[19] 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.
[20] 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.
§ 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 Euxine[21], and north even to that part of the ocean which is called the Cwen sea[22], 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 Franks[23]. To the south of them are the Swaepas[24]. On the opposite banks of the Danube, and to the south and east, are the people called Baegth-ware[25], in that part which is called Regnes-burh[26]. Due east from them are the Beme[27]. To the north-east the Thyringas[28]. To the north of these are the Old Seaxan[29]. To the north-west of these are the Frysan[30]; 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 Dene[31]. To the north is Apdrede[32], and to the north-east the Wolds[33], which are called AEfeldan[34]. From hence eastwards is Wineda-land[35], otherwise called Sysyle[36]. To the south-west, at some distance, is the Macroaro[37], 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 Carendrae[38].
[21] Called by mistake, or erroneous transcription, Wendel sea, or Mediterranean in the text and translation.--E.
[22] 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.
[23] 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.
[24] 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.
[25] The Bavarians, who were the remnant of the Boii or Baeghten, who escaped from the exterminating sword of the Suevi.--Forst.
[26] This may have been the province in which Regens-bergh or Ratisbon is still situated.--Forst.
[27] 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.
[28] 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.
[29] The Old Saxons inhabited the country still called Old Sassen, or Old Saxony, Halsatia in Latin, which has degenerated into Holstein. --Forst.
[30] These Frysae were afterwards confined by Charlemain to the country between the Weser and Elbe, to which they gave the name of Friesland. --Forst.
[31] 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.
[32] 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.
[33] 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.
[34] 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.
[35] 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.
[36] 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.
[37] 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.
[38] Carendre must be Carinthia, or the country of the Carenders or Centani, which then included Austria and Styria.--Forst.
§ 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 Waste[39], is Pulgara-land or Bulgaria[40]. To the east is Greca-land[41] or Greece; and to the east of the Moroaro or Moravians, is Wisle-land[42]; and to the east of that is Datia, though it formerly belonged to the Gottan[43] or Goths. To the north-east of the Moroara or Moravians, are the Delamensen[44]. East of the Delamensen are the Horithi[45]; and north of the Delamensen are the Surpe[46]; to the west also are the Syssele[47]. To the north of the Horithi is Maegtha-land[48], and north of Maegtha-land is Sermende[49], quite to the Riffin[50], or the Riphean mountains.
[39] 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.
[40] 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.
[41] The Greek empire of Constantinople.--E.