fEthelstan (925-40) further extended the Saxon rule so that all of the old Saxon Hep tarchy (seven kingdoms) came under his dominion. He commanded in the °great battle° famous in subsequent history against an allied army of Danes, Scots, Gaels and warriors from the Orkney Islands. These Northern peoples with their great claymores always struck terror into their enemies before this but Saxon troops proved capable of withstanding their charge. &thelstan came to be looked upon as one of the most important kings of Europe and royal alliances with his family were eagerly sought, his sisters Edwina and Editha marrying the kings of France and Germany. He may be called the first king of all England. In the second half of the century, however, the North men landed in England in large numbers and gradually secured a firm foothold. The Danes under their king, Sweyn, threatened to overrun the country and their withdrawal was obtained only by paying a ransom. Needless to say this only proved to be a bait for more invaders from the Northern countries.
A more hopeful development came at the end of the century with the introduction of Hungary into European history. Stephen, one of the chiefs of the Hungarians, was with his father received into the Church and proceeded to make his people Christian. He was crowned as Icing (997) and his reign is mainly in the next century, but the spint which led him to correspond with Bruno of Querfort and Odilo of Cluny and to found a series of hospices for pilgrims in Jerusalem, Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople so that travelers from his country might have a refuge when they visited these cities, was a product of the 10th century. He encouraged learning and did much to break the savage spirit of his people. His court be came a refuge for the English royal family when Canute conquered the English and he deeply influenced Saint Margaret of Scotland. The tradition of social helpfulness established by him culminated . in Saint Elizabeth of Hungary in the next century.
The one country in western Europe in which the Northmen were unable to gain foothold was Spain. When the Northmen landed at Ga licia they devastated the country for a while, but were defeated and almost exterminated learning a lesson that kept Spain from being seriously. disturbed by the Scandinavians after this. This century witnessed also the beginning of the expulsion of the Moors. The foundation of the little 'Christian ldngdom of Leon was the initial step in this and the prelude to the heroic age celebrated in the Spanish chronicles and ballads. Abderrahman III (891-961) under whom as caliph of Cordova, Mohammedan power in Spain rose to its greatest height, was defeated in 940 by Ramiar II, king of Leon and Asturias (died 950), in the great battle on the plain of Simancas (31 July 939). After this the Christians continued to advance in power and the Arabs to recede.
The most interesting character of the period is Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, pro claimed saint by popular estimation of the good work he did for his people. He was probably born early in the century of a well-to-do family. In his youth he was a favorite at court until jealousy led to his banishment. Disillusioned with worldly success he became a hermit at Glastonbury but after a time the fame of his life as a solitary led the king to recall him as an adviser. Dunstan took adyantage of his place at court to encourage learning and patron ize art. He himself was deeply interested in the arts and crafts and the making of beautiful things and after his death he became the patron saint of the goldsmiths' guild. He is said to have taken part in the making of bells and organs as well as the altar vessels. Nothing delighted him more than the teaching of boys in the cathedral school and he encouraged manual training as well as intellectual develop ment. The rich who saw his good work pro vided him with funds in abundance and he used them for the building and restoring of churches and the establishment of schools. He reformed monastic life which had suffered severely dur ing the disturbed period while the Northmen were landing in England. Dunstan was most
famous, however, for his care of the poor and the needy. He was often called upon to act as judge in law suits and his maintenance of the rights of widows and orphans made him popu lar. He died in 988 and until the martyrdom of Saint Thomas of Canterbury was the favorite saint of the English people.
The most significant intellectual event of the century was the writing of a series of plays by Hroswaha, a Benedictine nun of Ganders heim, South. Germany. Her reasons for writing them, as given in the preface, makes it very clear that there must have been much more of interest in literature, classic and recent, at this time than is usually thought. Hroswitha de clared: °There are many Christians (and we cannot relieve ourselves entirely of this re proach) who charmed by the choice eloquence of the language, prefer the vanity of secular books to the wisdom of the Holy Scripture. There are others who though attached to the sacred writings and full of contempt for other pagan productions, yet cannot keep from read ing time and again the fictions of Terence and won by his charm of diction stain their souls by the laiowledge of criminal actions. It is for this that I, 'the strong voice of Ganders beim,' do not hesitate to imitate in my writ ings a man whom so many permit themselves to read in order to celebrate in the measure of my feeble intellect the virtues of Christian wornen•while employing the same form of com position which served the ancients to describe shameful conduct.° The ideas thus expressed are so modern that it is surprising to find them thus simply set forth in the 10th century. Hroswitha called her plays comedies because they end happily, though the happiness comes in heaven through martyrdom. They were probably meant, as the preface would seem to indicate, more for read ing .than presentation, though they are some comic scenes that would tempt the .employment of the actors' art. One of Hroswitha's comedies anticipates the morality plays of subsequent cen turies in their introduction of abstract char acters personified. Wisdom, the mother, and her three daughters, Faith, Hope and Charity, came to Rome to influence the citizens for good and are put to death by the Emperor Adrian. Be sides the dramas Hroswitha wrote a series of poems in Latin verse, one of which is the story of Theophilus who sold his soul to the devil asid is one of the early forms of the Faust legend. She also wrote a chronicle and seems to have been in high favor at court. The editio Princeps of Hroswitha is by Celtes (1501). At first he was suspected of having written most of the.plays, but there is no doubt now of their antiquity. The work throws light on the feminine education of the time. Mani festly the convents, of which there were many in the Rhineland, contained a number of re ligious women deeply interested in the intel lectual as well as the spiritual life.
The beginniiigs of some of the important de velopments in commerce date from this century. Merchants were honored by JEthelstan who conferred the rank of Thane on anyone who had made three voyages over the sea with a ship and cargo of his own. The British fleet organized by Alfred at the end of the 9th cen tury developed and in King Edgar's time (959-75) some 360 sail in three squadrons made a circuit of the island. Even this sea power was not able to protect England from invasion by the Danes, however, who under Sweyn gained a foothold (circa 985) and in the next century England was ruled by Canute. Flan ders became the seat of manufactures of linens and woolens for Europe and the republics of Venice and Genoa began their great com mercial careers in connection with the trade from the East. The Moors in Spain under Abderrahman III built some beautiful buildings and adorned their cities and set an example which was to prove an inspiration for the many students who came down to the Spanish Peninsula to make their studies at famous Moorish schools.