§ 6. Having before given an account of the north part of Asia, I shall now speak of its southern parts. I have before mentioned that Mount Caucasus is to the north of India, beginning eastwards on the ocean, and running due west, till it join the Armenian mountains, which the inhabitants call Parcoatrae, from which the Euphrates takes its rise; and from the Parcoatrian mountains mount Taurus runs due west, quite to Cilicia. To the north of these mountains, quite to the ocean which environs the north east end of the earth, where the river Bore empties itself into the ocean, and from thence westwards to the Caspian sea, which extends to Mount Caucasus, all the land is called Old Scythia, or Hircania. In this country there are forty-three nations, all situate at great distances from each other, on account of the barrenness of the soil62. Then to the westward of the Caspian unto the Tanais or Don, and the Palus Maeotis, thence south to Mount Taurus63, and north to the ocean, is all Scythia, and is divided among thirty-two nations. The country on the east side of the Tanais is inhabited by a nation called the Alboari in the Latin tongue, which we now call Liobene. Thus have I shortly stated the boundaries of Asia, and shall now state those of Europe, as far as we are informed concerning them.
§ 7. From the Tanais westwards to the Rhine, which takes its rise in the Alps, and runs northward, till it falls into that branch of the ocean which surrounds Bryttannia, and southward from the Tanais to the Donua or Danube, whose source is near that of the Rhine, and which runs to the northward of Greece, till it empties itself into the Euxine64, and north even to that part of the ocean which is called the Cwen sea65, there are many nations; and the whole of this extensive country is called Germany. Hence to the north of the source of the Danube, and to the east of the Rhine are the people called eastern Franks66. To the south of them are the Swaepas67. On the opposite banks of the Danube, and to the south and east, are the people called Baegth-ware68, in that part which is called Regnes-burh69. Due east from them are the Beme70. To the north-east the Thyringas71. To the north of these are the Old Seaxan72. To the north-west of these are the Frysan73; and to the west of Old Saxony is the mouth of the Aelfe or Elbe, as also Frysan or Friesland. Prom hence to the north-west is that land which is called Angle, with Sellinde, and some other parts of Dene74. To the north is Apdrede75, and to the north-east the Wolds76, which are called AEfeldan77. From hence eastwards is Wineda-land78, otherwise called Sysyle79. To the south-west, at some distance, is the Macroaro80, and these have to the west the Thyringas and Behemas, as also part of the Baegthware, all of whom have been already mentioned. And to the south, on the other side of the Donua or Danube, is the country called Carendrae81.
§ 8. Southwards, towards and along the mountains which are called the Alps, are the boundaries of the Baegthware and of the Swaefas already mentioned; and then to the eastwards of the Carendrae country, and beyond the Waste82, is Pulgara-land or Bulgaria83. To the east is Greca-land84 or Greece; and to the east of the Moroaro or Moravians, is Wisle-land85; and to the east of that is Datia, though it formerly belonged to the Gottan86 or Goths. To the north-east of the Moroara or Moravians, are the Delamensen87. East of the Delamensen are the Horithi88; and north of the Delamensen are the Surpe89; to the west also are the Syssele90. To the north of the Horithi is Maegtha-land91, and north of Maegtha-land is Sermende92, quite to the Riffin93, or the Riphean mountains.
§ 9. To the south-west of Dene or Denmark, formerly mentioned, is that arm of the ocean which surrounds Brittania, and to the north is that arm which is called the Ostsea94 or East sea; to the east and north are the north Dene95, or North Danes, both on the continent and on the islands. To the east are the Afdrede96. To the south is the mouth of the AElfe or Elbe, and some part of Old Seaxna97 or Old Saxony. The North Dene have to the north that arm of the sea which is called the East sea, and to the east is the nation of the Osti98, and the Afdrede, or Obotrites, to the south. The Osti have to the north of them that same arm of the sea, or the Baltic, and so have the Winedas and the Burgendas99. Still more to the south is Haefeldan100. The Burgendas have this same arm of the sea to the west, and the Sweon101 to the north. To the east are the Sermende, to the south the Surfe102. The Sweons have to the south the arm of the sea called Ost, and to the north, over the wastes, is Cwenland103, to the north-west are the Scride-finnas104, and the North-men105 are to the west106.
62
This account of the boundaries of Old Scythia is extremely vague. It seems to imply an eastern boundary by an imaginary river Bore, that the Caspian is the western, the northern ocean on the north, and Mount Caucasus on the south. –E.
