the English, received the blessing from Saints Dunstan and Oswald, the archbishops, and from the other bishops of the whole of England, as the city of Accamann,82 and was consecrated with very great pomp and glory, and anointed king.

83

In the lapse of a short time after this, sailing round the north of Britain with a large fleet, he came to the city of the Legions, where, according to his command, his eight tributary kings met him, namely, Rinath, king of the Scots; Malcolm, king of the Cumbrians; Maccus, king of numerous islands; and five others-Dusnal, Sifreth, Huwald, James, and Inchil; and there they swore that they would be faithful to him, and would be ready to assist him both by land and by sea. On a certain day he embarked with them in a vessel, and they taking their places at the oars, he himself took the helm, and steered it skilfully according to the course of the river; and amid all the multitude of his chieftains and nobles who attended in similar vessels, he sailed from the palace to the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, where prayers having been offered up, he returned in the same state to the palace; on entering which, he is reported to have said to his nobles, that now at last each of his successors would be able to boast that he was king of the English, after he had enjoyed the display of such honors, so many kings paying obedience to him. In this year Saint Oswald received the pall from Stephen, the hundred and thirty-fourth pope.

In the year 974, there was a great earthquake throughout the whole of England.

In the year 975, king Edgar the Peaceful, the monarch of the English land, the flower and grace of the kings his predecessors, departed this life; not less worthy of remembrance among the English than Romulus among the Romans, Cyrus among the Persians, Alexander among the Macedonians, Arsaces among the Parthians, Charles the Great among the French, Arthur among the Britons. After having accomplished all things in a royal manner, he departed this life in the thirty

82 Bath: which by the Saxons was called Akemancester. 83 Chester.

84 These five subreguli, with their territories, are thus mentioned by Roger of Wendover—“ Dusnal, king of Demetia (South Wales); Siferth and Huwall, kings of Wales; James, king of Galwallia; and Inkil, king of Westmoreland."

second year of his age, the nineteenth of his reign over Mercia and Northumbria, the sixteenth of his rule over all England, in the third year of the indiction, and on the eighth day before the ides of July, it being the fifth day of the week, leaving his son Edward heir to his kingdom and his virtues. His body was carried to Glastonbury, and there interred with royal honors.

He, during his lifetime, had collected together three thousand six hundred ships; and it was his custom every year, after the solemnities of Easter were concluded, to collect twelve hundred of these on the eastern, twelve hundred on the western, and twelve hundred on the southern coast of the island, and to row to the western side with the eastern fleet, and then sending that back, to row to the north with the western one; and again sending that back, to row to the east with the northern one; and in this manner it had been his usage every summer to sail around the whole island, manfully acting thus for the defence of his kingdom against foreigners, and for the exercise of himself and his people in military affairs.

But in the winter and spring it was his practice to pass along the interior of his kingdom throughout all the provinces of the English, and to see how his legal enactments, and his decrees and statutes, had been observed by the men in power. He was also accustomed to use every possible precaution that the poor might not receive detriment by oppression from the rich. Thus, in one respect, his object was military strength, in the other, justice; and in both he consulted the welfare of the people and of the realm. By reason of this he was held in fear by his enemies on every side, while he was endeared to those who were subjected to him; at his departure the whole kingdom was in a state of perturbation, and after a period of gladness, because the country flourished in peace in his days, tribulation began to arise in every quarter.

For Elpher, the duke of the Mercians, and many chief men in the kingdom, blinded by great bribes, expelled the abbats and monks from the monasteries in which king Edgar the Peaceful had placed them, and introduced there secular clergy with their wives; but the madness of this rash man was resisted by Ethelwin, the duke of East Anglia, a friend of God, and his brother Elfwold, and earl Brithnoth, who, hold.

ing a synod, declared that they could never allow the monks to be expelled from the kingdom, inasmuch as it was they who kept all religion within the realm; after which, collecting an army, they defended the monasteries of East Anglia with the greatest determination.

While this was going on, a dissension about the election of a king arose among the nobles of the realm, as some favoured Edward, the son of the deceased king, and others his brother Egelred. For which reason the archbishops Dunstan and Oswald convened the bishops, abbats, and a great number of the nobles, and, having elected Edward, as his father had commanded, consecrated him, and anointed him king. In the autumn of this year a comet was seen.

In the year 977, a very great synod was held in East Anglia, at a town which is called Kirding. 85 After this, while another synod was being held at Calne, a royal town, the elders of all England, who were there assembled, fell from an upper chamber, with the exception of Saint Dunstan; some of them were killed, while some with difficulty escaped death.

