the knowledge we have of the History of our Ancient Times we shall begin where we left off in the former Book and shew you by what means this part of Britain was brought to the knowledge of Christ and all the Kingdoms of the Saxon Heptarchy became by degrees united in the same Faith For the doing of which it is necessary that we look some years backward and give you Venerable Bede's Relation how Pope Gregory sirnamed The Great to whom the English Nation owes its Conversion came to send Augustine the Monk to preach the Gospel here in Britain which he thus relates as he received it down by Tradition The Report is That many Merchants coming to Rome great store of Commodities being exposed in the Market-place to be sold Chapmen flocking in apace Gregory also himself going thither tho rather out of Curiosity than to buy saw among other things certain handsome Boys exposed to sale whom when he beheld he demanded from what Countrey they were brought and answer being made That they came out of the Isle of Britain then he asked again Whether those Islanders were Christians To which it was answered They were Heathens when fetching a deep sigh he said It was pity the Father of Darkness should be Master of such bright Faces They also told him that they were called Angles of the Kingdom of Deira and that their Kings were named Aella On each of which Names Bede either invents or else had heard that Pope Gregory made divers Latin Allusions which since if translated they would seem dry or trivial to most Readers I therefore pass by But Will. of Malmesbury further adds to this story That it was then and long after the Custom of the Nation of the Northumbers to sell their own Children or other near Relations to Foreign Merchants which shews them then to have been either extraordinary necessitous or else to have been as barbarous and void of Natural Affection as the Negroes of some parts of Africa are at this day Gregory going immediately to the then Bishop of Rome for himself was not so as yet intreated him to order some Preachers of God's Word to be sent to the English Nation by whose means it might be converted to Christ and that he himself was ready to undertake the Performance of this Work in case it would please the Pope to send him who although he was willing to grant his Request yet the Citizens of Rome who had a great value for him would by no means permit that he should go so far from that City But Gregory being not long after himself advanced to the Papacy he performed by others his so long desired design for in his Fourth Year being admonished saith Bede by Divine instinct he sent Augustine whom he had designed for Bishop of the English Nation and other Zealous Monks along with him to preach the Gospel in Britain who being now upon their way and discouraged by some false Reports dispatch'd Augustine in all their Names beseeching the Pope that they might return home and not be sent a Journey so full of hazard to a fierce and Infidel Nation whose Language they understood not But the Pope immediately sent back their Messenger with Exhortatory Letters to them not to be discouraged by vain Reports but vigorously to pursue the work they had undertaken since their labours would be attended with lasting Glory both in this life and that to come and that they should obey Augustine whom he had appointed for their Abbot besides which Letters the Pope Wrote also to Eutherius Arch-Bishop of Arles wherein he recommended them to his Care and Protection and that he would furnish them with what they wanted also recommending to him Candidus a Presbyter whom he had sent to receive and dispose of the Churches Revenues in France besides which there is nothing remarkable in these Letters except the date which is in the Tenth of the Kalends of August in the Fourteenth Year of the Reign of our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus and the Fourteenth Indiction which falls out in the Year of our Lord 596 though the Author of the old Gregorian Register hath for some Reasons omitted to put down the dates of these Epistles perhaps lest Posterity might understand that the Pope at that time called the Emperour his LORD and dated his Letters by the Year of his Reign Agustine and his Companions being thus confirmed by the Pope's Exhortation proceeded in their Voyage and passing thorough France took Sea and landed in the Isle of Thanet lying on the East part of Kent with about Forty Persons in his Company together with some Interpreters of the French Nation Ethelbert was at that time King of that Country being the most powerful Prince that had Reigned there as having extended the bounds of his Dominion as far as the banks of the River Humber As soon as Augustine arrived he sent to King Ethelbert giving him to understand that he came from Rome and had brought good tidings of Eternal Happiness to all them that would receive it the King hearing this commanded that they should remain in the place where they landed and that all necessaries should be plentifully supplied them till he had determined what to do for he had heard of the Christian Religion long before as having married a Christian Lady called Bertha Sister to the King of France as hath been already said upon this condition that she should have the free Exercise of her Religion and liberty to have a Bishop of her own named Lethard whom she brought with her to assist and strengthen her in the Faith The King after some Days came to the Island and fearing Inchantments sate down in the open Air commanding that Augustine and his Companions should be brought into his presence for he was perswaded by his Country Superstition that if they brought with them any Inchantments they could not there so easily work upon him but Augustine and his Companions Armed with the Power of God and bearing a Silver Cross before them with the Image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a Banner came on singing as in a solemn Procession the Litany as they went and praying unto God for the Eternal Salvation of those to whom they were sent But when sitting down with the King they had preached the Word of Life to him and his Nobles the King thus spoke The Doctrines and the promises ye have made are indeed fair and inviting But I am not as yet resolved to embrace them since I cannot suddenly consent to quit that Religion I have so long professed together with the whole English Nation yet because ye are Strangers and come a long Journey and as it seems would impart to us the knowledge of that Religion you believe to be the best we will not give you the least Molestation but rather will protect you and take care that all things necessary shall be provided for your Maintenance neither shall we prohibit you from gaining as
slew Neil his Brother And under this year I suppose we may justly place the total subduing of the Danes and subjection of the East-Angles and consequently their being freed from the Danish Yoak under which they had groaned for above fifty years though what Government they had from the Death of the last Danish King Eoric is hard to determine William of Malmesbury the only Ancient Author that hath mentioned these Affairs telling us in general That after the Death of this Eoric the Danish Earls or Governors either oppressed them or else excited them against the West-Saxon Kings until this King Edward by driving out the Danes restored the English to their Liberties and added this Kingdom to his own Dominions fifty years after the death of King Edmund which falls out much about this time But Polidore Virgil I know not from what Author hath a long Story how King Eoric above-mentioned made War against King Edward and being routed by him in a great Battel and returning home fell so far into the Hatred and Contempt of his Subjects that they rose up against him and being then divided into Factions were forced to submit themselves to King Edward This if it were true would give a great light into this dark part of the History of the East-Angles of which we have but a very imperfect Account But since this Relation is found in no other Author except Polydore and besides expresly contradicting the Testimony of William of Malmesbury a much more Authentick Writer by whose Account as well as by the Saxon Annals it appears that this Eoric was dead long before I think we may justly look upon Polydore's Relation as a mere Fiction either invented by himself or else taken from some Modern Author of no great Credit Therefore I must now warn the Reader concerning this Historian That though he had the Perusal of a great many Rare Manuscripts yet since he very seldom cites any Authors and that we find he sometimes differs from our most Ancient Writers and is plainly mistaken in divers Relations we have great reason to refuse his Testimony where it is not agreeable with more Authentick Authorities I have nothing else to add under this year but that as William of Malmesbury tells us the Body of King Edmund the Martyr having lain for above Fifty Years obscurely buried at a place called Halesdon in Suffolk was now by some devout people removed to a Town adjoining called Badricesworth now St. Edmundsbury where there