Our Catholic Heritage in English Literature of Pre-Conquest Days Part 5

CHAPTER IX

"Judith," a great poem founded on Scripture story. Authors.h.i.+p uncertain.

Part of it lost. Quotations from it. Description of Holofernes'

banquet as of a Saxon feast. Story of Judith dwelt on to encourage resistance to Danes and Northmen.

To-day we shall think about some more of the great poetry that was made before the Norman Conquest, and we shall first take one of the finest and most characteristic poems which remain to us, a poem founded on Bible story; the great poem, of which we have unfortunately only a part, the "Judith."

It is not certain who wrote this poem: it may have been Cynewulf; but we do not know.

The story of Judith is a well-known one; the story of the Hebrew lady who is described in the foreword to the Book of Judith as "that ill.u.s.trous woman, by whose virtue and fort.i.tude, and armed with prayer, the children of Israel were preserved from the destruction threatened them by Holofernes and his great army."

The earlier part of the poem is lost, so we can only guess how the poet told of the ravage wrought by the general of King Nabuchodonoser in the countries close to Palestine, and how submission was as vain as resistance to a power which, for the time being, was allowed to be so terribly great.

The poem, as we have it, begins where Judith has come, in the splendour of her beauty, and the might of her purity, and the power of her faith, to destroy the destroyer and set her people free.

The Prince of Glory gave her the s.h.i.+eld of His hand in the place Where she stood in her uttermost need of the highest Doomer's grace To save her in peril extreme; and the Ruler of all things made, The glorious Father in Heaven, He granted the prayer she prayed, And, because of the might of her faith, He gave His help and His aid.

I have heard how his word went forth, how Holofernes bad His men to the drinking of wine, and the splendid feast he had.

The prince he called his thanes and the s.h.i.+elded warriors best, And the folk-leaders came to the mighty, all fain for the doing his best.

And now, since the coming of Judith, three days and three nights had been, The woman wise in her heart, and fair as the elf-folk sheen.

We have the description of the banquet, with the deep bowls and well-filled cups and pitchers borne to the sitters along the floor--just the description of the old Saxon banquet which the poet knew of. We have the drunken glee of Holofernes, his right noisy laughter and the stormy mirth that could be heard from afar; and his call to the henchmen to quit them as warriors ought, till at last they lie in their drunken sleep, powerless, and as though stricken of death.

Then comes the night, and the sending for Judith, the wise-hearted one, to Holofernes' tent. Holofernes lies in his drunken sleep, and the Lord's handmaid draws from the sheath the keen-edged glittering sword, and prays,

O G.o.d of all created, I pray my prayer to Thee!

O Spirit of Comfort! O Son Almighty! I bow my knee, For Thy mercy to me who need Thee, most glorious Trinity!

Now is my heart waxed hot, exceeding hot in me, And my soul afflicted sore, and sorrowful grievously.

Give victory, Prince of Heaven, to me, and steadfast faith, That so with this sword I slay this dealer of wrong and death.

O, grant me Thy salvation, most mighty Folk-prince, Thou, For ne'er have I needed Thy mercy with greater need than now.

Avenge, O mighty Lord, the thing whereof I wot, Which is anger in my soul, and in my breast burns hot.

Then the Judge most high He gave her the courage she prayed Him for, As yet to each He giveth, who seeketh Him, as of yore, With faith and understanding, his help for evermore.

And then,

Enlarged was the woman's soul, the holy one's hope sprang new.

And she smites the evil general with the strength she had prayed for, and goes forth victorious with her handmaiden, to bear the tidings to her people of the deliverance wrought for them, ascribing the glory to G.o.d and His might. Judith leaves the camp of the a.s.syrians, with her waiting-woman, who carries the head of Holofernes in a bag. Men and women in great mult.i.tudes flock to the fortress-gate, pressing and running to meet G.o.d's handmaid, glad of heart to know of her home-coming. They let her in reverently, and the trophy she has brought is shown them. Judith beseeches them to go forth to the fight, as soon as the Maker of the beginning of all things, the King of high honour, hath sent the bright light from the East; to go forth bearing s.h.i.+eld and buckler and the bright helmet, to meet the thronging foemen, and fell the folk-leaders, the doomed spear-bearers. Their foes are doomed to death, and they shall have glory and honour in battle. Then follows a great battle, with full victory to Israel.

The poet has varied from the Biblical story, in representing the officers of Holofernes' army as drunk; and also in telling of a battle after the return of Judith to Bethulia. It also may seem strange that Judith should address the Holy Trinity and each separate Person thereof.

The old Christian poet carried his belief along with him, and the handmaid of G.o.d, the brave Judith, was to him a follower of Our Lord.

The brave Judith, yes! St Dominic's Third Order was at first, as we know, called "The militia of Jesus Christ." How Judith would have loved the name! And we may think, may we not? how, looking from her place among the glorified, she smiled on the great warrior Maiden Saint who went in the might of the Lord, to deliver her country from the rule of the stranger.

