most likely to have been against the Mercians for Ethelward in his Chronicle says That Conwal about this time was engaged in a Civil War which must be understood with those of his own Country and the Mercians were his next Neighbours The next Year The Mid-land English or Mercians under Peadda their Eolderman or Governour received the Faith of Christ Which Conversion Bede relates more at large when speaking of this Peadda the Son of Penda as being a young Man most worthy of the Name of a King was by his Father set over a Province of that Nation Will. of Malmesbury calls it part of that Kingdom and that this Prince went to Oswy desiring Alfreda his Daughter to Wife but could by no means obtain her unless he together with his whole Nation would receive Baptism but he having heard the Preaching of the Gospel through the Hope of a future Immortality voluntarily professed that he would be a Christian whether he had married the Virgin or not being chiefly persuaded to receive the Faith by Alcfrid the Son of King Oswy who was his Friend and Relation having married Cymburge his Sister So that King was baptised by Bishop Finan together with all his Train in that famous Town of the King 's which Bede calls Admurum that is Walltown near the Picts Wall and taking with him four Priests to teach and baptise his Nation he return'd home with much Joy these Priests coming with the King into this Province preach'd GOD's Word and were as willingly heard and receiv'd and both the Noble as well as the inferior sort renouncing their Idolatry were baptised nor did King Penda himself prohibit them from preaching in his own Kingdom if they would if they would but rather hated and despised those whom professing the Faith of Christ he found not to perform Works suitable to it calling them miserable and contemptible Wretches who failed to obey that GOD in whom they believed These Things fell out two Years before the Death of King Penda About the same time the East-Saxons at the Instance of King Oswy again received the Christian Faith which they had formerly rejected having as you have heard driven away Mellitus their Bishop for Sigebert who was now King of that Nation having succeeded Sigebert Sirnamed The Little This Prince being a Friend to King Oswye and using to come sometimes to visit him into the Kingdom of Northumberland he was wont often to tell him That those could not be GODS that were the Works of Mens Hands but that GOD was an Incomprehensible Being Invisible Omnipotent and Eternal who governed all Things both in Heaven and Earth and would judge the World in Equity and that all those who would learn and do His Will should receive Eternal Rewards These and many other such Things when King Oswy had often inculcated with a Brotherly Affection at last by the Persuasion of that King and of divers of his Friends he also Believed and was baptised with all his Followers at the same place where Peadda had been Christned before viz. at Wall-Town above-mentioned King Sigebert being thus made a Christian returned to his own Kingdom only asking of King Oswy to appoint him some Teachers who might convert and baptise his Nation into the Faith of Christ so the King sent to the Kingdom of the Mercians and called back Cedda who had been before sent thither and giving him a certain Priest for his Companion sent him to preach the Word to the East-Saxons When these had passed through all places and had gathered a very large Church it hapned some time after that Cedda returning home went to Lindisfarne to confer with Bishop Finan who when he found the Work of the Gospel to have so well prospered under his Ministery calling to him Two other Bishops ordained Cedda Bishop over the Nation of the East-Saxons who thereupon returned into his own Province and finishing the Work he had begun with greater Authority Built Churches in many places and ordained Priests and Deacons who might help him in the Preaching of the Word and Baptism especially in a City which is called in the English Tongue Iâ—hancestir as also in that which is called Tylabury the former of which places was upon the Bank of the River Pent and the other is near the Thames now called Tillbury in which having gathered together a small company of Christ's Servants he taught them the Discipline of a Monastick Life as far as they were capable to receive it This Year according to the Saxon Annals Anna King of the East-Angles was Slain being overcome in Fight by King Penda of whom H. Huntington gives us but a slender Account only that Anna and his whole Army perished in a moment by the edge of the Sword so that scarce any of them remained This Year also one Bottulf began to Build a Monastery at Icanho supposed to be Boston in Lincoln-shire As also Honorius Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Deceased on 20. Kal. Octob. The same Year likewise according to Mat. Westminster Ercombert King of Kent Deceasing Egbert his Son Succeeded him in the beginning of whose Reign Aethelbert and Aethelred the Sons