was quickly a Church built over him and unto which King Edmund Brother to King Athelstan was a great Benefactor though this place was not much taken notice of until King Cnute to gain the Favour of this Saint whom his Countreymen had murthered here afterwards built a Noble Monastery This year also according to Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster the King of Scots Reginald the Danish King of Northumberland with the Duke or Earl of the Gallawy Welshmen or Britains came to King Edward and submitting themselves to him made a firm League with him This is the first time we find any Submission of the King of Scots which whether it amounted to a downright Homage and to hold that Kingdom of the Crown of England may be much questioned and is absolutely denied by the Scotish Historians Between Lent and Midsummer King Edward march'd with his Army to Stanford and there commanded a Castle to be built on the South-side of the River Weland so that all the people who dwelt in the Town on the North-side of that River submitted themselves and besought him to be their Lord. Also according to the Cottonian Copy of these Annals Howel and Cledauc and Jeothwell Prince of Wales with all the Nation of the Northern Britains desired to take the King for their Lord. But in this the Welsh Chronicles are wholly silent as commonly they are of any action that tends to the lessening of their Countrey Out of Wales the King marched to Snottingaham and took the Town and commanded it to be repaired and Garison'd with Danes as well as English and then all the people in the Province of Mercia of both those Nations came over to him This year also according to Florence Athelward Brother to King Edward died and was buried at Winchester This is that Learned Prince Son to King Alfred whose Character we have already given This year King Edward carried his Army about the end of Autumn to Thaelwale that is Thaelwalle in Cheshire and which is supposed to have been so called from its being encompassed at first with a Wall made of Bodies of Trees called in the Saxon Tongue Thal where he ordered that Town to be repaired and he commanded another part of his Forces whilst he stayed there to march out of Mercia to Manigeceaster now Manchester in the Kingdom of Northumberland and order'd it to be rebuilt and strengthened with a Garison This year also Plegmond Archbishop of Canterbury deceased and Reginold the Danish King took Eoferwick that is York Before Midsummer King Edward marched with his Army to Snottingaham and ordered a new Town to be built on the South-side of the River Trent over-against that on the other side and made a Bridge over the River between the two Towns from thence the King went into Peakland that is the Peak in that Shire to Bedecanwell which is supposed may be Bakewell in Dâ—rbyshire and commanded a Town to be built near to it and to be fortified with a Garison Then also the King of Scots with all the Scotish Nation and Reginald the Son of Eardulph the Danish King of Northumberland with all the Inhabitants of that Kingdom whether English or Danes together with the King of the Straecled Welshmen and all his Subjects did chuse King Edward for their Patron and Lord. But this year's actions are placed by Florence of Worcester and Mat. Westminster three years sooner which shews the Copies they had of these Annals differ'd from those we have though which of them is the truest I shall not now take upon me to affirm but it sufficiently shews that both these Copies were not written at one and the same time And now King Edward deceased at Fearndune in the Province of the Mercians now called Farrington in Berkshire and Aelsweard his Son also deceased not long after him at Oxnaford i. e. Oxford But the Canterbury Copy of these Annals as also Florence of Worcester place the Death of these two Princes under the foregoing year and indeed they seem to have been in the right But this is most certain that this Prince who is called Aethelward by William of Malmesbury was his Eldest Son by Queen Aelfleda his Wife the Daughter of Earl Aethelune and being very well instructed in Learning did much resemble King Aelfred his Grandfather as well in Face as Disposition yet though he survived his Father he never took upon him the Title of King because he outlived him so
no less than three Writers of part of our History who lived before Malmesbury as you may see above and therefore he must also be understood only in this Sense that till himself there was none had undertaken an entire Latin Body of English History for he distinguishing between an History and Annals did not reckon it seems these Saxon Annals as such though he often mentions them by the Name of the English Chronicles being as I said before the ground-Work upon which that Author as well as others that followed him built their History and these Annals remaining in Manuscript till long after Sir Thomas Craig's Death gave him perhaps occasion to affirm in the same Place That there is nothing of certainty to be found in the British History from 734. which was the Year of Bede's Death to the Year 957. but all things were founded upon the Rumours of Antient Men and it may be old Wives Fables which being collected together into one Book and put in a Latin Dress made up as it were the shadow of a History from whence Hollingshead does nevertheless bring most certain Arguments to establish his fictitious Homage THIS Point concerning the Homage I shall not take upon me here to decide but tho I confess there is no express mention of it in the Annals yet I must needs say there is somewhat to be met with in them that comes very near it for under Anno 924. they relate thus of King Edward the Elder That the King and whole Nation of the Scots chose him in Patrem Dominum in the Latin Version i. e. for their Father and Lord which is word for word the same with the Saxon Original which I omit because not commonly understood or read in that Character But because he supposes that Florence of Worcester was the first Author that wrote this Homage and Fealty therefore he must be the first that ever mentioned the Submission of the Scotish King to the King of England I desire those of Sir Thomas his Opinion to tell me tho the formal Ceremonies of Homage and Fealty which in different Ages and divers Countries even where the Feudal Law was obtained were very different were not brought up till after the Norman William came hither yet what could those words in Patrem Dominum signify but such an Acknowledgment or Dependance upon a Superior Lord as was tantamount And it is the more remarkable because this is mentioned above 20 Years before The same Annals relate that King Edmund the Younger Son to King Edward bestowed Cumberland upon Malcolm King of Scots viz. Anno 945. on condition that he should serve him in his Expeditions by Sea and Land for which alone the Scotish Writers will allow this Homage to have been due AND in the Year following we find in the same Annals that K. Eadred Brother to Edmund having reduced all Northumberland into his Power which then took in almost all the Low-Lands of Scotland as far as Edinburgh thereupon Scoti etiam ei juramenta praestiterunt sese velle quiâ—quid is vellet i. e. the Scotish Nation by which I suppose must be understood the King as well as the People took an Oath to King Eadred to perform whatsoever he should please to command them But that Florence of Worcester understood this to be an Oath of Fealty appears by his Paraphrase of these words in the Annals thus Edredus à Scotis ut sibi fideles essent juramentum accepit BVT that if not Homage yet somewhat very like it was rendered in that Age by the Kings of Scotland to those of England for the best part of what is now called the Lowlands may appear from the Testimony of John of Wallingford who in his History relates that Keneth King of Scots received Lothian from King Edgar under the Condition of doing Homage to himself and his Successors which if it had not then the direct Ceremony of Homage which perhaps came in with the Normans yet that it was somewhat very near it John Fordun the antientest Scotish Historian acknowledges in these words That King Edmund viz. of England gave the Province of Cumberland to Malcolm King of Scots sub fidelitate Juramenti and it was afterwards agreed between the said King Edmund and King Malcolm that Prince Indulf his next Heir and all the future Heirs of Scotland successively should pay to King Edmund and his Successors for the same Homagium fidelitatis Sacramentum so that if our English Writers have been mistaken in calling that Submission which the Kings and Princes of Scotland then payed to England Homage you may here see the most Antient Scotish Historian guilty of the same Error which was indeed an Oath of Fidelity if not the same yet very like what the Scotish Kings afterwards took when they did Homage to our Kings of England after the Conquest HAVING said thus much I shall now leave it to the Reader 's Judgment when he has gone through our Annals to consider whether this Author's Censure of our English History from the Year 734. when Bede ended his to the Year 957. be just that they were only