sea. 7 For some time they continued in sight of land, but a tempest arose, and drove them into the bosom of the deep. Without hope, and in danger of starvation, Edwin sprung from the shattered bark, and buried his despair in the waves. His body was afterwards thrown ashore between Dover and Whitsand. For seven years Athelstan in a cooler mood mourned his death with a penitence which could not obliterate the crime from his memory, and still less atone for it; though the monastery of Middleton in Dorsetshire was built in evidence of his contrition. The deed never could leave the conscience of the murderer, and an anecdote is related how keen his sensibilities were on this subject. The royal cup-bearer, who had been the prime instigator of this cruel action, happened while serving the king at table, to make a false step with one foot; but recovering himself with the other, "See," said he jocularly, "how one brother affords another help!" a remark which cost the unwary courtier his life, as being the cause of that fratricide which he now spoke of with so much levity. Except this foul blot—which is perhaps darkened by our ignorance of its true reasonsthe testimony of history is in favour of Athelstan's uniform kindness to his brothers and sisters, for whose sake, it is said, he resolved to lead a life of celibacy. ་་ Edmund the Elder. BORN A. D. 922.-DIED A. D. 946. EDMUND, sometimes called the Elder, son of Edward by his second wife, succeeded to the crown on the death of Athelstan. At the outset of his reign he met with renewed disturbance from Anlaf and the restless Northumbrians, who lay in wait for every opportunity of breaking into rebellion. Anlaf had been invited from Ireland, and being proclaimed king of Northumberland, he collected a large armament, and landing near York, marched into the heart of Mercia. Edmund was less able or less fortunate than his predecessor, for Anlaf defeated him at Tamworth; but the Anglo-Saxon government was now so well established that these partial disasters could not overturn it. At Leicester the king surrounded the rebel chief, with his friend Wolfstan the ambitious archbishop of York; but at night they made a sally from the town, and in the battle which ensued, the palm of victory after a day of conflict again fell to Anlaf. Edmund was now glad to listen to negotiations, and a peace was concluded much less honourable to him than his rival, to whom he agreed to surrender all that part of England which extended north of Watling street, reserving to himself the southern regions. To the treaty this most humiliating condition was annexed, that whoever survived the other should be sole monarch of the whole. The death of Anlaf, the following year, relieved Edmund of a dangerous competitor, who, by his talents and intrepidity, had raised himself to so near a possession of the English crown. The loss of their leader was followed by the submission of the rebels, and as a sure pledge of their obedience they offered to embrace Christianity,—a religion which 'A common mode of punishment in the middle ages. the Anglo-Danes had often professed when reduced to difficulties, but which, for that very reason, they regarded as a badge of servitude, and shook off as soon as a favourable contingency offered. Trusting little to the security of a conversion thus compulsory, Edmund used the precaution of suppressing the independence of the five cities-Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Stamford, and Lincoln-which the Danes had long occupied, and where they took advantage of every commotion to make inroads into the heart of the kingdom. With the help of the king of South Wales he conquered Cumberland, and conferred that territory on Malcolm king of Scotland, on the condition that he should do homage for it, and protect the northern frontier from all future incursions of the Danes.3 Edmund was young when he came to the throne, yet his reign was short and his death violent. The circumstances of his murder, however, are related with more of variation than a transaction so simple and so affecting could be thought to occasion. The most current account is, that while celebrating the feast of St Augustine at Canterbury, or in Gloucestershire, he remarked that Leolf, a notorious robber whom he had sentenced to banishment six years before, had yet the boldness Chron. Sax. 114. 266 The Britons of Cumbria occupy a tolerably large space on the map, but a very small one in history; their annals have entirely perished; and nothing authentic remains concerning them, except a very few passages, wholly consisting of incidental notices relating to their subjection and their misfortunes. Romance would furnish much more; for it was in Cumbria that Rhyderc, or Roderic the magnificent, is therein represented to have reigned, and Merlin to have prophesied. Arthur held his court in merry Carlisle; and Peredur, the prince of Sunshine, whose name we find amongst the princes of Strath-clyde, is one of the greatest heroes of the Mabinogion,' or tales of youth, long preserved by tradition amongst the Cymry. These fantastic personages, however, are of importance in one point of view, because they show-what we might otherwise forget-that from the Ribble in Lancashire, or thereabouts, up to the Clyde, there existed a dense population, composed of Britons, who preserved their national language and customs, agreeing in all respects with the Welsh of the present day. So that, even in the tenth century, the ancient Britons still inhabited the greater part of the western coast of the island, however much they had been compelled to yield to the political supremacy of the Saxon invaders. "The Regnum Cumbrense comprehended many districts, probably governed by petty