the earth, and his holy soul he sent 

 to Grod's Kingdom, i nd on the morrow the dead 

 body they carried to London, and the Bishops 

 Eadnoth and Alfkiun and the townsmen received 

 it with all worship, and buried in St. Paul's min- 

 ster, and there God now manifestoth the miracu- 

 lous powers of the holy martyr." 



To this account in the Chronicle, Professor E. A. 

 Freeman adds " Thus it stands in the Chronicle ; 

 the account there must have been written within 

 eleven years, for in 1023 ^Ifheah's body was irans- 

 lated, that is solemnly moved, from Loudon to 

 Canterbury. Florence says that on Saturday 

 April 19, the Danes told .^Ifbeah that he must 

 pay three thousand pounds for his life and free- 

 dom ; if not, they should kill him as it is 

 said in the Chronicle. He adds that the Dane 

 who at last killed him was one Thrum, whom he 

 had converted and baptiz^^d in his prison, and had 

 confirmed only the day before. Thrum did it, 

 they say, " moved by an impious piety," that is, he 

 wished to put an end to .Elfheah's sufferings. 

 Thietmar says that ^Ifheah had promised to pay 

 the Danes money to let him go, and had fixed a 

 time, but when the time came, he said he had none 

 to pay, and told them to do what they pleased with 

 him. He also says that Thurkill, the Danish Earl, 

 tried to save ^Ifheah, but the other Danes would 

 not hearken. 



This is said to have happened at Greenwich, 

 where the church of St. Alphege now stands. 



The story that the Danes were enraged against 

 the saint because he refused to give up the 

 treasures of Canterbury Cathedral looks like a 

 mooastic embellishment, inserted to give the 

 Archbishop's death a still stronger aspect of 

 martyrdom. 



The victories by Hengist and ^Esc his son over 

 the Britons in -i5G-7 were next reviewed, also the 

 landing of Julius Ctesar in 55 B.C. at Deal, and 

 various events in the past history of Dover. 

 Dover. 



1051. The first time that Dover was the scene 

 of a recorded conflict was in 1051 but what 