things as he says founded upon the Rumours of Antient Men and it may be old Wives Fables and so being collected together in one Book dress'd up in Latin made up as it were the shadow of a History AS also whether what Florence is cited by the Author to say That after Bede's Death the English History ceased and that for his own part he had left things to Posterity either as he found them in the Text of the English Chronicles or as he had them from the relations of Men worthy of Credit or heard and saw them himself deserves that rash Censure not only concerning these Annals now published but of Florence himself viz. as to what concerned the Text of the English Chronicles he mentioned them that he might deceive his Reader with the greater Facility whereas Florence was accounted always a Writer of unquestionable Diligence and Veracity as appears by the several Testimonies of Learned Men before his History BVT the reason of this Author's Triumph before the Victory was that he did not believe any such thing as a Saxon Chronicle could be found for says he immediately after If there were any Chronicles of those Times seeing Florence lived about the Year 1148. they must still remain in the Archives which hitherto no English Author did ever alledg or hath been able to demonstrate for that Chronicle as is observed by the Prologue did only set down the number of Years And so he proceeds to invalidate the Credit of Florence of Worcester as if he had had no Voucher to warrant his Chronicle BVT I hope this Translation I here present you with will satisfy all ordinary Readers that the Saxon Annals do contain much more than the bare numbers of Years and the Edition first published by Mr. Wheelock in Saxon and Latin from two Copies in
Doctor take his choice and either allow this King to have succeeded by Election or else if by Succession it was no Lineal one as the Doctor would maintain because these Historians tell us he succeeded his Brother as next Heir when at the same time they confess too that he left two Sons behind him and if the Nation 's lying then under great Difficulties will be a good Warrant to set by a Right Heir I desire he would be pleased to satisfy me why it may not always be a justifiable Reason to make a Breach upon the Succession in the like Cases AS for Edwy Nephew to this King indeed I do not find any thing mentioned in the Annals or other printed Authors of his Election yet the Antient Manuscript Life of Arch-bishop Odo now in the Cottonian Library and which seems to have been written by some Monk not long after that Time says expresly Edwigus Filius Aedmundi in Regem ELECTVS est Nor indeed could he succeed as Heir to his Uncle for his Lineal Right was before him nor does the Expression commonly used in the Saxon Annals viz. FENG to RICE which is rendered in the Latin by capessit Regnum signify any thing concerning the manner of this or any other King 's coming to the Crown These being as the Doctor himself acknowledges the usual Saxon and Latin words by which the Succession is expressed being variously rendered by Translators by Regnum capessit successit or Electus est and thus we likewise find the same words are used in the Annals to express King Aethelstan's and Eadred's nay Harold's Accession to the Throne tho it is evident none of them could claim by any Lineal Succession AND these are not the only words made use of in the Saxon Chronicle when an Election is signified for An. 1015 we find these words concerning the Election of K. Edmund Ironside that the Wites or Wise Men who were at London and the Citizens Gecuron Eadmund to Cynge i. e. chose Edmund King So likewise Anno 1036. concerning the Election of Harold Harefoot that all the Thanes North of Thames and the Seamen of London Gecuron Harold to rule over all England the same word we also find Anno 1066. where after the words FENG to RICE abovementioned these likewise follow and eac men Hine haer to Gecâ—ron i. e. all Men Elected him viz. Harold to the Crown AND that there may be no dispute about the meaning of this word Gecuron we find it often used in these Annals for the Election of the Pope as e. g. Anno 1054. upon the Death of Pope Leo Victor waes gecuron to Papan So likewise Anno 1057. upon the Death of Victor waes Stephanus Gecoren to Papan and I think the Doctor might with as much appearance of Truth have maintained that the Saxon word Gecaron here rendred by the Latin Electus in these Annals signified not the Election but Recognition of the Pope as to assert as he does with so much Confidence that Eligerunt in all Historians signifies no more than Recognoverunt when used concerning our English Saxon Kings i. e. the Subjects acknowledged owned or submitted to him as their King as he says concerning King Edgar and others BUT King Edwy being cast off by the Mercians and Northumbers our Annals inform us that Eadgar Aetheling FENG TO RICE i. e. succeeded to the Mercian Kingdom which yet was no otherwise than by Election for an Antient Manuscript Life of Arch-bishop Dunstan written before the Conquest and now in the Cottonian Library shews us plainly that both the Mercians and Northumbers Elected him for their King the words are these Hoc ità que Omnium Conspiratione relicto eligêre sibi Domino dictante Eadgarum ejusdem Germanum in Regem i. e. This King Edwy by the Consent of all Men being thus deserted they chose the Lord directing them Eadgar his Brother for their King AND hereupon the Kingdom becoming divided between him and the King his Brother that Division was also confirmed by a publick Act of the Estates as the same Author testifies Sicque Vniverso populo testante Publica Res Regum ex Definitione Sagacium segregata est ità ut famosum Flumen Thamensis Regnum disterminavit Amborum tunc Edgarus à praedicto populo sic sortitus ad Regnum c. i. e. So that all the People being Witnesses each of these King's shares were apportioned and set out by the Decree of the Wites or Wise Men and the Noble River of Thames was the Boundary of both their Kingdoms then Edgar was advanced to the Kingdom by the aforesaid People BUT Edwy dying not long after the same Author relates of this Edgar that Regnum illius velut aequus haeres ab utróque populo ELECTVS suscepit that is that upon his Death Edgar as Right Heir being Elected both by Clergy and Laity succeeded to his Kingdom FROM whence we may observe that the same Person who is here called the Right Heir yet needed an Election upon his Brother's Death to confirm his Title and gain him an Admission to the Throne of the whole Kingdom which is also confirmed by Florence of Worcester whose Citation the Doctor himself here makes use of thus Ab omni Anglorum populo Electus Regnum suscepit which shews that a new Election by all the People of England was necessary tho he was King of part of it before AFTER the Death of King Edgar our Historians tell us there was a Contest between Prince Edward and his Brother Ethelred concerning their Succession to the Crown which says William of Malmesbury was set on foot by Elfrida the Wife of King Edgar and Mother-in-Law to Edward which divers of our Authors tell us was because those of her Faction pretended that Egelfrida the Mother of Prince Edward was never married to King Edgar for otherwise there could have been no Colour why the elder Son should not be preferred before the Younger especially since he was also recommended by his Father's Will and indeed it is left very much in the dark whether the Lady last mentioned were ever Edgar's lawful Wife or not For the Annals and more Antient Historians are wholly silent in it nor does any Writer make mention of that Lady as King Edgar's Wife till John of Wallingford who lived in the Reign of King Henry the Third BUT be it as it will whether Prince Edward was Legitimate or not his Father however had left him as Florence of Worcester says Heir of his Kingdom as well as of his Vertues yet we also learn from Simeon of Durham that Quidam Regis filium Edwardum Quidam illius fratrem eligerunt Ethelredum quam ob causam Archipraesules Dunstanus Oswaldus cum Co-episcopis Abbatibus Ducibusque quamplurimis in unum convenerunt Edwardum ut pater ejus praeceperat eligerunt electum consecrarunt in Regem unxerunt Some Elected Edward the King's Son Edmund some his Brother Ethelred wherefore the Arch-Bishops