63
In the translation by Barrington, this portion of Scythia is strangely said to extend south to the Mediterranean; the interpolation surely of some ignorant transcriber, who perhaps changed the Euxine or Caspian sea into the Mediterranean. –E.
64
Called by mistake, or erroneous transcription, Wendel sea, or Mediterranean in the text and translation. –E.
65
The Cwen sea is the White sea, or sea of Archangel. The Kwen or Cwen nation, was that now called Finlanders, from whom that sea received this ancient appellation. –Forst.
66
East Francan in the original. The eastern Franks dwelt in that part of Germany between the Rhine and the Sala, in the north reaching to the Ruhre and Cassel, and in the south, almost to the Necker; according to Eginhard, inhabiting from Saxony to the Danube. They were called east Franks to distinguish them from that other part of the nation which inhabited ancient Gaul, and Franconia continues to preserve their name. –Forst.
67
Swaepas, or Suevae, who formed part of the Allemanic confederacy, and afterwards gave their name of Swabes to an extensive nation, in whose bounds modern Swabia is still situated. –Forst.
68
The Bavarians, who were the remnant of the Boii or Baeghten, who escaped from the exterminating sword of the Suevi. –Forst.
69
This may have been the province in which Regens-bergh or Ratisbon is still situated. –Forst.
70
These were undoubtedly the Bohemians, called afterwards Behemas by our royal geographer. They had their appellation from Boier-heim, or the dwelling place of the Boii, who were exterminated by the Suevi. –Forst.
71
The Thuringians, at one time so powerful, that their king was able to engage in war against the king of the Franks. Thuringia is still a well known district in Germany. –Forst.
72
The Old Saxons inhabited the country still called Old Sassen, or Old Saxony, Halsatia in Latin, which has degenerated into Holstein. –Forst.
73
These Frysae were afterwards confined by Charlemain to the country between the Weser and Elbe, to which they gave the name of Friesland. –Forst.
74
That is to the north-east of Old Saxony, where the Angles, confederates of the Saxon conquerors of Britain, and who gave their name to the English nation, and England or Angle-land, formerly resided. But they likewise appear to have occupied some of the islands in the Baltic. Sillend is certainly the Danish island of Zeeland. Dene is Denmark in its most limited sense. –Forst.
75
These are the Obotrites, a Venedic nation, settled in Mecklenburgh, who are called, a little farther on, the Afdrede. They were not, however, to the north-east of Old Saxony, but rather to the eastwards. Perhaps the copyist inserted north instead of east, or rather we ought to read thus: "To the north-east is Apdrede, and to the north the Wolds." –Forst.
76
The word here translated Wolds on the authority of Daines Barrington, is in the original, Wylte; but whether it refers to the wild or barren state of the country, or the name of a people, it is difficult to say. There were a people named Wilzi in those parts, but J. R. Forster is disposed to believe, that Alfred refers here to the Wends or Vandals, who lived on the Havel, and were called Hevelli. But if they are meant, we must correct the text from north-east to south-east, for such is the situation of Havel-land, with respect to Old Saxony. –Forst.
77
AEfeldan are, as King Alfred calls them, Wolds or Wilds; as there still are in the middle of Jutland, large high moors, covered only with heath. –Forst.
78
Wineda-land, the land of the Wends, Vandals, or Wendian Scalvi in Mecklenburg and Pomerania; so called from Wanda or Woda, signifying the sea or water. They were likewise called Pomeranians for the same reason, from po moriu, or the people by the sea side. –Forst.
79
In this Alfred seems to have committed a mistake, or to have made too great a leap. There is a Syssel, however, in the country of the Wends, on the Baltic, which connects them with the Moravians, or rather with the Delamensan, of whom mention is made afterwards. –Forst.
80
The Moravians, so called from the river Morava, at that time a powerful kingdom, governed by Swatopluk, and of much greater extent than modern Moravia. –Forst.
81
Carendre must be Carinthia, or the country of the Carenders or Centani, which then included Austria and Styria. –Forst.
82
Barrington has erroneously translated this, "to the eastward of Carendre country, and beyond the west part is Bulgaria." But in the original Anglo-Saxon, it is beyond the wastes, or desert, which had been occasioned by the devastations of Charlemain in the country of the Avari. –Forst.
