176 The Battle of Ethandun. 



that the Danes had their quarters at that place both before and after 

 the battle." This is an observation no doubt in one sense impor- 

 tant; but its whole weight refers to a question of time, and it can 

 be tested by no authority or express statement whatever, which 

 either proves or intimates that the " quarters of the Danes were at 

 Chippenham" immediately before, or immediately after the battle. 



Asscr indeed informs us that they passed the previous winter at 

 that place, which he calls a royal villa, reducing almost entirely 

 to subjection all the people of that country, but the ensuing summer 

 (during which the action occurred^) woidd necessarily be devoted 

 to incursions beyond that immediate neighbourhood, which must by 

 that time have been despoiled of all sustenance required for a ma- 

 rauding and foreign army; the inhabitants, as the same writer in- 

 forms us, being *' driven beyond sea, by want of the necessaries of 

 life." There is no natural barrier between Chippenham and Ed- 

 ington which could prevent its occupation, and that of the surround- 

 ing country by the Danes, and the fortress of Bratton connected 

 with it would necessarily have been seized by them as a strong 

 hold, and the key of any military operations or predatory expedition. 

 It is not improbable that the Danish host may have returned to 

 Chippenham after the battle, (for they may have as easily marched 

 fifteen miles as five when a treaty was concluded,) but there is no 

 direct inference that they did return there, except the subsequent 

 statement that they left the place the following year. 



Dr. Thurnam's next proof is founded on an objection to the 

 relative distances of the places assumed by previous writers to be 

 those mentioned by Asser in the line of march taken by Alfred. 

 He admits, and he can scarcely deny the identity of Brixton with 

 Ecgbright's stone, but he repudiates both Bucley and Westbury 

 Leigh as the representatives of ^glea, because the one being five 

 miles only, and the other but nine, from Brixton, " these distances 

 seem too short for a day's march, when the king is described as 

 setting forth at dawn, and with the head quarters of the enemy at 

 Chippenham, a distance of at least twenty-five miles." I suggest, 

 however, that in this sentence the ingenious writer in some measure 



' The 7th week after Easter, Asser; Tiimer fixes the date on the 11th May. 