that gave Oracles whereupon Brutus consulting with his Diviner and Twelve other of the Ancients was advised to invoke the Goddess to tell him in what Land or Region he should find a place to settle in and accordingly as we find it in Geoffrey of Monmouth he is said to Adress her thus Diva potens Nemorum terror Sylvestribus apris Cui licet anfractus ire per aethereos Infernasque domos Terrestria Jura resolve Et dic quas terras nos habitare velis Dic certam sedem quâ te veneremur in aevum Quâ tibi Virgineis Templa dicabo Choris Thus excellently well translated by the Learned Mr. Milton Goddess of Shades and Huntress who at will Walk'st on the rouling Sphere and through the deep On thy third Reign the Earth look now and tell What Land what Seat of rest thou bidst me seek What certain Seat where I may worship thee For ay with Temples vow'd and Virgin Quires Whereupon the Goddess returned this following Answer Brute sub Occasum solis trans Gallica regna Insula in Oecano est undique cincta Mari. Insula in Oceano est habitata Gigantibus olim Nunc deserta quidem Gentibus apta tuis Hanc pete namque tibi sedes erit illa perennis Haec fiet natis altera Troja tuis Hic de prole tua Reges nascentur illis Totius Terrae subditus Orbis erit Rendred thus Brutus far to the West in th' Ocean wide Beyond the Realm of Gaul a Land there lies Sea-Girt it lies where Giants dwelt of old Now void it fits thy People thither bend Thy Course there shalt thou find a lasting Seat There to thy Sons another Troy shall rise And Kings be born of thee whose dreaded Might Shall awe the World and Conquer Nations bold But these Verses being in Latin when there was no such Language spâ—ke in the World sufficiently betray the moderness of the invention So that were it no more to please then instruct I should not have inserted them here And now Brute being guided as he thought by a Divine Conduct Sails again towards the West and Landing in Italy meets with some other Trojans who had come thither with Antenor many of whom he takes along with him together with one Corinaeus their Chief With this recruit Bruâ—â— puts again to Sea and passing the Pillars of Hercules at the mouth of Ligeris in Aquitania casts Anchor where they were set upon by one Goffarius a Pictish King of that Country now called Poictou with whom having several Battles Brute at last Conquered and Expellâ—d him his Kingdom but he solliciting the other Kings of Gaul to his assistance Brute thereupon finding himself too weak for so great a force called a Council where 't was resolved that since this was not the Land promised them by the Oracle they should again put to Sea So embarking all their Forces after a few days Sail they arrived at Albion and Landed at a Haven now called Totuesse in Devonshire The time of which enterprize is supposed to be about 1200 Years after the Flood and about 66. Years after the Destruction of Troy if any certain time can be assigned for so uncertain a relation But Bruâ—e having at length through many dangers and difficulties attained this long wish'd for Island Lands his Trojans and marches up into the Country to take possession of it which he found in great part desart or Inhabited only by some Gyants these he quickly destroys and to his People divides the Land which in allusion to his own Name he called Britain On Corinaeus Cornwall as we now call it was bestowed But here I omit as a Fable only fit to be told Children how this Hero though no Gyant himself yet took up the mighty Gyant Gogmagog in his Arms and flung him off from a Cliff into the Sea from whence the place hath been ever since called Langoemagog that is to say the Gyant 's Leap After Brute had thus conquer'd the Island he chose a fit place to build a City which he called Troja Nova for it seems he spoke Latin though it were not then used in Italy which Cities Name was changed in time to Trinobantum or Troynovant after to London This he made the Seat of his Kingdom Eli being then High Priest in Judea where he enacted several Laws and having reign'd here Fifteen Years he divided his Kingdom among his Three Sons Locrinus the Eldest had that part called Loegria now England Camber the second possessed Cambria now Wales And Albanactus Albania now Scotland but he some time after being invaded by one Humber King of the Huns was slain in Fight and his People driven back into Loegria whereupon King Locrinus and his Brother Camber march'd against this Humber who fighting with them and being overcome and drown'd in a River left his Name to it I designedly omit the long story of the Lady Estrildis whom Locrinus then taking Prisoner he fell in Love with and privately enjoy'd and would have Married had it not been for fear of Corinaeus whose Daughter Gwendolin he had already betroathed but no sooner was Corinaeus dead but he owned Estrildis for his Queen which so incensed Gwendolin that although Locrinus was strengthened by the addition of Cambria upon the Death of his Broâ—her yet she goes into Cornwall and by powerful sollicitations in the behalf of her self and her young Son Madan the Cornish are brought to assist her With these Forces she marched against Locrinus and in a pitch'd Battle nigh the River Stour he was overcome and Slain in the 20th Year of his Reign upon this just as she would have it the Kingdom fell to her Son Madan the Son of Locrinus by Gwendolin although a Child yet succeeded his Father but under the Regency of the Queen his Mother who out of Revenge drown'd Estrildis and her Daughter Sabra in a River which from her was called Sabrina in English Severne Gwendolin her Son coming to full Age resigned her Power and retired into Cornwall after she had Govern'd Fifteen Years But Madan having had the fame of Ruling well for the space of Forty Years in all left behind him two Sons Mempritius and Manlius Mempritius the Eldest Son of Madan is supposed to have ruled over the whole Island but Manlius his Younger Brother rebelling against him he desired a treaty with him who giving his Brother a meeting he treacherously murdered him and now having put an end to that trouble giving himself up to Luxury and Cruelty and at last to unnatural Lust hunting in a Forrest was devoured by Wolves to whom succeeded Ebrank his Son who was a Man of mighty Strength and Stature hâ— first after Brutus wasted Gâ—ul and returning rich and prosperous built Caerbranc now York and in Albania the Town of Mount Agned now Edinburgh He is said to have had Twenty Wives and by them Twenty Sons and Thirty Daughters which as our Author relates were sent under the Conduct of their Brother to Sylvius
they constrain'd to do his Duty Having thus escaped and none knowing what was become of them and having no Pilates they were carried at random as the Tides and Winds drove them to and fro Thus compassing the Island they practis'd Piracy where they landed and often fighting with the Britains who defended their Goods were sometimes Victors and sometimes worsted till at last they were driven to that great Extremity for want of Provision that first they devour'd the weakest of their own Men and then drew Lots who of them should be eaten afterwards Thus having floated round Britain and lost their Ships for want of Skill to steer them getting on Shore they were taken and sold as Pirates first by the Suevians and afterwards by the Frisians till at last they were sold into Britain where the strangeness of the Accident render'd this Discovery of the Island more famous But Agricola having in the beginning of this Summer lost a young Son made use of War as a Remedy to vent his Grief therefore he sent his Fleet before which by spoiling many Places on the Coast struck a greater Terror into the Enemy He himself with a flying Army consisting chiefly of Britains whose Courage and Faith he had long experienced following it marched as far as the Grampian Hills upon which the Enemy had Posted themselves for the Britains nothing daunted with the ill Success of the last Fight and expecting nothing but Revenge or Slavery from their new Leagues and Confederacies were got together Thirty Thousand strong more being daily expected nay the aged themselves would not be exempted from this Days Service but as they had been brave Men in their time so every one of them bore some Badge or Mark of his youthful Atchievements Among these was Galgacus chief in Authority and Birth who when the Army cry'd out for the Signal of Battel is brought in by Tacitus making a long yet noble Oration which thô it is likely he never spoke and that it is contrary to my Design to stuff these Annals with long Speeches yet since there is a great deal of good Sense and sharp Satyr expressed in it against his own Nation I shall contract some part of it and render the rest word for word In the first place having set forth the Occasion of making War upon the Romans from the Necessity of avoiding Slavery as being the last People of Britain that were yet unconquer'd and that beyond them there was no more Earth nor Liberty left That now the utmost Bounds of Britain were discovered and no other Nations but them left to employ the Roman Armies whose Pride they might seek to please in vain by Services and Submissions those Robbers of the World who having left no Land unplunder'd ransack even the Ocean it self If the Enemy be Rich they are greedy of his Wealth if Poor they covet Glory whom neither the East nor West could ever satisfie the only Men in the World who pursue both the Rich and the Needy with equal Appetite To Kill and Plunder they call Governing and when they have brought Desolation on a Country they term it Peace That Nature by nearest ties had link'd their Children and Relations to them yet even these were taken away and pressed into their Service That their Wives and Sisters if they escap'd their Violence yet could not avoid Dishonour since when they came as Guests into their Houses they were sure to Debauch them Their Goods and Fortunes they made their Tributes their Corn their Provisions to supply their Granâ—ries and wore out their