princes or Reguli, in subordination to a chief monarch, or Pendragon, Reged appears to have been somewhere in the vicinity of Annandale. Strath-clyde is, of course, the district or vale of Clydesdale. In this district or state, was situated Alcluyd, or Dunbritton, now Dumbarton, where the British kings usually resided; and the whole Cumbrian kingdom was not unfrequently called Strath-clyde, from the ruling or principal state; just as the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is often designated in common language as England, because England is the portion where the monarch and legislature are found. Many dependencies of the Cumbrian kingdom extended into modern Yorkshire, and Leeds was the frontier-town between the Britons and the Angles; but the former were always giving way, and their territory was broken and intersected by English settlements. Carlisle had been conquered by the Angles at a very early period; and Egfrith of Northumbria bestowed that city upon the see of Lindis farne. He extended his conquests into that district now called Furness in Lancashire. Kyle in Cunningham, was reduced by Edbert. Alcluyd, 'the strong city,' was besieged and taken by the same monarch, aided by Unnust king of the Picts, and afterwards wholly destroyed by Olave and Ingvar. Many Cumbrian tribes, harassed by the Northmen and also by the Saxons, wholly abandoned their country, and found shelter and protection in Wales or the Marches, where, it is said, they regained some of the lands which had been occupied by the Mercians. After the destruction of Aicluyd, these Britons were governed by kings of the Scottish line, who, probably, acquired their rights by intermarriage with a British princess; and Eugenius, or Owen, one of these rulers, was engaged, together with Constantine, king of the Scots, against Athelstane, in the great battle of Brunnaburgh." Palgrave's History, vol. I. pp. 223-225. Malm. 53.-Hunt. 355.-The rights of the Scottish kings to the earldom of Cumberland'-for such it was afterwards termed-were founded upon Edmund's grant. Palgrave, vol. I. 226. to enter the banquet-rooni, and sit at the table with the royal attendants. Enraged at his insolence, the king ordered him to quit the place, and on his refusing to obey, the indignant monarch, heated with liquor, and naturally of a choleric temper, sprung from his seat, seized the intruder by the hair and threw him on the ground. A general tumult ensueda thing not unlikely to happen in the midst of Bacchanalian jollitywhen the ruffian, pushed to extremity, drew a dagger which he had concealed, and gave Edmund a wound of which he immediately expired.1 This occurred in 946, consequently in the sixth year of the king's reign and 24th of his age. He left male issue, but so young that they were incapable of assuming the reins of administration. Edmund, like his predecessor, left a series of laws, which serve as an index to the sanguinary features of the times. Weary of the manifold quarrels which occurred daily in the country, he instituted farther regulations concerning homicide, the mulcts or penalties on which he forbade to be forgiven. He denied the benefit of refuge to all who shed blood, until they should have made the established compensation to the family of the deceased, and also that appropriated to the church, and have submitted to the right which the bishop of the shire should adjudge. The rules which he laid down concerning marriage contributed to the protection of the female sex, inasmuch as they required the pledge of the bridegroom to the attesting party, that he took the lady to be his wife, and would keep her as such: which his friends were compelled to guarantee. The bridegroom was also enjoined to state what his widow should have if she survived him; and by law she was entitled on his death to the half of his goods, and if they had children, to the whole, unless she chose another husband. An additional security for the sex was provided, by enacting, that if the husband wished to remove his wife into another district, the thane should be required to bind himself by the pledge of friends that he would do her no injury; and if she should commit a fault, and could not make reparation, that her relations should first be applied to.5 These laws imply an imperfect state of social manners; but they evince that the female character was considered with respect and attention by the Anglo-Saxon legislators, and consequently that the civilization of the island was advancing towards maturity Edred. BORN A. D. 923.- died a. d. 955. EDRED succeeded his elder brother, in "the fourfold empire of the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians, Pagans and Britons," to use the style of his own charters; and, at the time of his elevation, must have been under twenty-three years of age. The Northumbrian Danes had been often subdued, but they never paid a sincere allegiance to the crown of England. A new accession was the signal for fresh disturbances. Eric of Norway had generously received from Athelstan a settlement in Northumberland, under the title of king. But to the habits of a barbarian, peace has fewer charms than plunder. The Nor wegian exile, therefore, still loved the activity of depredation. The numerous friends, with kindred feelings, who crowded to him from Norway, displeased or disappointed with the government of Haco, cherished his turbulent propensities; and to feed, to employ, or to emulate them, he consumed the summer-months by pirating in Scotland, the Hebrides, Ireland, and Wales. In the north of England he became formidable to the Anglo-Saxons. These proceedings provoked Edred, who assembled a vindictive army, and spread devastation over Northumberland, the inhabitants of which