of his Unkle Ermenred being but Youths were cruelly Murdered by one Thanor the King's Servant without his privity whose Bodies were strangely discovered where they were buried by a Light from Heaven whereupon their Bodies were removed to the Monastery of Warinens The Miracles that followed in the doing of which I omit as incredible This Year King Penda was Slain at Winwidfeld with Thirty others of the Royal Blood Of which Battle Bede gives us a particular account That Oswi having long endured the Ravages and Devastations of his Country by the Inroads of King Penda and having had his strong City of Bebbanburg now Bamburrough Castle assaulted and set on Fire and thereby very near taking found himself too weak to resist and offering him many Rich Presents desired to buy a Peace which Penda proudly refusing and resolving nothing less should satisfie him than this King's destruction Oswi upon that turning his Gifts into Vows to God implored the Divine Assistance devoting his Daughter then but one Year Old to be a Nun and with Twelve Portions of Land whereof each maintained Ten Families to build and endow Monasteries So it seems his Vows proved more successful than his Treaties for hereupon he with Alfred his Son gathering a small Army therewith encountred and discomfited the Mercians having then Invaded and wasted the Northumbrian Kingdom thô they were Thirty times more in number and led by experienced Captains This Battle was fought near a place called Loyden now Leeds in York-shire besides this Ethelwald the Son of Oswald who ruled in Deira took part with the Mercians but in the Fight withdrew his Forces and in a safe place waited for the Event with which unseasonable Retreat the Mercians perhaps being terrified and misdoubting greater danger fled their Commanders together with Penda himself being almost all
a Military Life for a Heavenly one and leaving his Country went to Rome in the Company of Alfred Son to that King and upon his return thence the second time professed himself a Monk in the Isle of Lyren where staying Two Years he accompanied Wyghard to Rome who went thither to be ordained Arch-Bishop but soon after dying there he again returned home with Arch-Bishop Theodore and after some time built the Monasteries of Wyremouth and Girwy as you have already heard and now after a long Sickness made a Holy End in the Monastery of St. Peter at Wyremouth where he was also buried About this time Wythred the Son of Egbert King of Kent being Established in his Kingdom did by his Piety and Industry free it from Foreign Invasions thô one Swebheard or Webheard held part of it together with him for some time This Year also according to Florence for the Years are not exactly set down by Bede or Stephen Heddi Bishop Wilfrid was the second time Expel'd from his Bishoprick by Alfred King of Northumberland which as this Authour in his Life relates happen'd because that King had not restored to the Church of St. Peter at Rypun divers of its Possessions The next was because the Monastery of Hagulstad had been erected into a Bishoprick without his consent and contrary to the priviledge which Pope Agatho had bestowed upon it And lastly because that King would have compelled him to obey certain Decrees of Arch-Bishop Theodore which had been made in Bishop Wilfrid's absence and during the first quarrel that had risen between them which he refusing to observe thereupon retired to his old Friend Ethelred King of the Mercians who received him with great honour But King Alfred as likewise Arch-Bishop Bertwald and all the Bishops of Britain being assembled in a Synod at a place called Onestrefield or Hosterfield They sent Messengers to Bishop Wilfrid desiring him to appear before them but when he came to the Synod he could by no means agree with them because they did not perform what they had promised by their Messengers so that great disputes arising chiefly from those Bishops of the new Sees who together with certain Abbots had been also set on by King Alfred and for the sake of their own private Interests did not desire the Peace of the Church they also objected many false things against him which could no ways be proved and at last decreed that the Bishop should be censured according to the Decrees of the late Arch-Bishop Theodore whereupon Bishop Wilfrid asked them with what Face they could prefer the Decrees of Theodore before the Apostolical Canons which had been enjoined them from Pope Agatho and Pope Sergius but when no due or decent manner of speaking was observed and that they urged him to subscribe a Resignation of his Bishoprick and Monasteries in Northumberland and Mercia into the hands of the Arch-Bishop he utterly refused it and only offered to submit to the Judgment of the Arch-Bishop as far as it was agreeable with the Canons of the Holy Fathers but at last they offered him that if he would resign his Bishoprick he might still retain his Abbey of Ripon and live there in quiet provided he did not go out of the bounds of the Monastery