Bodies in cutting down Woods and draining Fens and paving Marishes nay and all this amidst a Thousand Stripes and Indignities That Slaves who are born to Bondage were sold but once and afterwards kept at their Masters Charges but Britain daily bought its own Bondage and maintain'd it too He then proceeds to exhort them to be tenacious of their Liberty lest like the last Slave in a private Family who is the Sport and Scorn of his Fellows when conquer'd they should be flouted by those who had been used as Drudges long before advising them to take Courage and Example from the Brigantes who under the Conduct of a Woman had almost quite destroyed the Romans and might have driven them out of Britain had they not failed in the Attempt by their too great Security and Success Then magnifying the Valour and Strength of his own Nation and lessening that of the Romans as made up of divers Nations who unwillingly served them and as soon as they durst would turn against them he concluded with shewing what Advantages they had above the Romans to make them hope for Victory and the miserable Slavery they were like to undergo if they were vanquished and therefore going now to Battel advised them to remember the Freedom of their Ancestors as well as the Danger of Slavery to themselves and their Posterity The Britains received this Speech with great Testimonies of Joy such as Songs and confus'd Clamours after the Custom of their Country all which shew'd their Approbation and now their Arms began to glitter and every one to put himself in Array when Agricola scarce able to repress the Heat of his Soldiers yet thinking it convenient to say something to them made a Speech to this Effect for being somewhat long I shall make bold to Contract it First he told his Soldiers That this was the Eighth Year that their Valour protected by the Fortune of the Roman Empire had subdu'd the Britains in so many Battels and that as he had exceeded his Predecessors in Success so they had all former Armies That Britain was now no longer known only by Fame and Report and that as they have had the Honor to discover so likewise might they to subdue it That he had often heard them ask When they should meet the Enemy but now they had their Desires now was the time to shew their Valour and that as every thing would happen as they could wish if they Conquer'd so all things made against them if they were overcome That if it was Great and Noble to have Marched so much Ground to have past so many Woods and both the Friths yet if they fled the very same things would be their Hindrance and Destruction That as for his part he had been long since satisfied that to run away was neither safe for the Soldier nor General and that a Commendable Death was to be preferr'd before the Reproaches of an Ignominious Life that Safety and Honour were now inseparably conjoyned And let the worst happen yet how glorious would it be to die in the utmost Bounds of the World and Nature Then putting them in mind of their late Victories and representing these Britains they were now to fight with as the Meanest and most Rascally of all the Nations they had Conquer'd so he doubts not but they will afford them an occasion of a memorable Victory Then
to what intent having been so lately there before we know not any more than what the King did there unless to repair the English School or Colledge for Youth that had been lately burnt but it is certain he stayed abroad near a Year and in his Return home Charles Sirnamed The Bald King of the Franks gave him his Daughter to Wife who was called Leotheta in French Judith and so together with her he returned into England But as Asser relates there was in the mean time an infamous Conspiracy framed in the Western Parts of England for Prince Aethelbald the King 's eldest Son and Ealchstan Bishop of Scirborne and Aeanwulf Earl of Somerset had plotted together that King Aethelwulf at his Return Home should never be received into his Kingdom most Men laid this to the Charge of this Bishop and Earl only thô many do chiefly attribute it to the Perverseness of this young Prince who was also very obstinate in other Wickedness So the King his Father returning from Rome Prince Ethelbald together with his Councellors contrived this great Villany viz. to expell the King from his own Kingdom thô God would not permit it to take effect neither did all the Noblemen of England consent to it yet lest so great a Mischief should happen that the Father and Son making War on each other the whole Nation should be engaged in mutual Slaughter by the wonderful Clemency of the King and with the Consent of all his Nobility the Kingdom which was before united became now divided between the Father and the Son the Eastern Countries being allotted to the former and the Western to the latter but where the Father ought indeed by Right to have Reigned there Ruled this Rebellious and Undutiful Son for the Western part of the England was always accounted before the Eastern King Ethelwulf therefore coming back from Rom◠the whole Nation as it ought highly rejoyced at his return and would if he had pleased have expelled his wicked Son Aethelbald with all his Adherents out of the Kingdom but the King would by no means suffer it using great Clemency and Prudence lest the Kingdom might thereby be endangered All this Disturbance seems to have been raised by his Son and his Faction because of his marrying this new Wife whom notwithstanding having now brought over with him he placed by him on the Royal Throne as long as he lived without any Dispute or Opposition from his Nobles thô says this Author the Nation of the West Saxons did not permit the Queen to sit by the King or to be called Queen which Custom our Ancestors relate to have proceeded from a certain wicked Queen called Eadburga the Wife of King Bryhtric whose Story Asser in his Annals as also in his De Gestis Alfredi hath given us at large where speaking of the Occasion of this severe Law he tells us it proceeded from the wicked Carriage of that Queen already mentioned at the end of the former Book who abusing her Husband's Affections by untrue Accusations took away many Men's Lives and being hated by the English after that King's Decease they made that Law now mentioned William of Malmesbury and Mat. Westminster do assure us That King Ethelwulf lived but two Years after his return from Rome during which time he thought not only of the World to come but also what should happen in this after his Decease and therefore lest his Sons should quarrel among themselves after his Death he commanded his Testament to be written Asser calls it an Hereditary or Commendatory Epistle in which he ordained his Kingdom should be divided between the two eldest Sons as also his own proper Inheritance between all his Sons and Daughters and near Kinsmen but for his Money he ordered it to be divided between his Sons and his Nobles and what was left to be employed for the good of his Soul to which end he ordained That his Successours throughout all his own Hereditary Lands should maintain out of every Ten Families one Poor Person either Native or Stranger with Meat Drink and Apparel always provided that the Land did not then lie waste but was cultivated by Men and Cattle It is also to be noted That this Grant was wholly different from that of Tythes thô Bromton's Chronicle hath confounded them together and made them all one he also ordered to be sent every Year to Rome 300 Mancuses which William of Malmesbury renders Marks thô what the Sum was is uncertain but it was to be equally distributed between the Churches of St. Peter and St. Paul to provide Lights on Easter Eve and of this 300 Marks the Pope was to have 100 to himself These Grants are supposed by Sir Henry Spelman to have been made in a general Council of the whole Kingdom but after this time we find no more of them for many Years by reason of the frequent Invasions of the Danes But not long after King Ethelwulf died and was buried at Winchester having reigned 20 Years and 5 Months for the Saxon Annals which allow him but 18 Years and an half are certainly mistaken This Year also according to Florence of Worcester Humbert the Bishop anointed that Glorious Martyr Edmund King of the East Angles being then but 15 Years old at a Town called Buram being then the Royal Seat But having no Account of King Edmund's Pedigree or of the Place of his Birth from any of our English Historians you must be content with what Johannes Anglicus of Tinmouth hath told us or in his Legend of Saints called Sanctilogium of this King and Martyr viz. That he was the Son of one Alemond a Nobleman of the Blood Royal of the East Angles who having fled for fear of King Offa into Old Saxony out of which his Family first came had there by his Wife called Cywara a Son whom he named Edmund the pretended Miracles of whose Birth I purposely omit This Prince having been instructed in all Christian and Moral Duties lived in Germany to the 14th Year of his Age and upon his return into England was so acceptable to the East Angles that he was by them Elected King and till his Death continued in the quiet Possession of that Kingdom without any opposition of King Ethelwulf or any of his Sons then Kings of the West Saxons to whose Dominions that Kingdom of the East Angles had lately been made subject and hence it may be reasonably inferred that it was by King Ethelwulf's Consent that Edmund being returned out of Germany took Possession of that Kingdom Being thus made King and by reason of his tender Age not esteeming himself capable of managing the Affairs of the Nation he willingly submitted them and himself to the Direction of the said Bishop of the East Angles by whom he was Crowned and by whose Councel and Direction he behaved himself as became a Prince endued with all Kingly Virtues so that during his Reign his principal Care was to repair
