The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-03-13
Our &ops ann Glrls.
The Scribe's Report.

members OF the Hill country CluD Will
readily see that the more prompt they
are in sending answers the betterit will
be for us all. We are reminded of this
Just now by having received since our
last report list of answers which con-
tanned the date we had been waiting
for, A. d. S27, when England first be-
came a distinct kingdom. This date
should be preserved. Two of the his
torical dates we have noticed can per-
haps be remembered sufficiently well
without reading, by associating them in
the mind with each other, as one men,
Der of the club has suggested, the in
vasion of Hengist and Horsa, A. d.
449, with Alfred the Great, S49-just
four hundred years later, the former
beirg among the first Saxons who came
to England, and the latter the greatest
of English Saxons. Answers to the
questions of February 10 about Alfred
and about the Saxon Chronicle have
been received from "Aunt Becky"
containing some facts not before men
toned:
Alfred saved his country from the
Danes; established schools; translated
many Latin works into Anglo-SaXon,
among them the translation or repro
duction of the " Universal History of
Paulus Orosius," extending from the
creation to the sixth century; Bede's
Ecclesiastical History from 50 b. G. to
731 A. D., Boethius' Consolation -;
Gregory's Pastoral; copious extracts
and quotations from st. Augustine, the
Psalms, and other portions of Scripture.
He wrote original treatises. Among
them were " Against Unjust Judges"
"The Uncertain Fortune of Kings"
"The Acts of Magistrates" " A Man
ual of Meditations," etc. The Saxon
Chronicle was dry, matter-of-fact
record of the principal events in Anglo
Saxon history, evidently kept by several
successive writers and extending down
to the death of King stephen, 1l54.
Three sets of answers have been re-
ceived to the questions of February 20,
in addition to those noticed last week;
and, as each contains facts not men
toned by the others, we will give place
to them all. First, p. G. X. gives this:
% Some time during the tenth CEN
fury, large party of Mortimer, under
tall and mighty chief named Rollo,
went to France and forced the king to
give them a large tract Cf country oppo-
site England. This country was called
Normandy, and the people were called
Normans. They learned the French
language and became much like the
French people, but were Drawer and
more spirited. (2) In 1902, Ethelred,
king of England, married Emma, sister
of the Duke of Normandy. Some years
after, on account of the invasion of
England by the Danes, Ethelred fled
to Normandy, whittier he had previously
sent his wife and children. There he re-
NAMED until his death. After the
death of Canute, the Danish king OF
England, Edward, son of Ethelred
became king. He wished to leave the
throne, at his death, to his mothers
Norman nephew, Duke William. This
was not pleasing to the English people
and Harold, son of Earl Goodwin, was
crowned king. Duke William came tc
England with an army, defeated and
killed Harold at the battle of Hastings
in 1866, and became king of England
CD When the Normans came to Eng.
land they heard language which
sounded harsh and barbarous, anC
which they esteemed unfit for gentle
men to use. King Edward of England
was brought up in Normandy. Wher
he came to the throne he gathered
around him Norman courtiers, and the
Norman language became the cour
language. He enforced its use among
its subjects to such an extent that NJ
petition would be listened to by hi
clerks unless it was addressed in thu
Norman language. The Norman Ian
guage supplanted the Saxon for only
short time, for, by the mingling of tn,
two races, the language gradual,
changed, retaining the strength of tn,
Saxon while acquiring polish and fieXi
bility from the Norman.
The second is by " Cloverpatch," a
follows:
Q) The Normans or Mortimer wer
the descendants of the Scandinavian
pirates. They had wrested the LAM
along the Seine and the coast from tn
French king, Charles the Simple, an
settled upon it. France, unable t
drive them out, purchased peace by tn
treaty of Clair-sur-Epte, ceding tn
territory to them on condition tina
their leader, Rolf the Gauger, woul
be baptized, marry the kings daugh
ter, and become his vassal; and, a
both vassalage and religion trouble
the Dane very little, he accepted tn
conditions and the land became know
as the Northmen's land, or Normandy
(2) The Norman Conquest was an in
vasion of England by William the Cor
queror. 1t centers about the battle c
Senlac in 1866, in which King lIarol
and many of his mobiles were killed an
the English army totally defeated. G.
For a time, in all writings and in tn
court and the church, the Englis
tongue was entirely superseded b
French and Latin. William, indeed
tried to learn English, that he migt
better govern his subjects, but as it wa
the language of the conquered, few {