treaties to detain her. The discovery of the fraud practised upon him,
gave a new direction to his desires. From the daughter, his love was
transferred to Elfleda that was the name of the maid whose charms
had made a sudden and unexpected conquest of Edgar. She became
his favourite mistress, and maintained her ascendancy over him till his
marriage with Elfrida, the circumstances of which were more remark-
able and more criminal than the preceding. This lady was daughter
and heir of Olgar, or Ordgar, earl of Devonshire. Having been edu-
cated in the country, she had never made her appearance at court, but
the fame of her beauty had filled all England. Edgar was far from
being indifferent to rumours of this nature. His curiosity was in-
flamed by the frequent reports he heard in her praise; and reflecting
on her noble birth, he determined, if he found her charms equal to
their reputation, to obtain possession of her on honourable terms. This
intention he imparted to his favourite, earl Athelwold, and sent him
privately on a visit to Devonshire, on some pretext or other, to exa-
mine if the beauty of the lady was at all such as had been represented.
Athelwold saw her, and found that the general report had fallen short
of the truth. But the interview was fatal : it had inflamed him with
the most vehement love, and he resolved to sacrifice to this new pas-
sion his fidelity to his master, and the trust committed to him. To
Edgar he gave a very unfavourable account; that it was the riches
and high birth of the lady that must have been the reason of the admi-
ration paid her; and that her charms, far from being in any way extra-
ordinary, would have been overlooked in any woman of inferior station.
Edgar was satisfied ; and finding his thoughts diverted from this match,
he took an opportunity of bespeaking the royal permission on his own
behalf. He observed, that though the parentage and fortune of Elfrida
had not produced on him, as on others, any illusion with regard to her
beauty, he could not forbear reflecting that she would, on tho whole,
be an advantageous match for him, and might by her wealth and good
qualities make him sufficient compensation for the homeliness of her
person. Edgar, pleased with an expedient for advancing the worldly
interests of his favourite, not only gave his approbation and exhorted
him to execute his purpose, but forwarded his success by recommend-
ing him to the parents of the lady. The treacherous Athelwold Mas
soon made happy in the possession of his mistress ; and to avoid detec-
tion, he employed every artifice to detain her in the country, and espe-
cially to keep her from appearing at court. But favourites have many
enemies. Athelwold was supplanted, and Edgar soon heard the truth.
Before listening to the dictates of revenge, the king determined to
satisfy himself with his own eyes, of the certainty and full extent of
the earl's guilt. He informed him that he intended to pay him a visit
in his castle, and be introduced to the acquaintance of his young wife.
This honour it was impossible to decline, and Athelwold only craved
leave to go before him a few hours, that his distinguished guest might
have a more suitable reception. The whole matter was then revealed
to Elfrida, and the trembling husband begged her, if she had any re-



58 POLITICAL SERIES. [FjKST

gard either to her own honour or his life, to conceal from Edgar, by
every circumstance of dress and behaviour, that fatal beauty which had
seduced him from fidelity to his king, and had betrayed into so many
falsehoods. Elfrida promised compliance, though nothing was farther
from her intention. She saw herself, then, for the first time, deprived
of a crown and a royal consort by the passion of a faithless messenger;
and knowing the force of her own charms, she did not yet despair of
reaching that dignity. Instead of slovenliness or disguise, she appeared
before the king with all the advantages which the richest attire and the
most engaging airs could bestow. At once she excited in the royal
heart the strongest attachment towards herself, and the most furious
desire of revenge against the perfidious husband. He knew, however,
how to dissemble these passions, and seducing Athelwold into a wood
on pretence of hunting, he stabbed him with his own hand, and soon
after in 965 publicly married Elfrida. 6

