306 The Battle of Ethandun. 



he omits all mention of Carte/ Milner,^ and Beke,^ all opposed to 

 his "view of the question, quite as much as Whitaker and Dr. Thur- 

 nam. Mr. Matcham lays some stress on the mention of Ethandun 

 in the "Will of Alfred, a fact which but for Dr. Thurnam's remark 

 upon it in a note would probably have remained unnoticed. But 

 there can hardly be a question that the vill so named in the Will 

 (and also in a charter of Edwy executed A°. 957),^ is the place now 

 called Yattendon (or Yattingdon of some maps) in Berkshire; since 

 it occurs in the Will in close conjunction with Lambourne and 

 Wantage, both neighbouring Berkshire manors. (" Insuper concedo 

 ^Iswythte villam de Lamborne et de Wantingh et de Ethandune.") 

 And this indeed gives some"additional probability to my argument ; 

 because if the Ethandime of Alfred's Will is the present Yattendim 

 of Berkshire, the Ethandun of Asser, where the battle was fought, 

 may with the more probability be ascribed to the Yatton-diovfn (or 

 Etton-down) of Wiltshire. For that the fight could have taken 

 place so far from the line of Alfred's march from Selwood forest to- 

 wards Chippenham as a place in Berkshire, east of Newbury, and 

 therefore some sixty miles awa)'', Mr. Matcham will, of course, 

 readily admit to me. 



Neither can Mr. Matcham be allowed to ride his White Horse of 

 Bratton in emblematic triumph. Mr. Wise writing in 1738 and 

 1742, expressly states his belief, on sufficient authority, that this 

 figure was made as recently as the last century. And even were 

 evidence wanting on this point, it could have no better right to be 

 considered a monumental record of Alfred's victory than any other 

 of the team of eight which are to be seen in as many places on the 

 steep Wiltshire chalk downs. Moreover, Mr. Matcham is again 

 incorrect in his assertion, that "the White Horse is the ensign of 

 the (West) Saxons." (p. 121.) Henry of Huntingdon expressly 

 speaks (A°. 752 and 1016) of the golden dragon as the standard of 

 the West Saxons. Nor is it true that (same pagej "the White Horse 

 of Berkshire, is, in the opinion of all antiquaries, the undoubted 



1 Carte's History of England, 1747, vol. i. p. 300. 



"^ Milner's History of Winchester, 1798, vol. i. p. 129. 



' See Lysons's Magna Britannia, Berkshire, 1813, p. 163, for Dr. Beke'3 views. 



* Kemble's Codex Diplomatious, vol. ii. p.p. 112, 342, and vol. v. p. 127. 