had violated their oath of fidelity to him.' Terrified by this chastisement, the rebellious Northumbrians again made their wonted submission, and renewed their oath of allegiance. But their obedience lasted no longer than their present apprehension. Again they revolted, and again they were subdued ; but Edred, now instructed by experience, took greater precautions against their future insurrections. He fixed English garrisons in their most considerable towns, and placed in them governors in his own interest, who might watch their motions, and repress their predatory inclinations. He carried away in bonds the proudest nobles of the country, imprisoned the turbulent archbishop Wolfstan, and annexed that refractory territory inseparably to his 'dominions. He also obliged Malcolm of Scotland to renew his homage for the lands he held in England. An infirm constitution had enfeebled the mind of Edred, and, though neither unwarlike nor unfit for active life, he was under the influence of the lowest superstition, and had blindly delivered over his conscience to the guidance of the famous Dunstan, abbot of Glastonbury, a man who veiled under the appearance of sanctity the most insatiable and insolent ambition. Taking advantage of the implicit confidence reposed in him by the king, this wily churchman imported into England a new order of monks, who greatly changed the aspect of ecclesiastical affairs, and excited, on their first establishment, the most violent commotions. This was the Benedictines, an order to which Odo, archbishop of Canterbury, attached himself, and which, in course of time, became celebrated in Europe beyond every other. From Italy it spread itself into other countries, and at length reached England. Its regulations were peculiarly austere; and many of them seem the offspring of caprice. Each member was to sleep in a single bed; but, if possible, the whole fraternity was to be in the same room. They were to lie in their clothes, without knives. The younger brethren were not to have beds by themselves, but to be mixed with the elders. All were to take their turn in the work of the kitchen. In their diet they were debarred the flesh of quadrupeds, but there was no prohibition against fish or fowl: they were allowed both twice a-day, and a pound of bread. Even wine was not denied in sober quantity, though they were advised to abstain from it if they could. They were to study taciturnity, and, after supper, read the fathers, the lives of the saints, or other edifying subjects. In these dark ages any innovation, however absurd, that took the name of religion, was sure of a welcome reception; and no virtue was more popular than an affectation of abstinence and austerity. The praises of an inviolable chastity had 'Ingulf. 30. Wallingf. Chron.-Malm. been carried to the highest extravagance by some of the first preachers of Christianity among the Saxons. The pleasures of love had been represented as incompatible with Christian perfection, and especially prohibited to those who officiated at the altar. The monks knew well how to avail themselves of these popular topics, and to set off their own character to the best advantage. Their lives, outwardly, were decent and abstemious, and they inveighed bitterly against the vices and pretended luxury of the age; against the dissolute manners of the secular clergy, their rivals, they were particularly vehement; and when other subjects of defamation failed, their marriages became a theme of reproach,3 and their wives were insulted with the most opprobrious appellations. By these sacred feuds the people were thrown into agitation, and few instances occur of more violent dissensions than those that raged between the different theological parties. England, at this period, was beginning to suffer from the effects of these distractions; but the progress of the monks, which had become considerable, was retarded by the death of Edred their patron, who expired after a reign of nine years. His children were left in their infancy, consequently unfit to undertake the government. Edwy. BORN A. D. 939.-died A. D. 959. He was A EDWY, OF EDWIN, as he is sometimes called, the eldest son of Edmund, succeeded his uncle Edred at the age of sixteen, in 955. possessed of the most amiable figure, and was endowed with the most promising virtues; but his youth was the source of his calamities. stripling king was incompetent to wage a war of policy or power with the enthusiastic advocates of a new ecclesiastical system, whose fanaticism envenomed their hostility, and rendered their vengeance at once insolent and implacable. No monarch, perhaps, would have been more beloved by his subjects, had he not unhappily, immediately on his accession, been engaged in a controversy with the monks, whose rage, neither the graces of the body, nor the qualities of the mind could mitigate, and who have loaded his memory with the same unrelenting opprobrium which they exercised against his person and dignity during his short but unfortunate reign. The history of this youthful monarch, as has been observed, can neither be read nor narrated with indifference. If ever the tear of sympathy was deserved,-if ever the indignation of the historian was imperiously demanded,—the misfortunes of Edwy will claim our compassion and excite our resentment. Being at an age when the force of the passions first begin to be felt, he had surrendered his tender heart to the charms of Elgiva, a beautiful princess of the royal blood. His love was pure and honourable; but the lady was within the degrees of affinity prohibited by the canon law, being his second or third cousin. His passion, however, was too strong to be repulsed by these artificial barriers; and, contrary to the |