Yet, amidst these defects, some traits of enlightened policy ap-
pear, which reflect credit on Edgar. The most important of these was
his patronage of foreigners, who resorted to his court or his kingdom
for the purposes of commerce. People from Saxony, Flanders, and
Denmark, were attracted by his reputation or his encouragement ; for
he received them so well as to excite a censure from the monkish
chroniclers, that he loved them too much. 7 The same authorities tell
us, that they imported all the vices of their respective countries, and
contributed to corrupt the simple manners of the natives ; but as this
simplicity of manners, so highly and often so injudiciously extolled, did
not preserve them from cruelty and treachery the most pernicious of
all vices, and the most incident to a rude uncultivated people we ought
perhaps to deem their acquaintance with strangers rather an advantage,
as it tended to enlarge their views, to extend their knowledge, and to cure
them of those illiberal prejudices and rustic habits to which islanders are
often subject. Edgar showed his care of trade by punishing, in a sum-
mary manner, the inhabitants of Thanet, who had seized and plundered
some merchantmen coming from York. Another instance of his sound
policy was the extirpation of wolves from England. He had taken
great pains in hunting and pursuing these ravenous animals ; and when
he found that such as had escaped him had taken shelter in the moun-
tains and forests of Wales, he exchanged the tribute of money, imposed
on the Welsh princes by Athelstan, into three hundred wolves' heads
annually. 8 Such was their diligence in destroying them, that in four
years the tribute ceased for want of supply, and these ferocious animals
have never since then been seen in this island. His reformation of the
coinage was also a prudent measure. It had become so diminished in
weight by the fraud of clipping, that the actual value was very inferior
to the nominal. He therefore ordered new coins to be struck all over
England. He was most attentive to the wants of the poor the dictate
of superstition, perhaps, rather than of charity ; and his vigilant police
freed the kingdom from robbers. Edgar, though tyrannical, was gene-
rous to his friends. To Kenneth, king of Scotland, who visited him,

" Lingard affects to doubt this story, and the preceding, both of which are given on
the authority of Malmsbury.
7 Hunt. 356.
Malm. 32. Carad. 56.



PERIOD.] EDGAR. 59

he not only ceded the district of Lothian, extending from the Tweed to
the Forth, but gave one hundred ounces of pure gold, and many silken
ornaments, with rings and precious stones. 9 An anecdote of these princes
is recorded descriptive of the energetic character of Edgar. His person
was small and thin, and by no means indicative of his mental powers.
Kenneth happened one day carelessly to remark, that it was wonderful
so many provinces should obey a man so insignificant. These words
were carried to the king ; he immediately conducted the offender apart
into a wood, and producing two weapons, bade him take his choice.
" Our arms shall decide," said he, " which ought to obey the other ; for
it will be base to have asserted that at a feast, which you cannot sup-
port with your sword." 10 It was one of the conditions on which Ken-
neth received the county of Louth, that he should come every year to
Edgar's principal feast ; and for his accommodation several houses were
provided for his entertainment during his journey. The hasty remark
that had incurred the royal displeasure was brought to his recollection
by this appeal to the laws of honour ; he apologised for it as a joke,
and the matter ended amicably.

Edgar expired in the thirty -third year of his age. He was twice mar-
ried. By Elfleda, his first wife, he had Edward his successor, and a
daughter, who became a nun. Elfrida bore him two sons, Edmund, who
died before him, and Ethelred. This monarch, as an acute historian has
remarked, was rather the king of a great nation in a fortunate era, than a
great prince himself. His actions display a character ambiguous and mixed.
In some things he was liberal to profusion, in others mean, arrogant and
vicious. His reign has been celebrated as the most glorious of all the
Anglo-Saxon kings ; but some allowance must be made for the hyper-
bolic praises of monastic gratitude by which it has been emblazoned.
No other sovereign, indeed, converted his greatness into such personal
pomp ; and no other, we may add, was more unfortunate in his posterity.
With his short life the gaudy pageant ceased ; and all the vast domi-
nions in which he had so ostentatiously exulted, vanished from his
children's grasp. His eldest son perished by the intrigue of his beloved
Elfrida, another fell by the hand of an assassin, and his youngest reigned
only to show his own imbecility, and rum the nation he had attempted
to govern. On the whole, recollecting the advantages and facilities
which Edgar inherited, we must say that it was the fortuitous chrono-
logy of his existence, rather than his own talents or wisdom, that has
adorned his name with a celebrity, which less favourable circumstances
denied to his predecessors.

The Northumbrian kings had extended their conquest to the Forth ( Uedc iv. 26),
but there is little reason to believe that the possession of Lothian was easily retained at
this time. Perhaps Kenneth demanded the cession of this district as a right rather
than solicited it as a favour. Certain it is that it was finally ceded to him on the single
condition that its inhabitants should be permitted to retain their language, 1:iv- . and
customs. " Does not this sufficiently account," inquires Liugartl, " for the prevalence
of the English language in the Lowlands of Scotland ?"