nor exercise any Episcopal Jurisdiction upon which he in a long Speech set forth his former Merits in converting the Northumbrian Nation to the due observation of Easter Then asked them for what offence they went now about to degrade him To which the King and the Arch-Bishop replied That he was culpable in this and was therefore to be condemned because he had prefer'd the Judgment of the Men at Rome before theirs and the King then offer'd the Arch-Bishop to make him submit by force to their Judgment but this was opposed by most of the Bishops because he had come thither under their safe conduct Then the Bishop retired again to King Ethelred setting forth the hard usage which he had received at the Synod whereupon the King promised him never to alter any thing in the Monasteries which he had bestowed upon him until he had sent to Rome for the Pope's Judgment of these Matters and how he might act safely therein but in the mean time the Arch-Bishop and the Synod did not only deprive but also Excomunicate Bishop Wilfrid and also all those who were in communion with him so that none might so much as eat with them and whatsoever they touched was looked upon as defiled Wherefore Bishop Wilfrid was again forced to go to Rome there to make his appeal before the Pope to whom he presented a long Petition setting forth that the Troubles which he had met with in Britain had proceeded from those who having seized upon his Bishoprick and Monasteries had refused to observe the Decrees of his Holiness's Predecessours whereupon the Pope at that time holding a Council at Rome did there hear the whole difference between him and Arch-Bishop Bertwald who had now sent his Deputies thither together with the accusations against him so in short upon a solemn hearing of the whole matter on both sides and after above Seventy Congregations in about Four Months time in all which the Bishops Innocence did more and more appear he was at last absolved by the Pope and the whole Council the particulars of which are too long to relate only that thereupon the Pope wrote Letters to Ethelred King of the Mercians and Alfred King of Northumberland reciting Bishop Wilfrid's former appeal to Pope Agatho and the Decree that had been made in his Favour as also what had been now done at Rome and how well the Bishop had acquitted himself of whatsoever had been laid to his Charge and therefore did not only order them to receive him but also admonished Arch-Bishop Bertwald to call another Synod together with Bishop Wilfrid and there to Summon the Bishops Bosa and John to hear what they would say in their own behalf and if they could make any agreement with the liking of Bishop Wilfrid it would be very grateful to him but if otherwise they were to exhibit the Reasons of their dissent before the Pope there to be determined in a more ample Council and whoever should refuse this should be subject to be Excomunicated and deposed from his Bishoprick The Bishop in his Return home with these Letters fell so sick by the way that he was like to dye at Melune in France where 't is said he had a Vision of an Angel appearing to him which promised him restitution to his See within Four Years so he at last arrived again in Britain where applying himself to Arch-Bishop Bertwald He being frighted with the Pope's Letters which had been before sent him by Messengers received Bishop Wilfrid very kindly and being then reconciled to him promised to mitigate that harsh Judgment given against him in the former Synod Then the Bishop delivered his Letters to Ethelred who having at that
in Ireland being hindred by a Storm that forced him back from Preaching the Gospel as he intended in Germany he perswaded one Wilbrode his Country man to do it who having obtain'd the Pope's License to Preach to the Heathen Nations he performed it first by preaching the Gospel in old Frizeland which then included not only those Provinces called East and West Frizeland to this day but also Holland and Zealand and divers others of the Belgic Provinces where he converted all those Nations to the Christian Faith and was afterwards at the desire of Pipin father to King Charles ordained by the Pope Arch-Bishop of the Frisons Anno Dom. 596 and upon his return to Rome Pipin being then Major of the Palace or General of France gave him for his Episcopal See that famous Castle which is called in the Old Language of that Nation Wiltaburg but in the Gallic Tongue Trajectum at this day Utrecht But not long after two Priests each of them named Henwald and for distinction Sirnamed from the colour of their Hair the Black and the White being by his Example piously affected to the Souls of their Country-men the Old Saxons at their coming into Old Saxony to convert them met with much worse Entertainment for being in the House of a Farmer who had promised to convey them as they desired to the Governour of that Country and being discovered by their daily Ceremonies to be Christian Priests and the cause of their coming also known they were by