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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
The fourteenth-century romance Havelok the Dane begins with a depiction of the ideal state of royal rule that was enforced within England under King Athelwold.
It was a king bi are-dawes
That in his time were gode lawes
He dede maken an ful wel holden.
Hym louede yung, him louede holde –
Erl and barun, dreng and þayn,
Knict, bondeman, and swain,
Wydues, maydnes, prestes, and clerkes,
And al for hise gode werkes.
He louede God with al his micth,
And Holi Kirke, and soth and ricth.
Ricthwise men he louede alle,
And oueral made hem for to calle.
Wreieres and wrobberes made he falle,
And hated hem so man doth galle;
Vtlawes and theues made he bynde,
Alle that he micthe fynde,
And heye hengen on galwe-tre –
For hem ne yede gold ne fe.
Jn þat time a man þat bore
… …
Of red gold upon hijs bac,
Jn a male with or blac,
Ne funde he non þat him misseyde
N[e] with iuele on hond leyde.
Þanne micthe chapmen fare
Þuruth Englond wit here ware,
And baldelike beye and sellen
Oueral þer he wilen dwellen [â¦]
Þanne was Engelond at hayse –
Michel was svich a king to preyse
Þat held so Englond in grith!
(Havelok the Dane, lines 27–54, 59–61)The peace maintained by Athelwold is illustrated through a series of dynamic acts which demonstrate his royal authority: his making and holding of laws; his equanimous extension of these laws to his subjects; his incorruptible pursuit and punishment of law-breakers; and his protection of merchants and travellers. This last motif, the motif of the safety of travel and the peace of the roads, is central to the construction of the legal Golden Age that exists in England under Athelwold. This motif of the safety of the King's roads has long been recognised as having held a popular place within medieval English literature. The motif also occurs in another romance setting in the Auchinleck MS version of Guy of Warwick, in this case as part of a demonstration of the peace enforced within the county of Warwick by the Earl's steward, Sywarde:
Þei a man bar an hundred pounde,
Opon him, of gold y-grounde,
Þe[r] nas man in al þis londe
Þat durst him do schame no schonde,
Þat bereft him worþ of a slo,
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