The story of Judith would especially appeal to people living at a time when incursions of foreigners were well known, and later on, still unforgotten. Abbot aelfric, about whose work I have to tell you something presently, in writing a short account of the Old Testament with its various books, says that the Book of Judith "is put into English in our manner as an example to you men, that you should defend your country with weapons against an invading army"--the word which he uses, "here,"

always meaning in old English the army of the Danes. aelfric also wrote "a homily on Judith to teach the English the virtues of resistance to the Danes."

It is interesting likewise to think that the poet of "Judith" may have had in his mind some great Englishwoman concerning whom he wished in a veiled way to convey well-deserved praise. Perhaps he was inspired to tell of Judith, by the deeds of King Alfred's daughter, aethelflaed, known as the Lady of the Mercians, and sought to do honour to her as well as to the great Hebrew lady.

aethelflaed fortified Chester and other towns, and, along with King Edward, built fortresses, "chiefly along the line of frontier exposed to the Danes, as at Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham in Ess.e.x, and other places." Of course it is uncertain whether our poet was thinking of aethelflaed. We should be able to say whether it were impossible if we knew the date of "Judith," as, if the poem were composed before aethelflaed's time, she could not have entered into the poet's mind.

The Church has paid a splendid tribute to Judith by applying to her who is pre-eminently the strong or valiant woman (mulier fortis) full of the strength that always wore the exquisite veil of humility, the words spoken to this valiant woman of the Hebrews by her countrymen, as they adored the Lord, who had given her the victory. See the lesson read on the Feast of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.

CHAPTER X

Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.

We have in the "Battle of Maldon" a great patriotic poem, written about the "ealdorman"[H] of the East Angles, Byrthnoth, or Brihtnoth, who stood so valiantly against the Danes. It was he who was so good to the monks, helping to defend them against the "ealdorman" of the Mercians, and others who were turning them out: he also helped to found the Abbey of Ely. He was buried there, we are glad to know. Anlaf, known as Olaf Tryggvesson, afterwards King of Norway, came with two other Northmen, and harried Ipswich and other places, and then sailed up the Pant or Blackwater to Maldon, where the river divides into two parts. The beginning and end of the poem have been lost, and, as we have it now, it opens with the command of Byrhtnoth that every man should let his horse go, and march afoot to meet the enemy and strive with him hand to hand.

[Footnote H: "Alderman" is the modern form, but it does not mean the same thing.]

Then Byrthnoth 'gan array his men; he rode and gave the rede, He shewed the fighters how to stand and keep the place at need, Fast with their hands to hold the s.h.i.+elds, nor be afraid indeed.

He took his place among his own bodymen, his immediate followers. On the other side of the stream the herald of the vikings (or pirates) stood, and with a loud voice gave the scornful message of the sea-folk to the English leader. If Byrhtnoth would be in safety he must quickly send treasure to the foe.

"And better 'tis for you buy off this onset of the spear With tribute than that we should deal so sore a combat here; We need not spill each other's lives if ye make fast aright A peace with us; if thou agree, thou, here the most of might, Thy folk to ransom, and to give the seamen what shall be Right in our eyes, and take our peace, make peace with told money.

We'll haste to s.h.i.+p, we'll keep that peace, and go upon the sea."

This was Brythnoth's answer:

Dost hear, thou dweller on the sea, what this my people saith!

Their tribute is the spear, the sword, the arrow tipt with death; War-harness that for you in fight full little profiteth.

Not he. He stood for his own soil, his prince's earth, the people and the land. We may compare with this St aelfeah's (Alphege) splendid stand even to death against unjust payment of tribute.

Byrthtnoth ordered his men to march on till they all stood on the bank of the river. The flood flowed in after the ebb, and the hostile armies could not reach each other, and it seemed too long to wait for the water to let them meet. Wulfstan, by race a warrior bold, held the bridge for his chief, and aelfhere and Maccus with him, the undaunted mighty twain.

The Danes begged to be allowed to overpa.s.s the ford, and Byrhtnoth in his scorn allowed this.

Too much the earl in his disdain to that ill folk gave heed.

The wolves of slaughter strode along, nor for the water cared; The host of vikings westward there across the Pante fared.

Byrhtnoth was awaiting them, and the fight began.

Then rose a cry as round and round the ravens wheeled in air, The erne all greedy for his prey. A mighty din was there.

Oh, bitter was the battle-rush, the rush of war that day, Then fell the men; on either hand the gallant young men lay.

The battle-rage grew stronger and keener; the din of war grew louder and louder. Byrhtnoth fought hand to hand with a strong viking, and with yet another, dealing death to both.

The blither was the earl for that, out laughed the warrior grim, Thanked G.o.d because of that day's work which G.o.d had given to him.

But the brave man's time was come, and a dart pierced him, and he fell; and as he lay on the ground a young lad, a boy who stood beside him, drew the spear from his lord's body and cast it back to pierce the foe who had sorely hit his lord. An armed man came to the death-stricken leader of the English to rob him of his jewels and his warrior's gear and fretted sword of fame. The dying man struck him on the corslet, but