Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/280

 244- ON THE LIFE AND DEATH OF EARL GODAVINE. Sussex. A writer in the "• Peiiuy CjclopcTilia" ' attempts to reconcile all the statements by taking the Avord " Cild " or '• Child" applied to "Wiilfiioth, to mean " peasant." ^ I can find no such meaning for the vord, nor apparently could Florence or Huntingdon, avIio translate it respectively by "minister" [tliegn] and '• puer nobiUs." Moreover, Wulf- noth was then in command of a considerable division of tlio navv. The writer also forgets the geography of the case. '• Ciiild Wulfnoth" was a South-Saxon, but Wulfnoth the peasant must have been an inhabitant of Wiltshire or the south of Gloucestershire. Thierry, indeed, says that the interview between Ulf and Godwine took place "after a battle fought in the south part of the province of Warwick, and lost by the Danes." Mr. Turner's authorities place it after the battle of Sceorstan or Skorstein, in lOlG, which was a drawn battle, though the Danes claimed the victory. I can see no reason for doubting this Sceorstan to be Sher- ston in Wiltshire. Mr. Thorpe^ objects that this place does not answer Florence's description "in Hwiccia." But Sherston is so near to the llwiccian or Gloucestershire border, that in a great battle taking its name therefrom, military operations might well extend into " Hwiccia." If Thiei-rv has any authority for making Ulf ask the distance to the ships in the Severn, the question would be nuich more to the purpose near Sherston, than, as Mr. Thorpe supposes, at Cliimney, near Bampton, in Oxfordshire (also out of Hwiccia), or, as others hold, at a boundary stone dividing the counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester, and Warwick.^ But whatever part of England may claim the honour of Godwine's birth, and by whatever means he may o<xiwino'« have gained his elevation, thus much is certain, w.-ruco»un cr ^^^^^ j^^ j^_^^^ bccomo a })erson of great importance at a very early stage of the reign of Cnut. This hrst recorded mai'tial exploit has the northern dominions of iiis sovereign for its scene. In 1017, Cnut first became king over all England ; two years after, according to the Saxon Clironicle, " he went with forty ships into Denmark, and 7 Art. llarold. ' Luppcnl).!-;;, ii. lllf) ; niid iiguin in liis " Still inf)ro Htranjjply gays M. '!.• note on rinrciuv?. H'lniMcJiow (ii. .M), '♦ H j<'ct« this Wiilfiiiiili, (7<Mr/ on r/i rf di-H .Sax. dm <lii Inttcr view, Iml M. <lc iloiiiioclioau (ii. .'JO) mirl." Sir r. I'dlnnivc on liii! olli< r IiiumI (jinitcM him iih HUip|M)rling it. mnki-«i ('i|i|ii|<iiviili'ntto yLlhuling. English Coiiiiiionweiiltli, i. ,'i!Mi.