Scandinavian-Britain

SCANDINAVIAN BRITAINI. THE EARLIEST RAIDS"WHILST the pious King Bertric was reigning overthe western parts of the English, and the innocentpeople, spread through their plains, were enjoyingthemselves in tranquillity and yoking their oxen tothe plough, suddenly there arrived on the coast afleet of Danes, not large, but of three ships only: thiswas their first arrival. When this became known, theking's officer, who was already dwelling in the town ofDorchester, leaped on his horse and rode with a fewmen to the port, thinking that they were merchantsand not enemies. Giving his commands as one thathad authority, he ordered them to be sent to theking's town ;but they slew him on the spot, and allwho were with him. The name of this officer wasBeaduheard. A.D. 787. And the number of yearswas above 344 from the time when Hengist andHorsa arrived in Britain."Such was the tradition, a century and a half later,of the beginning of Scandinavian Britain. ^Ethelwerd,ealdorman and historian, who wrote the notice, hadaccess to special sources of information, such as theroyal family to which he belonged must have preserved ;and his story tallies with the shorter entry of the43