because he loved his Law and consulted the Good and Peace of his People beyond all the Princes that had been in the memory of man before him and therefore that he had greater Honour in all Nations round him as well as in his own and he was by a peculiar Blessing from above so assisted that Kings and Princes every where submitted themselves to him insomuch that he disposed of all things as he pleased without fighting But one of the first things that we find in the said Author of St. Dunstan's Life he did was That a great Council being held at a place called Bradanford now Bradford in Wiltshire Abbot Dunstan was by the general consent of all there present chosen Bishop of Worcester for his great Piety and Prudence And also King Edgar being now well instructed by the said Bishop and other Wise Men of the Kingdom in the Arts of Government began to discountenance the Wicked and Vicious and to favour and advance the Good as also to repair the decay'd and ruined Monasteries and then to replenish them with God's Servants i. e. the Monks and in short to undo whatsoever his Brother had done before This year according to our Annals Odo Archbishop of Canterbury dying Dunstan Bishop of Worcester succeeded in the Archbishoprick But in this the Author of these Annals is mistaken for William of Malmesbury as well as other Authors assure us That it was not Dunstan but Elfin Bishop of Winchester who by the means of some Courtiers whom he had gained over to him by the prevailing Power of his Presents procured King Edgar's Precept to make him Archbishop From whence we may observe That notwithstanding the former Decrees of Synods and Councils in England yet those Elections which were called Canonical were neither then nor a long time after this observed But as for Bishop Elfin he is said by our Authors to have trampled upon the Tombstone of that Pious Archbishop Odo his Predecessor and to have uttered opprobrious Language against his Memory which his Ghost it seems so far resented that appearing to the new Archbishop in a Vision it threatned him with a speedy destruction but he looking upon it only as a Dream made what haste he could to Rome to get the Pope's Confirmation by receiving of his Pall but in his Journey over the Alpes he was frozen to death being found with his Feet in his Horse's belly which had been killed and opened to restore heat to them But no sooner did the News arrive of Elfin's death when according to Florence Brythelm Bishop of Wells was made Archbishop But because neither of these last Archbishops ever received their Palls from Rome which was then counted essential to that Dignity I suppose these two last were omitted in our Annals But this Brythelm being not found sufficiently qualified for so great a Charge he was as Osbern relates commanded by the King and the whole Nation to retire whereupon he quietly submitted and returning again to his former Church Dunstan now Bishop of London who also held the See of Worcester in Commendam was by the general Consent of the King and all his Wise Men in the great Council of the Kingdom elected Archbishop of Canterbury for his supposed great Sanctity Of which the Monks of that Age relate so many Miracles that it is tedious to read much more to repeat such stuff insomuch that one would admire were it not for the extreme Ignorance of that Age how men could ever hope they should be believe in so short a time after they were supposed to be done Such are those of this Bishop's Harp being hung against the Wall and playing a whole Psalm without any hands touching it nay the Monks can tell us not only the Tune but the very Words too Then the stopping of King Edmund's Horse when he was just ready to run down a Precipice at that King 's only pronouncing of St. Dunstan's Name to himself Next his often driving away the Devil with a Staff troubling him at Prayers sometimes in the shape of a Fox sometimes of a Wolf or a Bear But above all his taking the Devil by the Nose with a Pair of red hot Tongs who being it seems an excellent Smith was once at work in his Forge when the Devil appeared in the shape of a Handsome Woman but met with very rough entertainment for going about to tempt his Chastity he took his Devilship by the Nose with a Pair of red hot Tongs till he made him roar Now if such Grave Authors as William of Malmesbury are guilty of relating such Fictions what can we expect from those of less Judgment and Honesty But this must be acknowledged that this Archbishop was a great Propagator of Monkery many Monasteries being either new built or new founded in his time and the Clerks or Secular Canons of divers Churches being now to be turned out were put to their choice either to quit their Habits or their Places most of whom rather chose the former and so gave place to those who being of William of Malmesbury's own Order our Author calls their Betters Archbishop Dunstan also exercised Ecclesiastical Discipline without respect of persons imposing upon King Edgar himself a Seven Years Pennance part of which was to forbear wearing his Crown during all that time and this was for taking a Nun out of a Cloyster at Wilton and then debauching her From all which we may observe how necessary it was in those days for a Prince's Quiet as well as Reputation to be blindly obedient to that which was then called the Church-Discipline since King Edwin having to do but with one Woman whom they did not like is branded as one excessively given to Women whilst King Edgar who gave many more Instances of his Failings in this kind is reckon'd for a Saint But as for this Nun whom they call Wilfrede William of Malmesbury tells us that tho she were bred in that Monastery yet was she not then professed but took upon her the Veil only to avoid the King's Lust which yet it seems could not secure her from it for he begot on her that beautiful Lady Editha who became also a Nun in the same Monastery of Wilton where her Mother had been professed before and of which this Young and Virtuous Lady being made Abbess died in the flower of her Age as William of Malmesbury informs us The same Year also according to the Welsh Chronicle North Wales was sorely harass'd by the Forces of King Edgar The Cause of which War was the Non-Payment of the Tribute due from the King of Aberfraw to the King of London But in the end as John Beaver informs us a Peace was concluded on this condition That King Edgar hearing the great Mischief which both England and Wales then received by the vast multitude of Wolves which then abounded especially in Wales released the Tribute in Money which the King of North-Wales was hitherto obliged to pay
the Danes made no less Incursions but went whereever they pleased and this Expedition did the people more damage than any Army could do Winter coming on the English Forces return'd home and the Danes about Martinmass retired to their old Sanctuary the Isle of Wight whither they carried whatever they had need of and afterwards about Christmass they marched out to seek for fresh Provisions in Hamptunshire and Berrocseire as far as Reading and havocking according to their usual custom burnt the Beacons whereever they found them and from thence they marched to Wealingaford i. e. Wallingford which Town they wholly destroyed Then marching to Aescesdune now Aston near Wallingford they came to Cwicchelmeslaw now Cuckamsley-hill in Berkshire without ever touching near the Sea and at last return'd home another way About the same time an English Army was mustered at Cynet i. e. Kennet in Wiltshire where a Battel was fought but the English Troops were immediately worsted after which the Danes carried off all their Booty to the Sea-side There might one have seen the Wiltshire men like a Cowardly sort of people suffer the Danes to return to the Sea-side even just by their doors with their Provisions and Spoils In the mean time the King marched over Thames into Scrobbesbyrigscire i. e. Shropshire and there kept his Christmass At that time the Danes struck so great a Terror into the English Nation that no man could devise how to get them out of the Kingdom nor how well to maintain it against them because they had destroyed all the Countries of the West-Saxons with Burnings and Devastations Then the King often consulted with his Wise Men about what was best to be done in this case whereby they might save the Countrey before it was quite ruined and after mature deliberation it was at length decreed by them all for the Common