placed nuns in the monastery of Rameseie,76 which his grandfather, king Edward the Elder, had built, and appointed Saint Merwinna abbess over them. In the year 968, bishop Aldred died at St. Cuthbert's, in Cuneceastre," and was succeeded in the bishopric by Elfsin. In the year 969, Edgar the Peaceful, king of the English, commanded Saint Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, and the blessed Oswald, bishop of Worcester, and Saint Ethelwald, bishop of Winchester, to expel the secular clergy in the larger monasteries, that were built throughout Mercia, and to place monks in them. In consequence of this, Saint Oswald, having gained his wish, expelled from the monastery the clergy of the church of Worcester, who refused to assume the monastic habit; but those who consented to do so, the bishop himself ordained as monks, and appointed over them as prior,78 Winsin, a man of great piety. In the year 970, one hundred and ten years after his burial, in the fourteenth year of the indiction, on the ides of July, being the sixth day of the week, the relics of the holy and venerable bishop Swithin were removed from the place of their sepulture by Saint Ethelwald, the venerable bishop, Elstan, the abbat of Glastonbury, and Ethelgar, the abbat of the new monastery,79 and were interred in the church of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul. In the year 971, the Clito Edmund, son of king Edgar, died, and was honorably interred in the monastery of Rameseie. Shortly after this, Ordgar, duke of Devonshire, the father-inlaw of king Edgar, departed this life, and was buried at Exancestre.81 In the year 972, Edgar the Peaceful, king of the English, having completed the church of the new monastery, which had been begun by his father, king Edmund, caused it to be dedicated with all honor. Oskitel, the archbishop of York, having departed this life, his kinsman, Saint Oswald, the bishop of Worcester, was chosen archbishop in his room. In the year 973, in the thirtieth year of his age, being the fifth year of the indiction, on the fifth day before the ides of May, being the day of Pentecost, Edgar the Peaceful, king of 77 Chester-le-street. 76 Ramsey. 78" Decanum," properly, “ dean ;" an older term, meaning the same as prior. 79 At Winchester. 81 Exeter. 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 2 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 Petroc9 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.9** 89 Wareham. 92 Chester. 90 Shaftesbury. 93 Padstow. 94* Deerhurst, near Gloucester. 91 The isle of Thanet. 94 The second bishop of that name. |