M Malm. 69.



60 POLITICAL SERIES. f FIRST



tfjt Jfflartgr.

BORN A. D. 959. DIED A. D. 978.

EDWARD, surnamed the Martyr, was only fifteen years of age at the
time of his father Edgar's death in 975. Though the eldest surviving
son, his accession did not take place without much difficulty and op-
position. He had indeed the advantage of being nominated successor in
his father's will ; he was approaching manhood, and might soon be able
to take the reins of government into his own hands ; he had the support
of the principal nobility, who dreaded the imperious temper and ambi-
tious aims of Elfrida ; and as he seemed inclined to subserve the views
of the new monks, his interest was espoused by Dunstan, whose char-
acter for sanctity had given him the highest credit with the people.
But he had formidable obstacles on the other hand to encounter. El-
frida his step-mother attempted to secure the throne for her son, Ethelred,
a child of seven years old. She affirmed that Edgar's marriage with
the mother of Edward was liable to insuperable objections ; and as she
had possessed great influence with her husband, she had found means
to attract adherents who seconded all her pretensions. Even in the
church a faction had risen against him. Dunstan had succeeded in
excluding the ancient ecclesiastics from their seats ; but he had not
reconciled the whole nation to the severity of the measure, or to his
own administration ; and on the death of the late king, an attempt was
made to humble his power, and to restore the clergy. It was of vast
importance to this aspiring prelate and the monks, to place on the
throne a king favourable to their cause ; and to cut off all hostile pre-
tensions, Dunstan, as executor of the king's will, resolutely anointed and
crowned the young prince at Kingston. 1 This bold measure superseded
the claims of Ethelred, and the whole country submitted to him without
farther dispute, ^he quarrel, however, between the two religious sys-
tems became more vehement ; and though Dunstan had got Edward
crowned, he could not recover the alienated minds of the nobles whom
his innovations and his arrogance had provoked. The secular clergy
had many partisans in England who wished to support them in the
possessions of their convents and of the ecclesiastical authority. On the
first intelligence of Edgar's death, the governor or duke of Mercia
expelled the Benedictine order from all the monasteries within his juris-
diction ; 2 while the dukes of East Anglia and Essex protected them
within their respective territories, and insisted on the execution of the
laws enacted in their favour. Nothing but tumult and confusion ensued.
Elfrida joined the party of the seculars who had got hold of the monas-
tic possessions, which they distributed to the governors in return for
their support. Dunstan, on the other hand, expelled the clergy who had
been reinstated ; and to quiet the discontent which his violence had
excited, as well as to maintain his own ascendancy, he had recourse to
an infallible test in times of ignorance, the miraculous aid of superstition.
Different synods were convened, which, according to the practice of the
age, consisted partly of ecclesiastics, and partly of nobility ; yet the

1 Mailros Chron. 151 Eadmeri Vit. 220. * Ingulf. 54 Malm. 61.



I'KHIOD.; EDWARD THE MAIiTYK. 61

Benedictine party might have been toiled, for the secret wishes, if not
the declared sentiments of the leading men in the nation appear to have
been against them, had they not had recourse .to invention and pious
forgeries to sustain their cause. The reputation of their pretended
sanctity made their miracles the more easily swallowed by the populace.
By such proceedings, Dunstan taught others to fight him with his own
weapons, by practising similar crimes. Edward was subjected to his
power, but the ambitious Elfrida still cherished the guilty wish of ele-
vating her son, and unfortunately the divided state of the kingdom and
the vindictive spirit of the nobility gave power to her malice. The death
of Edward was conspired, as the only avenue to the completion of hoi-
hopes. And what adds to the infamy and the hardened enormity of
her conduct, is the uniform kindness with which that prince had always
treated her. Though she had opposed his succession, he always showed
her marks of great regard. He gave her all Dorsetshire as a dower,
with a royal dignity annexed to it, and towards her son he expressed
on every occasion the most tender affection.