him and his Heathen Neighbours cruelly butcher'd and their Bodies flung into the Rhine but the Governour coming to the knowledge of it being enraged at such Violence offered to two Strangers sent Armed Men and slew all those wicked Inhabitants and burnt their Village About this time Sir H. Spelman in his first Volume of Councils records a Charter of Priviledge granted by King Wythred in a General Council or Synod of Kent whereby with the Consent of the Chief Men of his Kingdom he freed all the Churches thereof from all Publick Payments or Tributes whatsoever provided they yielded the King and his Successours the same Honour and Obedience as they had done his Predecessours under whom hitherto they had enjoyed all Justice and Liberty This was done in the Eighth Year of his Reign at a Place called Cylling which seems to be no more than a Confirmation of what had been done 6 Years before in the Council of Becanceld But to return to our Annals ' This Year Cenred began to Reign over the Southumbers i. e. the Mercians as has been already said Hedda the Bishop departed this Life he held the Bishoprick of Winchester 27 Years This Hedda is he of whom Bede gives the Character of an Excellent Bishop and one who Adorn'd the Episcopal See converting more by his Example than Preaching Ethelred the Son of Penda King of the Mercians became a Monk at Bardeney Abbey having reigned 29 or rather 30 Years and Cenred succeeded him who was his Cousin-German William of Malmesbury further adds That from a Monk he came to be Abbot of that Monastery wherein he died and that of Osgilde the Sister of Egfrid King of Northumberland he begat a Son called Ceolred yet for all this Ethelred passing him by he appointed Cenred the Son of his Brother Wulfher for his Successour who reigned with great Love to his Country and a singular Probity of Manners till in the Fifth Year of his Reign he went to Rome and as Bede tells us taking upon him the Habit of a Monk during the Papacy of Pope Constantine there ended his Days in Prayers Fasting and Alms. Ealfert or Alfred King of the Northumbers deceased on the 19 o Kal. Jan. at Driffeild in the 12th Year of his Reign Osred his Son succeeding in that Kingdom But Stephen Heddi in his Life of Bishop Wilfrid and who lived at that time hath given us a more accurate Account of the Death of this King and of his Successours viz. That King Alfred lying now sick upon his Death-bed repented of what he had done toward Bishop Wilfrid and promised That if ever he recovered of that Sickness he would restore the Bishop and in all Things observe the Decree of the Apostolick See but if he died he enjoyn'd who ever should succeed him to be reconciled with that Bishop for the good of both their Souls but this King dying one Eardwulf succeeded him thô but for a small time and the Bishop going to him and carrying that King's Son along with him he sent Messengers before supposing him to be his Friend but the King being perswaded by his Councellors and also prompted by his own natural Wickedness sent the Bishop word binding it with an Oath That unless he departed his Kingdom within the space of six Days whosoever he found of his Company should be put to Death Not long after which harsh Message a Plot being laid against him he was driven out of the Kingdom which he had scarce enjoyed two Months and so the Royal Youth Osred Son of the late King Alfred succeeded in the Kingdom and became Bishop Wilfrid's adopted Son In the first Year of which King the Author above-mentioned hath given us the following Account concerning the Restitution of the said Bishop viz. That Berthwald Arch-Bishop of Canterbury came about this time from the South together with all the Bishops Abbots and Chief Men of the whole Kingdom by the Precept of the Apostolical See to hold a Synod at a Place lying on the East-side of the River Nid in Northumberland where the King with his Bishops and Chief Men being met the Arch-Bishop made a Speech to them setting forth the Letters from the Pope which Bishop Wilfrid had brought directed to himself and which he desired might be read the Purport whereof was to the same effect as you have already heard Then Aelfleda the Abbess Daughter to the late King as also Berechtfrid the second Man in the Kingdom set forth the Will of the late King and therefore that it was fit to obey it as well as the Commands of the Apostolical See whereupon the King with his Great Men and all the Bishops upon mature Deliberation resolved to be reconciled to Bishop Wilfrid and that his two Monasteries of Rypon and Hagulstad together with all their Revenues should be restored to him and so a firm Reconciliation being made all the Bishops departed in Peace But yet for all this by what Richard Prior of Hagulstad hath left us of this matter it appears that Wilfrid did not carry the Cause so clearly as this Author would make it for he only was restored to the Bishoprick of Hagulstad and Bishop John above-named was from thence translated to York which Bishop Wilfrid had held before only Bishop John parted with Hagulstad for Peace-sake I have been the more exact in this Transaction because it has never been done by any body in our Language before Also
