Forest of Rossendale. 13 



Danes, which he endeavours, and most suQcessfully, to show is to 

 be found in the immediate neighbourhood of Burnley; and in 

 connection with which the earthwork in question constituted, pro- 

 bably, a not unimportant adjimct. (b) 



This decisive conflict, won by the Saxon king, Athelstan, against 

 the confederated forces of the Danes, the Welsh, and the Scots, 

 under the Danish prince, Anlaf, completely established the supre- 

 macy of the former, and raised the Saxon character in the estima- 

 tion of surrounding nations. In order fully to appreciate the vast 

 importance of this victory to the Saxons and their ruler, and to 

 invest the old Dyke with that interest to which it seems entitled, 

 it is necessary briefly to recount the history of the period for some 

 time prior to the occurrence of the battle. 



About the end of the eighth centur)', the Danes and Norwegians 

 (Scandinavians) began to make their, predatory incursions on the 

 southern and eastern coasts of Britain, ravaging wherever they 

 penetrated, and leaving destruction and desolation in their track. 

 This warlike and perfidious race inhabited the shores and islands 

 of the northern seas ; but it was their boast that the sea itself was 

 their natural home and empire, over which they reigned supreme. 

 They were known by the name of " Vikings," or " Children of the 

 Creeks." These bands of Vikings had leaders, whom they styled 

 " king," who were chosen for their pre-eminence in skill, daring, 

 and ferocity. According to their bards, he only was accounted 

 worthy to be a " sea-king " who " never slept beneath a roof, nor 

 quaffed the horn at the covered hearth." (c) They were, moreover. 

 Pagan idolaters in their worship, and took especial delight in plun- 

 dering and persecuting all who bore the name of Christian. 



During the reign of Ethelred, (a.d. S66-871,) the Saxon king of 

 Wessex and Kent, the Danes with a strong force invaded and 

 nearly overran the island. A series of sanguinary conflicts be- 

 tween the Saxons and their invaders, extending over a period of 



(b) See Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 

 vol. ix. pp. 21-42. 



(c) Doyle's Chronicle of England, p. 41. 



