earl Tosti, a man of wisdom and prudence. He, having made a vow to Saint Cuthbert, gave to his servants in his church, namely, that of Durham, these lands:-In Merscum, ten carrucates and a half of land, and the church of Saint Germanus in the same town; in Thortuna, two carrucates; and in Thestrota, ten bovates of land; in Readeclive half a carrucate, and in Gisburgh one carrucate of land.

57

On being deprived of the earldom by Copsi, Osulph, after hiding himself in hunger and destitution in the woods and mountains, at length collected a band of his companions, whom the same necessity had brought together, and surrounded Copsi at Niwebrin; " who, escaping among the confusion that ensued, concealed himself in the church. Being however betrayed, the enemy set fire to the church: whereon he was compelled to make his way to the door, where he was slain by the hand of Osulph, in the fifth week after he had received the earldom, on the fourth day before the ides of March. In the ensuing autumn, Osulph himself, rushing headlong upon a spear which a robber presented at him, was pierced thereby, and died on the spot.

After his death, Cospatric, the son of Maldred, the son of Crinan, went to king William, and, for a large sum of money, made purchase of the earldom of Northumbria; for, through his mother's side, the honor of that earldom belonged to him; his mother being Algitha, the daughter of earl Ucthred, whom Elgiva, daughter of king Ethelred, bore to him. This Algitha her father gave in marriage to Maldred, the son of Crinan. After this, Cospatric held the earldom until the king deprived him of it; making it a charge against him that he had with his counsel and assistance aided those who had slain the earl Robert Cumin with his followers, at Durham, although he really was not present there; and also alleging that he had sided with the enemy when the Normans were slain at York. Flying, therefore, to king Malcolm, he shortly afterwards set sail for Flanders; and, after some time, on his return to Scotland, the above-named king gave him Dunbar, in Lothian, 58 with the adjacent lands, that with these he might maintain himself and his people until more fortunate 57 Probably Newburgh, in Yorkshire,.

58 In the original it is "Londoneio;" most probably an error for "Laudonia."

times. But not long after this, being reduced to extreme infirmity, he sent for Aldwin and Turgot, the monks, who at this time were living at Meilros, ,59 in poverty and contrite in spirit for the sake of Christ, and ended his life with a full confession of his sins, and great lamentations and penitence, at Ubbanford, which is also called Northam, and was buried in the porch of the church there. He gave them two fair dorsals,60 that, in whatever place they might chance to take rest, they should set them up there in remembrance of him. These are still preserved in the church at Durham.

This Cospatric was the father of Dolfin, Walthen, and Cospatric. After Cospatric, the earldom of Northumbria was given to Walthen, the son of earl Siward, who was entitled to it both on his father's and his mother's side. For he was the son of earl Siward, by Elfleda, the daughter of Alfred, who was formerly earl. Some time after, Walthen having been taken prisoner, the charge of the earldom was entrusted to bishop Walcher up to the time of his death. After him, the king conferred that honor on Alfric. He, being unable to make head against times of difficulty, and having returned to his own country, the same king made Robert de Mowbray earl of Northumbria; but he being taken prisoner, king William the younger, and, after him, king Henry, kept Northumbria in their own hands.

year

In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 955, Edelred,61 the excellent king of the English, fell sick, in the tenth of his reign, and his life was despaired of; on which, speedily dispatching a messenger, he sent for the father of his confessions, 62 namely, Saint Dunstan, the abbat. While repairing with all haste to the palace, and when he had now got half way thither, a voice was distinctly heard by him from above, saying, "King Edelred now rests in peace;" whereupon, the horse on which he was sitting, not being able to endure the force of the angelic voice, without any injury to his rider, fell dead upon the ground. The king's body was carried to

59 Melrose.

60 Dorsals were garments, or pieces of tapestry, which were hung against walls as a screen for the backs of those who sat near them: whence their 61 A mistake for Edred.

name

62 The text is probably corrupt in this passage.

Winchester, and received an honorable burial from the abbat Dunstan, at the old monastery there.

64

His cousin, the Clito 63 Edwin, succeeded him in the kingdom; he was the son of king Edmund, and of Saint Elgiva, his queen. In the same year he was consecrated king by archbishop Odo, at Kingston.

65

In the year 956, Saint Dunstan, the abbat, was banished on account of his righteousness by Edwin, king of the English, and passing the seas, took refuge, during the period of his exile, in the monastery of Blandigny." On the seventh day before the calends of January, Wulstan, archbishop of York, departed this life, and was buried at Oundle; he was succeeded by Oskitel, a venerable man.

66

In the year 957, Edwy, king of the English, by reason of his unwise administration of the government, being despised by them, was forsaken by the people of Mercia and Northumbria, and his brother, the Clito Edgar, was chosen king by them, and the rule of the two kings was so separated that the river Thames divided their kingdom. Shortly after this, Edgar, the king of the Mercians, recalled Saint Dunstan, the abbat, from exile, with great honor and distinction. A short time after, Coenwald, the bishop of Worcester, departed this life, a man of great humility, and of the monastic profession. In his place Saint Dunstan was elected bishop, and was consecrated by Odo, archbishop of Canterbury.

