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Lesson 9 |
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Royal espionage |
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What important thing did King Alfred learn when he penetrated the Danish camp of Guthrum? |
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Alfred the Great acted as his own spy, |
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visiting Danish camps disguised as a minstrel. |
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In those days wandering minstrels were welcome everywhere. |
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They were not fighting men, and their harp was their passport. |
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Alfred had learned many of their ballads in his youth and could vary his programme with acrobatic tricks and simple conjuring. |
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While Alfred's little army slowly began to gather at Athelney, |
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the king himself set out to penetrate the camp of Guthrum, |
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the commander of the Danish invaders. |
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These had settled down for the winter at Chippenham: thither Alfred went. |
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He noticed at once that discipline was slack: the Danes had the self-confidence of conquerors, and their security precautions were casual. |
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They lived well, on the proceeds of raids on neighbouring regions. |
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There they collected women as well as food and drink, and a life of ease had made them soft. |
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Alfred stayed in the camp a week before he returned to Athelney. |
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The force there assembled was trivial compared with the Danish horde. |
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But Alfred had deduced that the Danes were no longer fit for prolonged battle: and that their commissariat had no organization, |
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but depended on irregular raids. |
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So, faced with the Danish advance, Alfred did not risk open battle but harried the enemy. |
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He was constantly on the move, drawing the Danes after him. |
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His patrols halted the raiding parties: hunger assailed the Danish army. |
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Now Alfred began a long series of skirmishes -- and within a month the Danes had surrendered. |
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The episode could reasonably serve as a unique epic of royal espionage! |
