St. Swithun of Winchester, and Ealstan of Sherborne, who perceiving the king to be of heavy and sluggish disposition, perpetually stimulated him, by their admonitions, to the knowledge of governing. Swithun, disgusted with earthly, trained his master to heavenly pursuits; Ealstan, knowing that the business of the kingdom ought not to be neglected, continually inspirited him against the Danes: himself furnishing the exchequer with money, as well as regulating the army. Any peruser of the Annals[1] will find many affairs of this kind, both entered on with courage, and terminated with success through his means. He held his bishopric fifty years; happy in living for so long a space in the practice of good works. I should readily commend him, had he not been swayed by worldly avarice, and usurped what belonged to others, when by his intrigues he seized the monastery of Malmesbury for his own use. We feel the mischief of this shameful conduct even to the present day, although the monastery has bafiled all similar violence from the time of his death till now, when it has fallen again into like difficulty.[2] Thus the accursed passion of avarice corrupts the human soul, and forces men, though great and illustrious in other respects, into hell.
Ethelwulf, confiding in these two supporters, provided effectually for external emergencies, and did not neglect the interior concerns of his kingdom. For after the subjugation of his enemies, turning to the establishment of God's worship, he granted every tenth hide of land within his kingdom to the servants of Christ, free from all tribute, exempt from all services. But how small a portion is this of his glory? Having settled his kingdom, he went to Rome, and there offered to St. Peter that tribute which England pays to this day,[3] before pope Leo the fourth, who had also, formerly,
- ↑ See Saxon Chronicle, a.d. 823—825.
- ↑ Roger, bishop of Salisbury, seized it in like manner to his own use, a.d. 1118, and held it till his death, 1159.
- ↑ Alluding to the Rome-scot, or Peter's-pence, a penny from each house, paid on the festival of St. Peter. Its origin and application seem obscure: Higden interpolates Malmesbury, as assigning its first grant to Ina: Henry of Huntingdon says, Offa. This grant is supposed by Spelman to have been made in a General Council of the nation. A similar payment appears to have been made by other nations. It is to be observed that Asser mentions only Ethelwulf's donation of three hundred mancuses.