In the year 958, Saint Odo, the archbishop of Canterbury, separated from each other, Edwy, king of the West Saxons, and Elgiva, either because, as it is said, she was related to him, or because he loved her instead of his own wife.67 In the same year, the said archbishop, a man famed for his talents, and commendable for his virtues, endued also with a spirit of

63 Clito" was a title which was sometimes given to all the king's sons among the Anglo-Saxous, but more generally in especial to the eldest It was probably derived from the Latin "inclytus," ," "glorious," or from its root, the Greek word кλɛɩròç, of the same meaning.

sons.

61 Generally called Edwy.

65 The reading in the text is Blandimum; it should be Blandinium. The monastery of Blandigny, or St. Peter, was in the city of Ghent.

66 In Northamptonshire.

67❝Sub propriâ uxore.' It is not universally agreed that king Edwy was married. Bridferth, one of the early writers, says that Edwy was intimate with two women, mother and daughter.

prophecy, was removed from human affairs, and carried by the hands of angels into Paradise. He was succeeded by Elfsin, bishop of Winchester, and in his place Brihtelm was ordained to the see of Winchester.

In the year 959, Elfsin, archbishop of Canterbury, while proceeding to Rome to obtain his pall, perished, frozen with ice and snow, upon the Alpine mountains. Edwy also, king of the West Saxons, after having reigned four years, departed this life at Winchester, and was buried in the new monastery there; on which he was succeeded in the kingdom by his brother, Edgar, king of Mercia, who was elected king by the people of all England, and united the kingdom, before divided, into one. This took place in the sixteenth year of his age, five hundred and ten years after the arrival of the Angles in Britain, and in the three hundred and sixty-third year after Saint Augustine and his companions had come to England.

Brihtelm, bishop of the people of Dorset,68 was elected to the primacy of the see of Canterbury, but as he was not suited for an office of such importance, by command of the king he left Canterbury, and returned to the church which he had lately left. Upon this, by the Divine will, and the counsel of the wise, Saint Dunstan, the bishop of Worcester, was appointed primate and patriarch of the mother church of the English; by whom and other prudent men, Edgar, the king of the English, being becomingly instructed, he everywhere checked the wicked, reduced the rebellious under the yoke of correction, cherished the virtuous and modest, restored and enriched the churches of God that had been laid waste, and having removed all corruptions 6* from the monasteries of the secular clergy, gathered together multitudes of monks and nuns for the praise of the mighty Creator, and ordered more than forty monasteries to be erected for them. All these he honored as brethren, and cherished as most beloved sons, admonishing by his example the pastors whom he had set over them, to exhort them to live regularly and without reproach, to the end that they might please Christ and his saints in all things.

69

68 Meaning bishop of Winchester, and not bishop of Dorchester, in Oxfordshire, of which Leowin was at this time bishop.

68 The word in the text is "venenis," perhaps too strong a word to be the correct one.

69 In the original, " scholarium;" probably a mistake for "secularium."

In the year 960, Saint Dunstan went to the city of Rome, in the third year of the indiction, and received the pall from pope John, and then returned to his country in the paths of peace. In the lapse of a few months after this, he repaired to the royal threshold, and, knocking at the gate of the palace, with suggestions for the exercise of the royal piety and with most humble prayers, he entreated the king that he would promote to the honor of the bishopric of Worcester the blessed Oswald, the cousin of his own predecessor Odo, a monk noted for his piety, meekness, and humility, and who, by real experience, he had proved to wax strong in the Divine fear and in the holy exercise of virtue. King Edgar assented to the requests of Saint Dunstan, and the blessed Oswald was installed by himself in the high priesthood.

In the year 963, on the death of Brihtelm, Saint Ethelwald, the venerable abbat," who had been educated by the blessed Dunstan, received the bishopric of Winchester, and in the same year, by the king's command, the clergy" having been expelled, filled the old monastery with monks; for he had especially persuaded the king, whose chief adviser he was, to expel the clergy from the monasteries, and to place in them monks and nuns.

In the year 964, Edgar the Peaceful, king of the English, took to wife Elfthritha,72 the daughter of Ordgar, duke of Devonshire, after the death of her husband, Elfwold, the glorious duke of the East Angles; by whom he had two sons, Edmund and Egelred; he had also before this, by Egelfleda73 the Fair, the daughter of duke Ordmar, Edward, afterwards king and martyr; and by Saint Elfthritha," he had a daughter, Editha, a virgin most strictly consecrated to God.

75

In the same year, the same king placed monks in the new monastery and in that at Middleton, and over the former he appointed Ethelgar, over the latter, Kineward, abbats.

In the year 967, Edgar the Peaceful, king of the English, 70 Of Abingdon. 71 The secular clergy. 72 More generally called Elfrida. 73 More generally called Elfleda. 74 She is called Wulfreda by Roger of Wendover and William of Malmesbury. By the term, "sancta," our author would seem to imply that she was a nun; but William of Malmesbury says, "it is certain that she was not a nun at that time, but being a lay virgin, had assumed the veil through fear of the king, though she was immediately afterwards forced to the royal bed." Roger of Wendover gives the same account. 75 At Winchester.