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Updated: June 15, 2025
"Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone, Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us. * Five young kings put asleep by the sword-stroke Seven strong earls of the army of Anlaf Fell on the war-field, numberless numbers." Love of the Sea.
Can this Anlaf be the original of the legendary Alane, thane of Sutherland, whom Macbeth, according to Sir Robert Gordon in his Genealogie of the Earles of Southerland, put to death, and whose son, Walter, Malcolm Canmore is said to have created first Earl? Or was Alane, like others, a creation of Sir Robert's inventive brain?
Then the words of the churl Beorn, who had been taken prisoner, as the messenger had told us, came fresh to my mind. "Elfwyn," said I, "do you remember Beorn?" He looked earnestly at me. "Did he not say that his captors asked particularly about Aescendune, and that the name of Anlaf was mentioned, and inquiries made concerning Alfgar?" "He did." "It is the curse of St. Brice's night."
In this famous battle, the English, under their warlike king, defeated a most threatening combination of foes; Anlaf, the Danish prince, having united his forces to those of Constantine, King of the Scots, and the Britons, or Welsh of Strathclyde and Cambria. So proud were the English of the victory, that their writers break into poetry when they come to that portion of their annals.
Of average height, Anlaf possessed vast muscular powers; his sinews stood out like tight cords, and his frame, although robust, was yet such that there seemed no useless flesh about him.
He restored such of the old laws as were good, and had fallen into disuse; made some wise new laws, and took care of the poor and weak. A strong alliance, made against him by ANLAF a Danish prince, CONSTANTINE King of the Scots, and the people of North Wales, he broke and defeated in one great battle, long famous for the vast numbers slain in it.
With them was a terrible giant called Colbrand, and Anlaf had sent a message to King Athelstane, as the King who now reigned over all England was called, demanding that he should either find a champion to fight with Colbrand or deliver over his kingdom.
They did so. He looked mournfully yet sternly on the youth, who himself trembled all over with emotion. "Alfgar," he said, "do I indeed see my son?" "You do, my father." "Follow me; nay, you are wounded lean on my arm." Alfgar's thigh had, it will be remembered, been pierced by an arrow, but the wound was not deep, and with his father's assistance he could proceed. He knew where Anlaf led.
Anlaf, whom thy coming dismissed, hath just wearied me with sad tales of bloodshed and ravage. Go and hear him; go hear the bodes of thy brother Tostig, who wait without in our hall; go, take axe, and take shield, and the men of earth's war, and do justice and right; and on thy return thou shalt see with what rapture sublime a Christian King can soar aloft from his throne! Go!"
And the two kings held a parley for an hour, Anlaf promising on his part that if his champion fell he would go back with all his host to Denmark and never more make war on Britain, whilst Athelstan agreed, if his knight were vanquished, to make Anlaf King of England, and henceforth to be his vassal and pay tribute both of gold and silver money. Then Colbrand stode forth to the battle.
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