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 978, Edward, king of the Angles, was unrighteously slain by his people, by the command of his stepmother, Elfritha, at a place which is called Corvesgate, 86 and was buried without royal pomp at Werham.87 His brother, Egelred, 88 succeeded him, a distinguished prince, of elegant manners, beauteous countenance, and graceful aspect. He was consecrated king, at Kingestun, by the holy archbishops Dunstan and Oswald, and ten bishops, in the sixth year of the indiction, on the eighth day before the calends of May, being the Lord's day after the festival of Easter.

Saint Dunstan, being filled with the spirit of prophecy, foretold to him that in his reign he would suffer much tribulation, in these words: "Because thou hast aspired to the kingdom through the death of thy brother, whom thy mother hath slain, hear, therefore, the word of the Lord; thus saith the Lord, 'The sword shall not depart from thy house, but shall rage against thee all the days of thy life, and shall slay thy seed, until thy kingdom shall be transferred unto another

85 A misprint for Kirtling, now Kirtlington, in Cambridgeshire. The subject discussed by the synod was the marriage of the priesthood. 86 Corfe Castle, in Dorsetshire. 87 Wareham.

88 V. r. Ethelred, by which name he is generally known.

kingdom, whose manners and whose language the people whom thou dost govern knoweth not; nor shall thy sin be expiated but by a prolonged vengeance, the sin of thyself, and the sin of thy mother, and the sin of the men who have shared in her unrighteous counsels."" Therefore, after this, a cloud appeared at midnight throughout all England, at one time of a bloody, at another of a fiery, appearance, which afterwards changed to various hues and colours; it disappeared towards dawn.

In the year 979, Elpher, duke of the Mercians, came to Werham 89 with a multitude of people, and ordered the holy body of Edward, the precious king and martyr, to be taken up from the tomb, where many miracles had taken place. When it was stripped, it was found to be whole and entirely free from all corruption and contagion; it was then washed and arrayed in new vestments, and conveyed to Scaftesbirig," and honorably buried there.

In the year 980, Southampton was ravaged by the Danish pirates, and almost all of its citizens either killed or carried away captives. Shortly after this, the same army devastated the isle of Tenedland.91 In this year, also, the province of the city of the Legions 92 was laid waste by the Norwegian pirates.

In the year 981, the monastery of Saint Petroc 93 the confessor, in Cornwall, was ravaged by the pirates, who, the year before, had laid waste Southampton, and were then committing frequent ravages in Devonshire, and in Cornwall near the sea-shore.

In the year 982, three ships touched on the coast of the province of Dorset, and laid waste Portland. In this year the city of London was burned with fire.

In the year 983, Alpher, duke of the Mercians, a kinsman of Edgar, king of the English, departed this life, on which his son Alfric succeeded to the dukedom

In the year 984, Saint Ethelwold, bishop of Winchester, departed from this world to the Lord, in the second year of the indiction, on the calends of August; and was succeeded by Elphege, abbat of Bath. He had assumed the religious habit at the monastery which is called Dehorhirst."

94%

91 The isle of Thanet. 94 The second bishop of that name.

In the year 986, by reason of certain dissensions, Egelred, king of the English, laid siege to the city of Rochester, but perceiving the difficulty of taking it, departed in anger, and laid waste the lands of Saint Andrew the Apostle. Alfric, the duke of the Mercians, son of duke Alfer, was this year banished from England.

In the year 987, there occurred two plagues, unknown to the English nation in preceding ages, namely, a fever affecting the people, and a murrain among animals, which, in the English language, is called "Scitha," being a flux of the bowels; these greatly ravaged the whole of England, and affected both men and animals with great devastation, and, consuming the inner parts of the body, raged in an indescribable manner throughout all the territories of England.

In the year 988, Wesedport" was ravaged by the Danish pirates, by whom, also, Goda, earl of Devon, and Stremewold, a very brave warrior, were slain; but a considerable number of the enemy having been killed, the English became masters of the place.97

In the first year of the indiction, on the fourteenth day before the calends of June, it being the Sabbath, Saint Dunstan the archbishop departed this life, and attained a heavenly kingdom; in his stead Ethelgar, bishop of Selsey," received the archbishopric, and held it one year and three months.

In the year 989, archbishop Aldred" died, and was succeeded by Aldune.

In the year 991, Gippeswic1 was ravaged by the Danes. Their leaders were Justin, and Guthmund, the son of Steitan ; with them, not long after this, Brithnoth, the brave duke of the East Saxons, engaged in battle near Meldun; but, after a multitude on both sides had fallen, the duke himself was slain, and the Danish fortunes prevailed. Moreover, in this year, by the advice of Siric, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the dukes Ethelward and Alfric, a tribute, which consisted of ten

95 Belonging to the bishopric of Rochester.

96 Probably Watchet, in Somersetshire.

97"Loco fluminis" in the original; " fluminis" being probably an error for some other word.