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On Mar 14, 2007, at 13:50 , Eric Thompson wrote:
> Abel was, however, discussing the success of Alfred's
> tactic of paying tribute to the Vikings in order to buy
> time to improve his kingdom's defences. Alfred had seen
> the effectiveness of the same policy when adopted by
> Charles the Bald and other Frankish princes, who had used
> the time they gained to construct defences - notably a
> series of fortified bridges on the Seine and Loire. The
> success of that policy provided the Vikings with one
> incentive to cross the Channel and step up their attacks
> on the British Isles.
Note, however, that such tactics provided only a temporary respite.
The subtitle of the poem is ``AD 980 - 10'' -- referring to a period,
nearly a century after Alfred's rule, in which England's fate at the
hands of the recipients of her Danegeld was... far less rosy,
culminating in Aethelred's loss of the kingship, and the rise of the
Danish king Canute.
> Danegeld may not buy permanent peace, but the investment
> proved a valuable tactic for both Frankish and
> Anglo-Saxon rulers in the second half of the ninth
> century.
Which is true -- though it is worth noting the extent to which Mr.
Kipling was, providing an allegory rather than a work of history
(note, for instance, that the piece is written both in the present
tense and with quite modern turns of phrase -- ``pay us _cash_ to go
away'', for instance.
One would go astray if one expected an allegory to provide a guide to
action throughout history, as opposed to a pointed comment on the
author's veiled actual subject: inasmuch as the poem was addressing
the people of England in the year it was written, it is worth noting
how poorly served England was to be by policies of appeasement over
the following few decades...
- --
Jim Wise
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