Good of the Nation though much against their wills That Tribute should be again paid to the Danes Then the King sent to their Army to let them know that he was contented to enter into a Peace with them and to pay them Tribute and also find them Provisions during their stay To which Terms all the Danes assented So it seems the whole English Nation was forced to maintain them And the beginning of the year following This Tribute was again paid to them to wit Thirty thousand Pounds Also the same year Aedric was made Ealdorman over all the Kingdom of Mercia This Aedric though he had married the King's Daughter is characterized by all our Historians for a Proud False and Unconstant Man and who by his Treachery proved the Ruin of his Countrey as well as of many particular Persons of great Worth For not long before as Florence relates he made away Athelme that Noble Ealdorman at Shrewsbury inviting him to a Feast and afterwards carrying him out a hunting where he hired the City-Hangman to set his Dog upon him called Porthund which tore him to pieces And not long after his two Sons Walfheage and Vflgeat had their Eyes put out by the King's Order at Cotham where he then resided But we may hence observe to how sad a state the Nation was reduced under a Voluptuous and Cowardly King and a Degenerate Nobility And the reason why the Annals say That the People's being kept in Arms all the Winter did them as much harm as the Enemy was because having then no standing Forces the Countrey Militia were fain to be kept upon Duty at their own Charges whilst their Families were ready to starve at home So impossible a thing it is to maintain any long War either at home or abroad without a Standing Army But now the King having too late perceived his Error viz. That the greatest Cause of his Ruin proceeded from the want of a good Fleet He then commanded Ships to be built all over England to wit to every Hundred and ten Hides of Lands one Ship and of every Eight Hides a Helmet and Breast-plate And so by the next year His Ships were all finished and they were both so many and withal so good that as our Histories affirm England never saw the like before Then after they were all well mann'd and victual'd they were brought to Sandwic and there remain'd in order to defend the Kingdom against the Invasion of Strangers yet notwithstanding all those Preparatives the English Nation was so unhappy that this great Fleet met with no better success than often before for it happen'd about this time or a little sooner that Brightric a false and ambitious man the Brother of Aedric above mentioned accused Wulfnoth a Thane of the South Saxons and Father of Earl Godwin to the King upon which Wulfnoth saving himself by flight got together twenty Ships and with them turning Pyrate took Prizes all round the Southern Coast and did a world of mischief but as soon as it was told the King's Fleet that they might easily surprize him if they would but cruise about that place Brightric upon this taking Eighty Sail along with him had mighty hopes by seizing of him either alive or dead to make himself signally famous but as he was sailing thither so great a Tempest arose as never had been in the memory of man by which all his Fleet was shipwrack'd or stranded on the shore and Wulfnoth coming thither presently after burnt all the rest that were left Now when this News came to that part of the Fleet where the King was in Person the whole Action seem'd to be undertaken very precipitately without any good Advice at all And thereupon the King with all his Ealdormen and Great Men return'd home leaving both the Ships and Men to shift for themselves But those that were in them carried them up to London And thus did all the Labour and Expence of the whole Nation come to nothing without in the least diminishing the Power of their Enemies as the people hoped they would have done When all these Naval Preparations were thus defeated there arrived presently after Harvest a mighty Fleet of Danes at Sandwic and after they were landed they immediately marched to Canterbury which City they would forthwith have destroyed had they not humbly besought a Peace of them Upon which all the East Kentish men came and clapt up a Peace with the Danes and purchased it at the Price of Three thousand Pounds But these Heathens presently afterwards sail'd round again till they came to Wihtland i. e. the Isle of Wight and there as also in Southseax Hamtunscire and Bearruscire they plunder'd and burnt Towns as they used to do Hereupon the King commanded the whole Nation to be summoned that every Province should defend it self against them But for all this they still marched whereever they pleased without any body 's disturbing them But one time when the King had hemm'd them in with his whole Army as they were going to their Ships and all his Forces were just ready to fall upon them Aedric
highly commends this Wulfkytel and says that he deserved perpetual Honour because he was the first in the time of Sweyn who set upon the Danish Pyrates and gave some hopes that they might be conquered But as for Eadnoth Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot above-mentioned they came not to fight but as Simeon says to pray to God for those that did so that the English Nation never yet received a greater Blow But King Edmund being left almost alone got to Gloucester and there rallied and recruited his shatter'd Troops but thither according to our Annals King Cnute with all his Army pursued him Then Eadric the Ealdorman and all the Great Men on both sides advised the Two Kings to come to Terms of Peace Whereupon they both met together at Olanege an Island in the River Severn now called the Eighth and there concluded a League between them Hostages and Oaths being mutually exchanged and agreed That the Danish Army should be paid A Peace being thus concluded the two Kings parted from each other Eadmund going into West-Saxony and Cnute to the Mercians But since other Authors have more particularly related the Cause and Manner of making this Peace I shall give you a larger account of it from Simeon of Durham and R. Hoveden the first of whom says That the Traytor Edric and some others when King Edmund would have fought again with Cnute would by no means suffer him to do it but advised him rather to make a Peace and divide the Kingdom with him to whose Persuasions the King at last though unwillingly consented and Messengers passing between them and Hostages being interchanged the two Kings or rather their Commissioners as Bromton's Chronicle relates it met at a place called Deorhurst on the Severne and there concluded a Truce Then King Edmund with his men being on the West side Severne and Cnute with his Followers sitting down on the East side thereof they passed over in Ferry-boats to the Island above-mentioned where they met and agreed upon the Terms of Peace But Ethelred Abbot of Rieval tells the Story somewhat different viz. That both Armies growing weary of the War at last compelled the Great Men on each side to come to a Conference where one of the most Elderly among them is brought in making a long Speech I suppose to shew the Wit of those Authors and therein he very pathetically represents the Mischiefs the Soldiers lay under in thus exposing their Lives and Fortunes for Two Princes of equal Courage and so advised them before it was too late That since King Edmund could not endure a Superior nor Cnute an Equal they should leave it to them two to fight by themselves for that Crown which they both so much desired to wear left by this desperate way of fighting the Soldiers should be all kill'd and then there would be none left to defend the Nation against Foreign Invaders Which Speech being highly approved of by all there present both Armies cried out with one voice Let them either Fight or Agree This Sentence of the Chief Commanders and Soldiers being brought to both the Kings pleased them so well that they met in the Island above-mentioned and there fought singly in the sight of both Armies where having broken their Spears and then drawn their Swords there follows in these Authors a long and Tragical Relation of this mighty Combat which yet it seems happened without any Wounds on either side but Cnute beginning at last to be out of breath and fearing the greater Strength and Youth of King Edmund proposed a Peace to be made by division of the Kingdom between them and they give us also the fine Speech made by King Cnute upon this Subject which Proposal being willingly received by King Edmund they kissed and embraced each other both Armies wondering and weeping for joy at this so happy and unexpected agreement So mutually changing both their Arms and Apparrel in token of Friendship they each return'd to their own men and there drew up the Conditions of the League viz. That King Edmund should enjoy West-Saxony and Cnute the Kingdom of Mercia but what was to become of the rest of England they do not speak one word But tho so many of our Writers seem pleas'd with this Romantick Story yet I rather assent to the Testimony of our Annals and the Encomium Emmae as also William of Malmesbury Florence of Worcester and several