Testament with its
various books, says that the Book of Judith "is put into English in our
manner as an example to you men, that you should defend your country
with weapons against an invading army"--the word which he uses, "here,"
always meaning in old English the army of the Danes. AElfric also wrote
"a homily on Judith to teach the English the virtues of resistance to
the Danes."

It is interesting likewise to think that the poet of "Judith" may have
had in his mind some great Englishwoman concerning whom he wished in a
veiled way to convey well-deserved praise. Perhaps he was inspired to
tell of Judith, by the deeds of King Alfred's daughter, AEthelflaed,
known as the Lady of the Mercians, and sought to do honour to her as
well as to the great Hebrew lady.

AEthelflaed fortified Chester and other towns, and, along with King
Edward, built fortresses, "chiefly along the line of frontier exposed to
the Danes, as at Bridgenorth, Tamworth, Warwick, Hertford, Witham in
Essex, and other places." Of course it is uncertain whether our poet was
thinking of AEthelflaed. We should be able to say whether it were
impossible if we knew the date of "Judith," as, if the poem were
composed before AEthelflaed's time, she could not have entered into the
poet's mind.

The Church has paid a splendid tribute to Judith by applying to her who
is pre-eminently the strong or valiant woman (mulier fortis) full of
the strength that always wore the exquisite veil of humility, the words
spoken to this valiant woman of the Hebrews by her countrymen, as they
adored the Lord, who had given her the victory. See the lesson read on
the Feast of Our Lady's Seven Sorrows.

CHAPTER X

Byrthnoth, the leader of the East Angles against Anlaf the Dane. Refusal
to pay unjust tribute. Heroic fight.

We have in the "Battle of Maldon" a great patriotic poem, written about
the "ealdorman"[H] of the East Angles, Byrthnoth, or Brihtnoth, who
stood so valiantly against the Danes. It was he who was so good to the
monks, helping to defend them against the "ealdorman" of the Mercians,
and others who were turning them out: he also helped to found the Abbey
of Ely. He was buried there, we are glad to know. Anlaf, known as Olaf
Tryggvesson, afterwards King of Norway, came with two other Northmen,
and harried Ipswich and other places, and then sailed up the Pant or
Blackwater to Maldon, where the river divides into two parts. The
beginning and end of th