The fate of this amiable but too confiding prince was memorable
and tragical, and his own unsuspecting temper facilitated the execution
of the plot ; for being endowed with an amiable innocence of manners,
and having no impure intentions of his own, he was incapable of enter-
taining suspicion against others. He was one day hunting in Dorset-
shire, near Wareham, a few miles from which stood Corfe-Castle, the
residence of Elfrida and her son. His companions were dispersed in
pursuit of the game, and, in the course of his sport, Edward approached the
conspicuous walls of the mansion. Thither he rode unattended, to pay
a visit to the young prince and his mother. His arrival presented her
with the opportunity which she had so long sought. The plan was
hastily settled. The king was received with apparent kindness, and
invited to enter ; but he declined to alight, merely desiring some re-
freshment, and requesting to see his brother. A cup of mead was
brought him, and while raising the liquor to his lips, a wretch, the
servant of Elfrida, stealing behind, stabbed him in the back. Feeling
himself wounded, he put spurs to his horse to escape the assassin, or
hurry in quest of his companions. But the dagger had been too
successful ; becoming faint with loss of blood, he fell from the saddle,
his foot stuck in the stirrup, and the frightened steed dragged him along
till he expired. His friends tracked his course by the blood ; the
mangled body was found and privately interred at Wareham, by his
servants. It was soon after removed and buried at Shaftesbury, by
Dunstan and the governor of Mercia. 3 Thus fell Edward the Martyr,
by ' the foulest deed,' as the chronicles of the time say, that ever stained
the English name. He was in the fourth year of his reign, and the
nineteenth of his age.

4 Chroti. Sax. 124, 125. Malm. 31.



62 POLITICAL SERIES. | FIRST



BORN A. D. 970 - DIED A. D. 1016.

ETHELRED succeeded to the throne in 979 ; but the means by which
he obtained the crown had an unfavourable effect on his reputation and
his reign. Historians have given him the epithet of the Unready ; but
the appellation appears to have been suggested not from any act of his
own, but, almost as soon as he was born, by Dunstan's malevolence ;
for, when he took Ethelred from the font, he exclaimed M'ith his usual
vehemence, that " the babe would prove a man of nought ;" and he
never concealed the dislike which he entertained towards the son of
Elfrida. The triumph of the murderer of Edward was short ; and in
attempting to subvert the daring prelate by such a deed she failed.
Dunstan retained his dignity, and even his popular influence ; for what
nation could be so depraved as to patronise a woman who, at her own
gate, had caused her step-son to be assassinated? After no long inter-
val, Dunstan excited the public odium and the terrors of guilt so suc-
cessfully against her, that she became overwhelmed with shame, and took
refuge in the vail and in building nunneries from that abhorrence which
will never forsake her memory. There is no reason to suppose that
Ethelred, a child of eleven years of age, had in any way aided or as-
sented to the murder of his brother ; and, when the nobles and clergy
had acknowledged him king, according to the usages of the constitu-
tion, Dunstan, whatever may have been his private dislike, was com-
pelled to assist at the ceremony. Probably he might have set up a
pretender, if any such could have been found ; but Ethelred was the
only remaining scion of the royal stem. But he showed the spirit of
opposition that rankled in his bosom ; for, when he placed the crown
on the head of the youthful monarch, he accompanied it by a curse :
" Even as by the death of thy brother thou didst aspire to the king-
dom, hear the decree of heaven. The sin of thy wicked mother, and
of her accomplices, shall rest upon thy head ; and such evils shall fall
upon the English as they have never yet suffered from the days when
they first came into the isle of Britain, even until the present time." 1
These invectives were a most inauspicious augury for a new reign ; and
his imprecations, though they arose obviously out of his aversion to-
wards the prevailing party, had a very deleterious influence on the
nation. The prophecy, like many others, was well-calculated to in-
sure its own accomplishment. By persuading the people to attribute
their misfortunes to the government, he weakened their power of re-
sistance so long as Ethelred was on the throne ; and he also directly
instigated them to desert their monarch as the cause of the evils to
which they were exposed. Accordingly, the great national honour and
felicity which had accumulated under his predecessors, dwindled away
from the period of his accession. The splendid prospects grew darker
and darker, until the night of calamity settled down with all its horrors.
Its approach was foretold and invited by a disordered country, a di-

1 Ingulf. 506.



I'ERlou.J ETHELRED. 03

vided court, and an incapable sovereign. England was already pre-
pared to succumb to any foreign enemy ; and the misery and confu-
sion which ensued, and which, in fact, opened the way for the entire
subjugation of the country by the Normans, if not occasioned by the
very words of Dunstan, were yet extremely enhanced by the effect of
his denunciation. Ethelred, deprived of the confidence of his sub-
jects, could not lead them to their own defence ; and their distrust of
their sovereign involved the whole state in a sort of anarchy.