Manuscript Authors in the Cottonian Library who all agree this Peace to have been made at the place aforesaid without any Combat at all between the two Kings Only William of Malmesbury relates that when King Edmund had challenged Cnute to fight with him single to save the further Effusion of their Subjects Blood this Challenge being carried to King Cnute he utterly declined it saying Though he had as great a Courage as his Antagonist yet he would not venture his own small Body against a man of so great Strength and Stature but since both their Fathers had enjoyed a share of the Kingdom it was more agreeable to prudence to divide it between them Which Proposal being joyfully received by both Armies as a thing most just and equal in it self and which most tended to the good of both Nations now harass'd out by long and cruel Wars King Edmund accepted of and agreed though with some reluctancy to a Peace upon the terms above-mentioned Thus we find what a great uncertainty there is in most of the Relations of those times But to proceed with our Annals The Danes as soon as this Peace was concluded went to their Ships with all the Plunder they had taken and from thence fail'd to London and there took up their Winter-Quarters For that City as being part of the Mercian Kingdom had now submitted it self to them Not long after this viz. at the Feast of St. Andrew King Eadmund departed this life and was buried with his Grandfather King Eadgar at Glaestingabyrig The same year also deceased Wulfgar in Abbandune whereof he was Abbot and Aethelsige succeeded him But since our Annals tell us only of the sudden Death of this Prince without relating the manner of it we shall give it you more at large from other Authors who almost generally agree that he was murthered by that Traytor Edric though they differ somewhat in the Actors or Instruments by whom it was committed some will have him to be taken off by Poyson others with an Arrow shot by an Image made on purpose which discharged it self upon the King as soon as he touched it but this is too improbable to beget any credit And therefore what William of Malmesbury and Bromton relate is most likely to be true viz. That this Aedric above-mentioned suborned two of this King's Servants to lye under the House-of-Office and to thrust up a sharp piece of Iron into his Fundament as one night he sate down to ease himself Tho the Chronicle last-mentioned says this Murther was committed at Oxford by
Letters were privately dispatch'd all over England to make away the Danes in one Night But so much Innocent Blood being thus perfidiously shed cry'd aloud to Heaven for Vengeance and the Clamours of it likewise quickly reached as far as Denmark And Walsingham hath given us in his History a particular Account of the manner of it for on the day when this barbarous Decree was executed at London certain young men of the Danish Nation being too nimble for their Pursuers got into a small Vessel then in the Thames and by that means escaped and fled to Denmark where they certified King Sweyn of what had passed in England who being moved with indignation at this treatment thereupon called a great Council of all the Chief Men of his Kingdom and declaring to them this Cruel Massacre desired their Advice what was best to be done and they being inflamed with Rage and Grief for the loss of so many of their Friends and Kindred decreed with one consent That they ought to revenge it with all the Forces of their Nation Upon which great Preparations were made in the several Provinces and Messengers sent to other Nations to desire their Alliance with him promising them their share in the Spoils of that Countrey which they were going to conquer So King Sweyn having got ready a vast Fleet of above Three hundred Sail arrived in England But as Bromton's Chronicle relates The year following Sweyn King of Denmark hearing of the Death of his Subjects sail'd with a mighty Fleet to the Coast of Cornwall where he landed and marched up to Eaxceaster which as our Annals tell us by the Carelesness or Cowardise of a certain Norman one Count Hugh whom the Queen had made Governor there the Pagans took and quite destroyed the City and carried thence a great Booty Then a Numerous Army was raised from Wiltshire and Hampshire and being very unanimous they all marched briskly against the Danes but Aelfric the Ealdorman who commanded in chief here shewed his wonted tricks for as soon as both Armies were in sight of each other he feigned himself sick and began to vomit pretending he had got some violent Distemper and by that means betray'd those whom he ought to have led to Victory according to the Proverb If the General 's heart fails the Army flies But though this was very ill done of Aelfrick thus to betray his trust yet certainly the King was no less to be blamed himself for trusting a man that had so often betray'd him and whom he had already sufficiently provoked by putting out the Eyes of his Son as you have already heard But to return to our Annals Sweyn now finding the Cowardise or Inconstancy of the English marched with his Forces to Wiltune which Town he burnt from thence he marched to Syrbirig i. e. Old Sarum which they also burnt and from thence to the Sea-side to their Ships After the death of Edwal ap Meyric and Meredyth ap Owen Princes of North-Wales as you have already heard North-Wales having for some years continued under a sort of Anarchy without any Prince Meredyth leaving behind him no Issue Male and Edwal but one Son an Infant it gave occasion as the Welsh Chronicles relate to great disturbances for one Aedan ap Blegored or Bledhemeyd as the Cottonian Copy of the Welsh Annals call him tho an absolute stranger to the British Blood-Royal about this time possessed himself of the Principality of North-Wales and held it about twelve years but whether he came in by Election or Force is not said only that one Conan ap Howel who fought with this Aedan for the Dominion was this year slain in Battel So that Aedan for a time held that Countrey peaceably since we do not read of any other Wars he had till the last year of his Reign This year Sweyn came with his Fleet to Northwick i. e. Norwich the River it seems being navigable up to it in those days and wholly destroyed and burnt that City then Vlfkytel the Ealdorman consulted with the Wise and Great Men of East-England and by them it was judged most expedient to buy Peace of the Danish Army to prevent their doing any more mischief for the Danes had taken them unprovided before they had time to draw their Forces together But these Danes not valuing the Peace which they had newly made stole away with all their Ships and sailed to Theatford which as soon as Vlfkytel had learnt he sent a Messenger with Commands to break or burn all their Ships which notwithstanding the English neglected to do whilst he in the mean time tried to get together his Forces with what speed he could But the Danes coming to Theodford three Weeks after the destruction of Norwich stayed within the Town of Theodford only one night and then burnt and laid it in ashes But the next morning as they returned to their Ships Vlkytel met with them and there began a very sharp Fight which ended in a very great slaughter on both sides and abundance of the English Nobility were there killed but if all the English Forces had been there the Danes had never reached their Ships But notwithstanding these cruel Wars in the Eastern and Southern Parts of England Wulfric Spot an Officer in the Court of King Ethelred now built the Monastery of Burton in Staffordshire and endowed it with all his Paternal Inheritance which was very great and gave that King Three hundred Mancuses of Gold to purchase his Confirmation of what he had done This Monastery though its Rents at the Dissolution were somewhat below the Value of Five hundred Pounds per Annum yet being an Abby of great Note in those Parts and also render'd more famous from its Annals publish'd at Oxford I thought good to take particular notice of it This year Aelfric Archbishop of Canterbury deceased and Aelfeag Bishop of Winchester was made Archbishop But the Laudean and Cottonian Copies place this under the next year So cruel a Famine also raged here as England never suffer'd a worse Florence relates the Famine to be so great that England was not able to subsist The same year also King Sweyn with the Danish Fleet sail'd into Denmark but in a short time return'd hither again This year Aelfeage was now consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury and Brightwald took the Bishoprick of Wiltonshire as also Wulfgeat was deprived of all his Honours and Wulfeath had his Eyes put out These were Noblemen who suffered under the King's displeasure but what the cause of it was I find not And this year Bishop Kenwulph deceased Then after Midsummer the Danish Fleet came to Sandwic and did as they used to do killing wasting and plundering whatever they met with Therefore the King commanded all the West Saxon and Mercian Nations to be assembled who kept watch all the Autumn by Companies against the Danes but all this signified no more than what they had done often before for