commanded them to be observed by all Englishmen under which name the Saxon and Jutes were then included The first of his Laws requires as most necessary to all his Subjects that each Man keep his Oath or Pledge i. e. his promise to observe the Laws and keep the Peace and if any should be compelled to Swear or deposite a pledge whereby he may be bound to betray his Lord or unjustly to assist any Person he ought to break his promise rather than perform it But in case he hath engaged to perform any thing which might justly be done and doth it not his Arms and all his personal Estate shall be put into the hands of his Friends and he himself kept in the King's Prison for Forty Days till he undergo that Pennance which the Bishop shall enjoin him and also his Friends i. e. Relations require of him but if he have not wherewith to sustain himself in the mean while if his Kindred are not able to provide him Victuals the King's Officer shall do it but if he resist and be taken by force he shall forfeit both his Arms and his personal Estate and if he be killed nothing shall be paid as the Value of his Head and in case he escape before his time viz. of Forty Days be out and be retaken he shall be returned back again to Prison for other Forty Days If he escape he shall have no benefit of the Laws but be Excommunicated from all Christs Churches and if any Man have been security in his behalf he shall make satisfaction for it according to Right and do Pennance till he make such satisfaction as his Priest shall appoint The Second bears the Title of the Immunity of the Church and we shall speak of it among the Ecclesiastical Constitutions The Third is concerning the breach of the King's Surety-ship by the payment of a Mulct of Five Pounds of Mercian i.e. larger Money but the Violation of Surety-ship or the Peace made to an Arch-Bishop by a fine of Three Pounds and if any one break or forfeit the King's Pledge or Recognizance he shall make amends according to Right and the breach of the Surety-ship to a Bishop or Ealdorman by two Pounds The Fourth Law is concerning the Death of the King or any other Lord If any one that either by himself alone or by any other person shall attempt against the King's Life he shall lose his Life and Goods but if he will purge himself let him do it according to the valuation of the King's Head the same is also ordained in all Judgments concerning other Men whether Noble or Ignoble whosoever Conspires against his Lord shall lose both his Life and Estate or else pay the Valuation of his Lord's Head From which Laws we may observe That according to the custom of those Times there was a Rate set upon every Man's Life even upon the King's himself if he were killed The Seventh Law is against Fighters in the King's Palace If any Man shall Fight or shall draw a Weapon in his House his Life shall lye at the King's Mercy whether he will Pardon him or not but if the offender flee and be taken he shall redeem his Life with the price of his head or be fined according to his Offence Whereby it appears that the Offender might have redeemed this crime with Money at the first or else the last Clause had been vain The Ninth Law ordains What mulct a Man shall pay that Kills a Woman with Child which was to be according to the Value of her head and he was also to pay for the Child in her Womb half as much as for a living one according to the quality of its Father The Tenth ordains What fines or amends every Man shall pay to a Husband for committing Adultery with his Wife which was to be encreased according to the Estate or Quality of him against whom the Offence was committed The rest of the Law being about the quantity of the mulcts appointed for several Thefts I omit The Eleventh appoints What mulct a Man shall pay that wantonly handles the Breasts of a Country Man's Wife or offers her any Violence as by flinging her down c. though he does not lye with her This shews how careful the ancient English Saxons were of the Persons and Chastity even of the meanest Subjects I shall skip over a great many of the other Laws they only ordaining penalties for several petty trespasses and small Offences and shall pass To the Twenty Sixth Law Which appoints what mulcts shall be paid by those who shall Kill in Troops or Companies and also to whom these Mulcts were to be paid If the Slain and Innocent Party were an Ordinary Person that is one whose head was valued but at Two Hundred Shillings he that slew him must pay the value of his head and a Fine besides to his Kindred Also every one that was in the Company must pay Thirty Shillings which Penalty was still to be encreased according to the Value of the Estate of the Party Slain so that as the Penalty for the Death of a Man valued at Twelve Hundred Shillings every one that was present shall pay 120 Shillings and the Man