83
This is the extensive kingdom of Bulgaria of these times, comprising modern Bulgaria and Wallachia, with part of Moldavia and Bessarabia. The Bulgarians were probably a Turkish tribe, dwelling beyond the Wolga, in the country now called Casan, deriving their name from Bolgar, their capital. –Forst.
Forster ought to have added, that the latter country was long called greater Bulgaria, and the former, or the Pulgara-land of the text, lesser Bulgaria. –E.
84
The Greek empire of Constantinople. –E.
85
The country on the Wisle or Vistula, being great and little Poland. –Forst.
86
These for some time inhabited Dacia, and, being famous in history, Alfred was willing at least to mention one of their residences. –Forst.
87
The Delamensen, or Daleminzen of the middle age writers, sometimes called Dalmatians by mistake, or to shew their erudition, were situated near Lommatsch, or around Meissen or Misnia, on both sides of the Elbe. –Forst.
88
These must have been a Scalvonian people or tribe, now unknown, and perhaps inhabited near Gorlitz, or near Quarlitz, not far from great Glogau –Forst.
89
The Sorbi, Sirbi, and Serbii, of old writers, are the Sorbian Sclavons; and the modern Wends or Vandals of Lusatia, still call themselves Sserbs or Ssorbs. –Forst.
90
These must have been another tribe of Sclavons about Seuselig, to the westward of the Sorbs of lower Lusatia. –Forst.
91
Perhaps the duchy of Mazovia, called Magaw or Mazaw-land in ancient writers. Or perhaps it is wrong spelt for Wastaland or the Waste. –Forst.
92
Sermende is the mutilated and disguised name of Sarmatia, which did not exist under that name in the time of Alfred, but which he inserted on the authority of his original author Orosius. –Forst.
93
A mere corruption of the montes Riphaei or Riphean mountains of Orosius; and Alfred seems here to have got beyond his knowledge, copying merely from Orosius. –Forst.
94
The Ost sea of Alfred comprehends what are now called the Scaggerrack, Catte-gatt, the Sound, the two Belts, and the Baltic, which our mariners still call the East Sea. –Forst.
95
That is, both inhabiting North Jutland and the islands of Funen, Zeeland, Langland, Laland, and Falster. –Forst.
96
Formerly called Apdrede, and explained to be the Obotrites. –E.
97
Alluding, doubtless, to the country from whence the Saxons who inhabited England had come of old. –E.
98
This is the same nation called Estum in the voyage of Wulfstan, who lived east of the mouth of the Wisle or Vistula, along the Baltic, and who are mentioned by Tacitus under the name of Estii. When the Hanseatic league existed, they were called Osterlings or Easterlings, or Ost-men, and their country Est-land, Ostland, or Eastland, which still adheres to the northernmost part of Livonia, now called Est-land. –Forst.
99
The Burgendas certainly inhabited the island of Born-holm, called from them Borgenda-holm, or island of the Borgendas, gradually corrupted to Borgend-holm, Bergen-holm, Born-holm. In the voyage of Wulfstan they are plainly described as occupying this situation. –Forst.
100
Called formerly AEfelden, a nation who lived on the Havel, and were, therefore, named Hevelli or Haeveldi, and were a Wendick or Vandal tribe. –Forst.
101
These are the Sviones of Tacitus. Jornandes calls them Swethans, and they are certainly the ancestors of the Swedes. –Forst.
102
This short passage in the original Anglo-Saxon is entirely omitted by Barrington. Though Forster has inserted these Surfe in his map, somewhere about the duchy of Magdeburg, he gives no explanation or illustration of them in his numerous and learned notes on our royal geographer. –E.
103
Already explained to be Finland on the White sea. –E.
104
This is the same nation with the Finnas or Laplanders, mentioned in the voyage of Ohthere, so named because using scriden, schreiten, or snowshoes. The Finnas or Laplanders were distinguished by the geographer of Ravenna into Scerde-fenos, and Rede-fenos, the Scride-finnas, and Ter-finnas of Alfred. So late as 1556, Richard Johnson, Hakluyt, ed. 1809. I. 316. mentions the Scrick-finnes as a wild people near Wardhus. –E.
105
The North-men or Normans, are the Norwegians or inhabitants of Nor-land, Nord-land, or North-mana-land. –E.
106
At this place Alfred introduces the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, already given separately, in Sect. ii. and iii, of this chapter. –E.