to return home. He was subsequently one of the first monks of the monastery of Rhingaw, in the Duchy of Nassau, and near which he was for many years a recluse. After his death and the belief of his salvation, he was chosen patron of that monastery. In 793, or the fifth year of Ethelred or Ethelbert, on the 7th of June, they commenced the plunder of the fine abbey of Lindisfarne. The following is extracted from Lingard's History of the Anglo-Saxon Church: In the year 793, the inhabitants of Northumbria were alarmeed by the appearance of a Danish armament near the coast. The barbarians were permitted to land without opposition. The plunder of the churches exceeded their most sanguine expectations: and their route was marked by the mangled carcases of the nuns, the monks, and the priests, whom they had massacred. But historians have scarcely condescended to notice the misfortunes of other churches: their attention has been absorbed by the fate of Lindisfarne. That venerable pile, once honoured by the residence of the Apostle of Northumbria, and sanctified by the remains of St. Cuthbert, became the prey of the barbarians. Their impiety polluted the altars, and their rapacity was rewarded by its gold and silver ornaments, the oblations of gratitude and devotion. The monks endeavoured, by concealment, to elude their cruelty; but the greater number were discovered; and were either slaughtered on the island, or drowned in the sea. If the lives of the children were spared, their fate was probably more severe than that of their teachers; they were carried into captivity." We find, also, that Charlemagne, in the month of March, 800, visited the German coast, to have proper precautions taken against the incursions and ravages of the Northmen or Danes, who had already plundered several places and carried off captives. In 802, they made another incursion on Ireland and burned the famous monastery of Hy, and repeated their visit four years after, in 807, penetrating as far as Roscommon; they destroyed the town and ravaged the country, carrying off several captives; but in 812, the Irish made a determined resistance, and after three signal defeats, the Northmen escaped from the island. This, however, was but a short respite; for, in five years afterwards, the Norwegian Turgesius brought with him an immense force, with which he overran a large portion of the island; his arrival was in 835, but during the twelve previous years, Cork, Lismore, Armagh, Monaghan, Louth, and several other cities and towns, together with their territories, were plundered by those idolaters; the greater por tion of their clergy, and monks, and nuns were massacred, many of the inhabitants taken into captivity, and several of the most pious and learned men migrated to the continent, where several of them were elevated to bishoprics, others placed at the head of monasteries, and not a few were employed in the professorships of universities then beginning to be founded. The horde that accompanied Turgesius was the most numerous and the most savage that had yet appeared; and, within three years, it had nearly overrun Connaught, Leinster, and Ulster. Two large additional fleets brought an immense accession of the savages in 837; one of them entered the river Boyne and the other came up the Liffey; the masses which they poured upon the country, spread in all directions over its surface, committing every kind of excess. We have a curious exhibition in 848, after Emly had been destroyed by the Northmen: Olchobair Mackinede, who had been abbot of that see, was made King of Munster, and uniting his troops with those of Dorcan, King of Leinster, was seen leading the armies to victory over the pagans. The Archbishop of Armagh, Forannan, who was primate of all Ireland, was, however, in the same year, made captive by Turgesius, who sent him, his clergy, and the church furniture, with about seven hundred other captives, to Limerick, to be carried into slavery. Melseachlin, King of Ireland, sent ambassadors to make a treaty with Charles the Bald, who then was the successor of Charlemagne upon the throne of France, and who was also harassed by the Scandinavians. Turgesius was defeated by the Irish monarch, made captive, and drowned: the Irish rose on every side upon their oppressors, and nearly drove the barbarians from the country. The English heptarchy, at this time, suffered equally as did Ireland, and with less intermission. In 850, Dublin was invaded by a large body of Northmen, whom the Irish denominated Fin-gâl, or White Strangers, and another body called Dubh-gâl, or Black Strangers, who succeeded in keeping a foothold in Leinster and a part of Ulster, and in making captives. In the year 835, a large party of them entered the Loire in France, and fixed their head-quarters in the island of Hero, now called Noirmoutier, whence they made their incursions. The festival of All Saints had, long previous to this, probably upwards of two centuries, been in Rome observed on the first of November, as it still continues to be, by a regulation of Pope Boniface IV., who died in 615. From the Chronicle of Sigebert, we learn that the Emperor Louis, finding the bishops of France and of Germany anxious to have its observance on the same day, regulated for that purpose with Pope Gregory IV., and being harassed by the incursions of the Scandinavian pirates and of the Saracens, in ordaining the office the following was directed to be sung in the hymn for matins: Auferte gentem perfidam, Credentium de finibus; Ut unus omnes unicum "Take far away the wicked bands That Christ's one pastor thus may keep Hilberd, the Abbot of Noirmoutier, applied to Pepin, King of Aquitaine, for aid; but, as the island was considered indefensible against the pirates, it was decided to withdraw from it the relics of St. Filibert, its patron. The French writers describe the Danes as now pouring in multitudes upon their northern coasts, to carry away captives into slavery and to load their vessels with booty. On the 12th of May, 841, they entered the Seine, whilst the sons of Louis were yet engaged in their unfortunate broils with each other, and Charles the Bald had become king. Ascending the river, they sacked Rouen, burning the monastery of St. Ouen, at that time outside the walls; leaving this place, they burned the monastery of Jumieges; that of Fontanelle was spared upon a ransom, and the monks of St. Denys paid them twenty-six pounds of silver for the ransom of