slayer himself the price of his Head and a Fine besidâ—s But in case the whole Company shall deny that he gave the Mortal Wound all of them are to be impeached together and to pay both the Value and the Fine besides Now concerning this Troop or Company which our Saxon Ancestors called Hlothe how many Men made up one of them the Reader may please to take notice that by the Laws of King Ina they were to be above Thirty The Twenty Seventh appoints What share of the Mulct or satisfaction a Man's Kindred by the Mothers side shall receive in case he have no kindred on his Father's side and what share those of his Guild or Fraternity shall pay in case he have committed Man-Slaughter in a quarrel viz. The former shall pay a Third part and the latter one half of the price of the head of the party slain But whether by those here mentioned of the same Guild are meant such as were fellow Contributors to the same Parish Feasts in honour of the Saints as was the Custom of those Times or else which is more likely such as were bound together in the same Decenary or Tything it being very obscure I shall not take upon me to determine The Twenty Eighth Laws was made against publick defamers or spreaders of false news whereby is meant spreaders of false news against the Government and Commands that such a one being Convicted shou'd suffer no less punishment than the cuting out of his Tongue except he redeem it by payment of the value of his Head and even then he was afterwards to be esteemed of no Credit The Thirtieth Ordains That Merchants when they Land shall bring such as come on Shore with them before the King's Officers in Folcmote and
action from his Election as it is also in the Author last cited and in H. Huntington who therein follow our Annals and say expresly That he was Elected But it seems before his Election one Alfred with some factious men of his Party endeavour'd to hinder King Athelstan's coming to the Crown because he was begot on a Concubine which says William of Malmesbury if it were true as he seems there to doubt yet had he nothing else ignoble in him for he surpassed all his Predecessors as well in his Devotion as his Victories So much better is it as he well observes to excel in good Qualities than in his Ancestors the former only being truly a man 's own Hither we may also refer what the same Author tells us concerning this Alfred above-mentioned out of the Preface to King Athelstan's Charter whereby he confers the Lands once belonging to this Alfred upon the Church of Malmesbury for the Souls of his Cousins Ethelred Edwin and Ethelwin there buried And to testify to the world that he gave what was his own he there at large relates the whole Conspiracy which Alfred had laid together with his Complices to seize him in the City of Winchester and to put out his Eyes but the Plot being happily discovered and Alfred denying it he was sent to Rome there to purge himself before Pope John where coming to take his Oath at the Altar of St. Peter he fell down and being carried by his Servants into the English School there died the third night after but it seems the Pope would not dispose of his Body till he had sent to ask King Athelstan's Judgment what should be done with it when by the Advice and at the Request of the Chief Men the King assented that it should though unworthy of that Honour be laid among the Bodies of other Christians but his whole Estate was adjudged confiscated for so black a Treason But one of the first things this King performed after his coming to the Crown as we find in Florence of Worcester was his bestowing his Sister Edgitha in Marriage to Sihtric the Danish King of Northumberland who desired the Alliance of King Athelstan And as Matthew Westminster relates this Prince professing himself a Christian was a little before his Marriage baptized but did not long continue so for he relapsed again to his former Paganism And the next year According to Florence and Simeon of Durham he deceased after whose death the Lady above-mentioned retiring to her Brother King Athelstan became a Nun at Pollesworth Nor can I here omit the Falshood of the Scotish Historians who out of spight to King Athelstan's Memory make Sihtric to have been poyson'd by this Lady whom they call Beatrix and that at the Instigation of her Brother King Athelstan whereas her Name was not Beatrix but Edgitha or Orgiva and was a Woman of as great Reputation for her Sanctity as the King her Brother was for his Valour and other Noble Virtues which render'd him above the putting his Sister upon so base an Action But before I dismiss this Relation I cannot omit what John of Wallingford adds concerning this King Sihtric whom he calls Sictric viz. That upon this Marriage with King Athelstan's Sister he advanced him to the Title of King that his Sister might not stoop so low as to that of Countess and that Sictric then had for his Kingdom all the Countrey from the River Theys as far as Edinburgh from which time the Danes began to settle in those parts who