Bath under West Saxon Dominion. 3/ 



gisedmod and goldbeorht joyous and gold-bright 



gleoma gefraetwed gaudily jewelled 



wlonc and wingal haughty and wine-hot 



wig hyrstum scan ; shone in his harness ; 



seah on sine on sylfor looked on treasure, on silver, 



on searo gimmas ; on gems of device ; 



on ead, on aeht, on wealth, on stores, 



on eorcan stan ; on precious stones ; 



on this beorhtan burg on this bright borough 



bradan rices. of broad dominion. 



Stan hofu stodan ; There stood courts of stone ! 



stream hate wearp The stream hotly rushed 



widan wylme, with eddy wide, 



weal eal befeng (wall all enclosed) 



beorhtan bosme ; with bosom bright, 



thaer tha bathu weeron, (There the baths were !) 



hat on hrethre ; hot by nature ! 



thast wes hythelic ! That was a boon indeed ! 



At what time population began to gather on 

 this site after the desolation, is open to doubt ; 

 but there is no doubt as to the instrumentality by which this 

 renovation was effected. Bath was restored by that great 

 agency of new life, the foundation of a religious house. Next 

 to the hot springs, which first drew life about the place, and 

 which through all our history must be understood as the 

 primary element of its being, the second cause, and the great 

 formative agency, is the institution of conventual life. 



What is the date of this religious foundation ? There are 

 two ways of answering this question, and it makes a consider- 

 able difference which of the two we accept. We have a 

 document setting forth that Osric, King of the Hwiccas, 

 founded a religious establishment here in 676, but William 

 of Malmesbury, in the twelfth century, knew of no earlier 

 founder than King Offa, who flourished a century later. 

 The King who ruled over the small kingdom of the Hwiccas, 