sixty-six captives. On the last day of May they re-embarked, after having, within nineteen days, devasted an immense region along the banks of this river. In 843, they ascended the Loire, in the month of June, and took the city of Nantes by escalade. It was at the time filled with the inhabitants of the neighbouring country, who had assembled to celebrate the festival of St. John the Baptist, June 24th. These retired to the cathedral, where the bishop and his clergy were, and shut the gates: those the Danes soon burst open, and committed dreadful carnage, carrying off immense booty and some captives, whom they sent to their ships, whither they were followed by some Christians, who brought money to ransom their friends. In 844, they went farther south, up the Garonne, and pillaged Toulouse. Some, who made an inroad upon Gallicia, in Spain, were driven off by the Saracens. In 845, Raigner or Ragner Lodbrog, one of their vikings or sea-kings, entered the Seine with twenty-six vessels, landed at Rouen, in March, and spread terror and devastation on every side. At Chavelanne, near St. Germain-en-Laye, they were informed that the monarch, Charles the Bald, was marching at the head of an army to attack them; they crossed the river to the side which was but feebly defended, continued their devastations, leaving in their rear several Christians hanging on trees, stakes, and even in the houses. They entered Paris on Easter Saturday, March 28th, and found the city and its environs nearly deserted. Charles, reluctantly, but with the advice of several of his lords, made a treaty with them, in which they swore by their gods and all that they held sacred, not to re-enter his kingdom, except upon his invitation, and he paid them seven thousand pounds of silver. The pirates, however, after leaving the Seine, ravaged a portion of the sea-coast, and on their homeward voyage were wrecked on the Northumbrian coast, where the survivors, among whom was Ragner, began to plunder; but they were attacked by Ella, who had usurped the throne of that kingdom. The pirate was taken and put to death. Ragner had ten sons, who vowed to revenge their father's death. At the head of a formidable fleet they approached the coast of East Angles, landed, and lived during winter on free quarters, and in the spring marked their advances to Northumbria, in lines of blood and ruin. Ella fell into their hands, and suffered dreadful torture. Bernicia shared the fate of Deira, and during seven years Haldene was engaged in the work of devastation. They did not lose sight of Ireland, and in 850 they compelled the monarch Melseachlin to make a treaty with them, by means of which they made several settlements. In 845, they were defeated in their first enterprise upon Friesland, but, succeeding in two others, they gained a footing also here. An immense body of the Scandinavians sailed up the Elbe with six hundred vessels, large and small, under King Roric. St. Auscarius, Archbishop of Hamburg, at first thought to defend that city, but soon saw the folly of the attempt, and withdrew with what he could remove. The city was burned, but several captives were taken through the country. The forces of Roric were now poured upon Saxony; but they met a signal defeat, and their leader, learning the disasters of Ragner, sent messengers to Paderborn, where Louis, King of Germany, was then holding an assembly of his states, and was receiving to his alliance the people of Sclavonia and Bulgaria, who sent deputies to request that they might be also instructed in the Christian doctrine. The Scandinavians sued for peace, which they received upon the release of the persons whom they had taken to be their slaves, and the return of what booty they had. The zeal of the holy Archbishop of Hamburg had previously prompted him to send missionaries into Scandinavia, to instruct those barbarians in the Christian religion, but Gausbert, whom he had consecrated bishop to carry the light of truth into Sweden, was with his companions driven thence by the people, after having been robbed of whatever goods they had. The Normans, who succeeded in Friesland, proceeded by that side into France. Flanders fell under their assaults. Another division, in 848, sailing up the Garonne, laid siege to Bordeaux, which was betrayed into their hands by the Jews. After ravaging Aquitaine, they went to the district of Poictiers, or Poictou, whence they carried great booty. Roric, with his followers, after leaving the Elbe, went to the Rhine and the Scheldt, destroyed the monasteries as far as Ghent, and the Emperor Lothaire, being unable to subdue him, was content to receive him as his vassal, and gave him the large tract of territory which he had previously occupied. Godfrey, another of their chieftains, repulsed in an attack upon England, sailed up the Seine in 850; and after some achievements, obtained from Charles a territory round Beauvais in 850. Thus did the Northmen begin to make permanent settlements in the more southern regions of Europe, and an opportunity was thus given of bringing them to civilization and to Christianity. The history of this period, however, is a calamitous series of recitals of devastations committed by successive hordes of Northmen, and armies and squadrons of Saracens, upon those churches which had begun to be reduced to discipline, after the centuries of war and plunder by the Huns, the Goths, and the Vandals. In 856 and 857, Paris and all the region between it and the British Channel were plundered with impunity, as also nearly all the region on the Atlantic coast of France as far in as Orleans; the churches, as usual, were either sacked or redeemed, and multitudes of captives carried away to slavery. This necessarily destroyed all notion of justice and all peace, and the capitularies of the monarchs, as well as the canons of the councils, exhibit the ruin of morality. We find, in 850, the greater number of the prelates and chief men of the vicinity of Flanders slain or in captivity. We find the pirates had circumnavigated Spain, entered the gulf of Lyons, committed depredations in Provence, and made incursions upon Italy; and in 861 the Seine was again infested, and Paris was terrified by seeing the Northmen at her gates, and two years afterwards the kingdom was scandalized by the apostacy of Pepin, the nephew of Charles and son of Pepin, King of Aquitaine, who had become a monk, and, when his father's realms were ravaged by this horde, publicly re |