before rambled about over all England to which Settlement as also to a fresh accession of more the Northerly Situation of that Countrey lying over-against Denmark contributed very much as this Author well observes This year according to Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham Sihtric King of the Northumbers departed this life so that it seems that this King survived his Marriage but a small time Also the same year according to Florence Hugh the Son of Robert King of the French married King Athelstan's Sister and after the death of King Sihtric Guthfrith his Son succeeded him though but for a little while for the year following our Annals tell us That King Aethelstan expelled the said Guthfryth King of Northumberland and added his Dominions to his own And the same year Wulfhelm the Archbishop went to Rome From which Conquest of the Kingdom of Northumberland we may observe That as King Edward had before conquered the Danes of East-England and had also added Mercia to his own Kingdom so King Athelstan by the Expulsion of King Guthfrith who was also of the Danish Race became the first King that ruled all England without any King under him Of this Prince also John of Wallingford relates That being a Young Man he was stirred up to this Rebellion by the suggestion of the Northumbers who told him that their Countrey had always enjoyed a King of their own without being Tributary to the Southern English And indeed from the first arrival of the English Saxons they had been never subject to any of the West-Saxon Kings except King Athelstan Therefore this Guithfrith or Gutred moved by these instigations took upon him the Name of King without King Athelstan's consent and casting out the Garisons seized all the Forts and Castles of that Country and flatly denied to pay the Tribute imposed upon his Father with which K. Athelstan being much provoked he not only raised great Forces of his own Subjects but also sent for Aid to his Friends in Neighbouring Kingdoms and so in few days gathering together a great Army totally expell'd him his Kingdom And therefore Alfred of Beverly an Ancient Author still in Manuscript very well observes of this Prince That by subduing the Scots Welsh and all the Kings of Britain he justly deserved the Title of the first Monarch though his Modesty was so great that he never gave himself that Title but left it to his Brother Edred to take as shall be shewn in his Reign This year William Son to Rollo succeeded to the Dukedom of Normandy and held it fifteen years Byrnstan was consecrated Bishop of Winchester and held that Bishoprick two years and an half The year following ' Frithelstan the Bishop deceased Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham as also the Chronicle of Mailrosse do all agree that this Bishop Frithelstan did before his death ordain Bishop Byrnstan in his room and if so he resigned the Bishoprick of Winchester to him and lived only one year after it Also the same year according to our Annals Edwin Aetheling was drowned This Edwin here mentioned in our Annals was Brother to King Athelstan whose Death being the greatest Blot of this King's Reign divers Authors have concealed it but notwithstanding it is thus given us by William of Malmesbury and the Chronicle called Abbot Bromton's Alfred above-mentioned having conspired against King Athelstan as you have already heard had several
the Bishops and Monks from whom she was sure to have their good word yet however she did not escape Scandal for she had several Enemies that incensed the King against her but especially Archbishop Robert the Norman who had accused her some years before her death of being too familiar with Alwin Bishop of Winchester Whereupon she was sent to the Abby of Werewell having first of all her Goods taken from her whilst the Bishop was committed to Prison Archbishop Robert crying out That such Villany ought not to go unpunished for fear it should be an encouragement for others to do the like but she not being kept very strictly wrote to all the Bishops of England whom she knew to be her Friends professing that she was more troubled at the Disgrace offered to the Bishop than that which was done to her self and that she was ready to clear his Innocency by the Fire Ordeal Upon this the Bishops met and had easily prevailed with the King to put up the business had not Archbishop Robert stifly opposed them demanding of his Brethren How they could have the confidence to take upon them the Defence of that Beast rather than Woman meaning the Queen Mother who had so detracted from the King her Son and yet had called her Paramour The Anointed of the Lord But said he this Woman will purge the Bishop but who shall purge her that consented to the Death of her Son Alfred and prepared Poyson for his Brother now King Edward But if she desires to be acquitted let her accept of her own Proposal and walk barefoot over Nine Red-hot Plowshares four for her self and five for the Bishop and then if she escape untouch'd let her pass