would naturally avail himself of his
labours. It is worthy also of remark, that Bertwald, who
succeeded to the illustrious Theodore of Tarsus in 690, was the
first English or Saxon archbishop of Canterbury. From this
period, consequently, we may date that cultivation of the
vernacular tongue which would lead to the composition of brief
chronicles (27), and other vehicles of instruction, necessary for
the improvement of a rude and illiterate people. The first
chronicles were, perhaps, those of Kent or Wessex; which seem to
have been regularly continued, at intervals, by the archbishops
of Canterbury, or by their direction (28), at least as far as the
year 1001, or by even 1070; for the Benet MS., which some call
the Plegmund MS., ends in the latter year; the rest being in
Latin. From internal evidence indeed, of an indirect nature,
there is great reason to presume, that Archbishop Plegmund
transcribed or superintended this very copy of the "Saxon Annals"
to the year 891 (29); the year in which he came to the see;
inserting, both before and after this date, to the time of his
death in 923, such additional materials as he was well qualified
to furnish from his high station and learning, and the
confidential intercourse which he enjoyed in the court of King
Alfred. The total omission of his own name, except by another
hand, affords indirect evidence of some importance in support of
this conjecture. Whether King Alfred himself was the author of a
distinct and separate chronicle of Wessex, cannot now be
determined. That he furnished additional supplies of historical
matter to the older chronicles is, I conceive, sufficiently
obvious to every reader who will take the trouble of examining
the subject. The argument of Dr. Beeke, the present Dean of
Bristol, in an obliging letter to the editor on this subject, is
not without its force;--that it is extremely improbable, when
we consider the number and variety of King Alfred's works, that
he should have neglected the history, of his own country.
Besides a genealogy of the kings of Wessex from Cerdic to his own
time, which seems never to have been incorporated with any MS. of
the "Saxon Chronicle", though prefixed or annexed to several, he
undoubtedly preserved many traditionary facts; with a full and
circumstantial detail of his own operations, as well as those of
his father, brother, and other members of his family; which
scarcely any other person than himself could have