太田述正コラム#15320（2025.11.18）
＜Morris, Marc『The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England』を読む（その18）＞（2026.2.12公開）

　「・・・The magnitude of Alfred’s victory at Edington＜（注33）＞ is demonstrated by the conditions he was able to impose.

　（注33）エディントンの戦い（878年）。「降伏したグスルムらは多数の人質をウェセックス王国に差し出した上で、ウェセックス王国領からの撤退と指導者グスルムがアルフレッド大王によってキリスト教へ改宗することを約束した。三週間後、グスルムは三〇人の家臣を引き連れてアセルニー近郊のアラーという場所でアルフレッド大王に謁見、洗礼を受け、八日目にウェドモアに移り、計十二日間滞在したあと、ウェセックス王国を去った。・・・
　886年から890年までの間の時期に、アルフレッド大王とグスルム＜（Guthrum）＞との間でウェセックス王国とデーン人の領土の境界を画定し、平和貿易や人命金などを定める協定が結ばれた。厳密には878年の休戦協定をウェドモア条約、文書化されたこの条約をアルフレッド=グスルム条約となるが、一般的には両方をまとめてウェドモア条約と呼ばれている。のちに＜イギリス＞はウェセックス王国とデーン人の領土「デーンロー」に二分されていった。以後、ウェセックス王国は＜征＞服戦争を優位に進め、927年、アルフレッド大王の孫エセルスタン王が旧ノーサンブリア王国南部を勢力下とするデーン人王国（ヨールヴィーク）を滅ぼし、・・・＜イギリス＞の＜大部分の＞統一に成功、＜イギリス＞王国が誕生した。」
https://call-of-history.com/battle_of_edington/

　In the first place, the king was in a position to demand as many hostages as he wanted, without having to hand over any of his own men in return. This, according to Asser, was a novelty: never before had the vikings made peace on such terms with anyone (a statement that implies Alfred’s earlier negotiations with the vikings had involved the exchange of hostages). Secondly, and more momentously, the viking leaders agreed to convert to Christianity, and to be baptized at Alfred’s court. This had happened on earlier occasions in Francia, but it is the first recorded instance of it happening in Britain. ・・・
　Firstly, being a warrior in this period was an elite occupation. The old notion that Germanic societies had folk-based armies formed by the participation of all freeborn men is at odds with sources that suggest warfare was primarily an aristocratic pursuit. Kings raised armies by looking to the support of other powerful men – their ealdormen and their thegns, who in turn called upon the services of their own followings of well-equipped warriors. A considerable amount of evidence suggests these men were mounted, not only for transport but also in battle, if occasion demanded.・・・
　Alfred had succeeded in widening the participation in warfare beyond the military elite who traditionally rode into battle with the king. In order to man the walls of his burhs＜（注34）＞ he needed to find thousands upon thousands of lesser men, and convince them (or their lords) that it was their duty to contribute to the kingdom’s defence.

　（注34）A burh (Old English pronunciation: [burˠx]) or burg was an Anglo-Saxon fortification or fortified settlement. In the 9th century, raids and invasions by Vikings prompted Alfred the Great to develop a network of burhs and roads to use against such attackers. Some were new constructions; others were situated at the site of Iron Age hillforts or Roman forts and employed materials from the original fortifications. As at Lundenburh (medieval London), many were also situated on rivers: this facilitated internal lines of supply while aiming to restrict access to the interior of the kingdom for attackers in shallow-draught vessels such as longships.
　Burhs also had a secondary role as commercial and sometimes administrative centres. Their fortifications were used to protect England’s various royal mints.
　Precisely how he achieved this mobilization of a much greater proportion of the population than any of his predecessors is a mystery.・・・
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burh

⇒アングロサクソンもほぼヴァイキングであったと私は見るようになっているわけですが、そのヴァイキングは、略奪等に遠征する際、戦士として出立するのは青壮年男性の一部であったようで、大ブリテン島東南部に掠奪後に定着した人々中の男性達の大半は、その後に「本国」から渡ってきた非戦士やその子孫であったと考えればよさそうです。
　アルフレッド大王は、そんなアングロサクソンを、戦国時代の秦の（渡辺信一郎の言葉である）耕戦の士（コラム#14940）へと変貌させ、有事に際には、ブルフ（burh）に集合させ武器を取らせてブルフ防衛任務に就かせたわけです。（太田）

　・・・despite his early disadvantages (or, more likely, disinclination), Alfred was determined to make good this intellectual deficit. The first task of the scholars he gathered at his court in the 880s was to improve the king’s own comprehension of books written in Latin.・・・
　Alfred’s additional reason for assembling his A-list of intellectuals was to assist him in producing books in English. This was a highly unusual initiative. English had been used since the start of the seventh century to draft administrative documents, such as charters and law codes, but never employed for great works of literature, theology or philosophy, which were composed exclusively in Latin or Greek. As the king explained in his later letter to the bishops, the revival of Latin literacy was his ultimate goal, but it had occurred to him that in the first place it would be beneficial to have great works (‘books which are most necessary for all men to know’) translated into English – ‘the language we can all understand’, as Alfred described it.・・・
　The king’s determination to spread literacy was very much a personal mission. At his court he established a school which, according to Asser, was attended by both noble and non-noble boys. He also, says Asser, compelled his ealdormen and thegns to learn to read, on pain of being deprived of their positions. The aim, as Alfred explained in his letter, was to ensure that all freeborn young men among the English should be literate in their own language. In pursuing it, he promoted that language, previously used only for administrative purposes, to a language of literature. And, at the same time, he promoted the idea that the English themselves were one people.・・・ 」（217、223、234、238）

⇒これは、アルフレッド大王が、「853年、幼少ながらエゼルウルフによってローマへ送り出され、当時の教皇レオ４世に謁見した。レオ４世はアルフレッド少年に塗油し、堅信礼を施したという。855年には父エゼルウルフとともにローマを再訪した」
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%83%AC%E3%83%83%E3%83%89%E5%A4%A7%E7%8E%8B　前掲
という、豊富なイタリア経験を有しているところ、古代ローマ時代の男性の50％以上が読み書きできたとされる古代ローマ
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%A3%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E古代由来のイタリア人の識字率の高さに、彼が衝撃を受けたためである、と、私は考えています。
　これが、「17世紀初頭から19世紀初頭までイギリスの裕福な貴族の子弟が、その学業の終了時に行った・・・フランスとイタリア＜を＞主な目的地＜とする＞・・・大規模な国外旅行」
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B0%E3%83%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%84%E3%82%A2%E3%83%BC
の原点ではないでしょうか。（太田）

（続く）