For a considerable time, England had enjoyed a happy freedom from
the depredations of the Danes, who had changed the scene of their piracies
to the north of France. The repression of their excursions, like the
damming of water, had accumulated an overgrown population at home ;
and these inherited from their fathers the same inveterate habits of
war and plunder. A favourable era had occurred, and the second
year of Ethelred's reign was distinguished by the re-appearance of
those enemies whom the courage and wisdom of Alfred and his suc-
cessors had exiled from the English coast. By way of experiment,
seven vessels landed near Southampton, where the robbers having laid
waste the country, and enriched themselves with spoil, departed with
impunity. The leader of this expedition appears to have been Sweyn,
the son of the king of Denmark. Banished from home by his father,
he was in the full vigour of youth ; and the assistance he had at his
command rendered him a formidable invader to a country unpre-
pared for defence either in the council-hall or in the field. Next year
another detachment of the northern host invaded Mercia ; Chester was
taken, London was burnt, and the whole coast from the Mersey to
the Thames was ravaged by these insatiable plunderers. Still the Danes
did not act in concert with each other ; and their fleets, or rather
their squadrons, were frequently very small. Thus Dorsetshire was in-
vaded by three ships ; and if we estimate their crews at six hundred
men, we shall probably overrate their numbers. Any reasonable de-
gree of vigour would have been sufficient to repel so contemptible a
force. The kingdom was flourishing in abundant population ; its mi-
litary strength was entire, and its government was undisputed ; but its
administration was in weak hands ; and, at a time when unanimity was
requisite, great dissension prevailed. While the country was smoking
with the fires kindled by the invaders, Ethelred was engaged in petty
disputes with his subjects. He had quarrelled with the bishop of Ro-
chester, and ravaged the lands belonging to that see, and even laid
siege to the town ; but, on receiving payment of a sum of money, he
desisted from further hostilities. About the same time Alfric, gover-
nor or earl of Mercia, a powerful but treacherous nobleman, had en-
gaged in a conspiracy against Ethelred. He was condemned by the
Wittenagemot ; his property was confiscated, and he himself being out-
lawed, was banished from the country. The only part of England in
which the Danes met with any effectual resistance was in East-Anglia.
In 991 a large force, commanded by Justin and Gurthmund, attacked
Ipswich, 2 and advanced through the defenceless country as far as Mil-
den. Here Brithnoth, governor of Essex, bravely opposed them with
a small body of warriors ; but they were defeated, the noble chief himself

* Turner's Ai.gl. Sax. Hist. vol. iii. p. 8328.



64 POLITICAL SERIES. [IKST

being slain. The spoilers extended their devastation unmolested ; so
completely had courage and patriotism already departed from England.
In this extremity Ethelred, instead of rousing his subjects to increased
activity, or marching at the head of a new army, adopted the shame-
ful expedient of buying off the invaders. Siric, archbishop of Canter-
bury, and successor of Dunstan, was the adviser of this unworthy and
fatal measure. His argument was, that as the Danes only came for
booty, it would be wiser to give them what they wanted ; and in this
pusillanimous opinion he was joined by many of the degenerate nobles.
Ethelred accordingly purchased their retreat at the expensive bribe of
ten thousand pounds. 3 The effect of this imprudence was such as might
have been anticipated. The Danes departed ; but they appeared next
year in greater numbers off the eastern coast. The bribe that had
gratified their own avarice told them that England abounded with
gold, but that her warlike spirit was no more. It was like a beacon
of attraction planted on her cliifs, encouraging needy adventurers to
plunder with impunity, and retire with wealth. This concession laid
the foundation of a permanent burden on the country ; for, it is noticed
by the annalists of the time, as having produced the evil of direct
taxation, the tribute of Dane-gelt being raised by assessments on the
land. " We now pay (says a chronicler of the twelfth century) that
from custom which terror first extorted from the Danes." 4 The im-