for Innocent Upon this the Day for Trial was appointed and she having the night before at his Shrine earnestly invoked the Assistance of St. Swithin she came to the place where the King and all the Bishops except Robert were present and there passed unhurt over all the Red-hot Plowshares to the great Joy and Wonder both of her self and all the Spectators especially of the King her Son that she had so well cleared her self then he was very sorry that he had been so credulous as to admit those Calumnies against his own Mother whose Pardon he now begged as also the Bishops and as divers of the Monkish Writers relate received Penance from them on his bare back Queen Emma for this signal Deliverance gave to St. Swithin Nine Mannors and the Bishop of Winchester as many the Innocency of them both being hereby absolutely cleared Moreover the King is said to have bestowed on the Church of Winchester the whole Isle of Portland and other Possessions The substance of this Story is both delivered by John Bromton and Henry de Knighton but Dr. Harpesfield hath embellished it with divers other trivial Circumstances whilst our more Ancient Authors as Malmesbury and others say nothing of it But methinks that which follows spoils all the rest viz. That Archbishop Robert whom some will have Bishop and others Archbishop at this time thereupon fled out of the Land whereas indeed he continued here much longer and fled out of England upon another occasion as we shall shew hereafter But to return again to our Annals The same year it was also decreed by the King and his Chief Men That Ships should be sent to Sandwich and that Earl Rolfe and Earl Odda should command them in the mean time Earl Godwin departed from Brycge with his Ships to Ysera a place we know not and then landing the next day but one to Midsummer-Eve he came to the Head or Point lying on the South side of Rumenea now Rumney in Kent which when it was told the Earls at Sandwic they immediately sail'd out in pursuit of him and also commanded the Land-Forces to be in a readiness to join them But is seems Earl Godwin had timely notice of it and so he fell back to Pevensea i. e. Pensey in Sussex and then so violent a Tempest arose that the Earls could not inform themselves which way Godwin was gone but afterwards he returned and came to Brycge and the King's Ships went to Sandwic and from thence they were order'd back to London and other Captains to command them but the matter was so long delay'd that all the Seamen left their Ships and returned to their own homes As soon as Earl Godwin heard this he set out his Fleet again to Sea and sail'd directly Westward to the Isle of Wight where his men going ashore plundered so long till at last the people would give them what Contributions soever they demanded Then they sail'd further Westward till they came to the Isle of Portland and there going again on shore they did all the damage they could to the Inhabitants In the mean time Harold return'd from Ireland with Nine Ships and landed at Portloc Bay in Somersetshire where much people were got together against him but he not being at all afraid of them marched out to seek Provisions and there killed all before him taking Men Cattel and Money whatsoever he met with From thence he sail'd Eastward towards his Father whom having met they went together to the Isle of Wight and there plunder'd whatsoever was left and thence coasted to Pevensea where they took all the Ships that were in that Harbour afterwards they went to the Naesse Point and carried away all the Ships that were in Rumenea Hythe and Folcestane now Folcston in Kent Thence they sail'd Eastward again to Dofra and going on shore took there as many Ships and Hostages as they could and then went to Sandwic where also they did the like so that they had Hostages and Provisions given them where ever they came as much as they required then again they sail'd to Northmuthe supposed to be that which we call now the Buoy in the Nore and thence up towards London they also sent some Ships to Scepige and there did a great deal of mischief then they turn'd to Middle-tune a Town of the King's in Essex and burnt it down to the ground and afterwards the Earls went towards London but when they came thither they found the King with all his Great Men ready to receive them with Fifty Sail. Then the outlaw'd Earls sent to the King beseeching him that they might be restor'd to their Estates of which they had been unjustly deprived but for a long time the King would not hearken to them by any means till at last the men who were with the Earl were so enraged against him and his people that the Earl had much a-do to appease them Then were assembled by God's assistance Bishop Stigand and other Prudent Men as well within the City as without and there they agreed upon a Peace to be made Hostages being first given on both sides which when Archbishop Rodbert and the other Frenchmen understood they took Horse and fled some Westward to Pentecost's Castle but where it was we