that king Ethelwolf, still at the court of the French king, had crowned his bride, and placed her by his

monks, and his wife of the nuns, that is, his gemaccean Elfthrithe or his wife Elfthrith. And perhaps hence it was, that the wives of great dukes or earls of that time in the West-Saxon kingdom, which after Egbert quickly swallowed up the rest, subscribed by the name also of conjux, and not by any name of dignity, as if they would abstain from receiving any communication of title from their lords, as well as the king's wives did from the kings. For, anno 880, when Ethelred or Ethered, duke or earl of Mercia under king Alfred, by his charters [Regist. vetustiss. eccles. Wigorn. fol. 7, 29, 31, 211, &c. in Bibl. Cotton.] gave lands to the Church of Worcester, he subscribed by the name of dux and patricius; but his wife, being otherwise a princess and daughter to king Alfred, expresses herself in them only thus: + Ego Athelfled CONJUX subscribens confirmavi: and in other charters, + Ego Ethelfled consensi. Yet they are both together styled, Æthred Aldorman and Ethelfled Mercna hlafordas; that is, thred the alderman or duke, and Ethelfled the lords of Mercia, in an instrument of Werfrid, bishop of Worcester, in the year 904, made to the same Church. However, notwithstanding, in expressing the title of the king's wife, such respect were sometime after Æthelwolf had to that old law; yet it also appears, that under the same king Edgar, the wife was likewise sometimes styled queen or regina: which shews that the use of regina, or legitima conjux, without the addition of regina, was grown by this time promiscuous in the West-Saxonum kingdom. For the same queen in a charter to the Church of Worcester subscribes [in Pat. I. ed. iv. part 6, memb. 23.] + Ego Elfyred, or Alfthrithd, (as in the Monasticon, vol. i. p. 141.) REGINA consensi et signo crucis confirmavi, which was in 864; and in another to the Church of Ely occurs Alfthrith regina. [Cart. antiq. in arce Lond. B. num. 11.] In other kingdoms of the Heptarchy of that age, the title of regina was still given to the king's wives. Ego Elfthrith regina is subscribed with Kenwolf king of Mercia in the subscriptions [Regist. Wigor. MS. in Bibl. Cott. and Monast. Angl. tom. i. p. 122, &c.] of his charters to the Church of Worcester, and + Sæthrith, or Sethryth, regina, often subscribes with king Bertwolf to the same Church. So Ego Cynethryth Dei gratia regina Merciorum, in some other, with king Offa. And among the coins of that age in Sir Rob. Cotton's library, [see the excellent dissertation upon the Saxon coins, written and published by the very curious and learned

own side on the throne, they construed it into a contempt for their own customs and sentiments. Prince Sir Andrew Fountaine, at the end of Dr. Hickes's Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium, tab. 3.] is one subscribed with Cynethryth, (not Cenethryd, as Mr. Selden reads it,) regin. and with Eoba, (not Eopa, with Selden,) on the other side. And Æthelswith, daughter to king Æthelwolf, frequently subscribes Ethelswith regina with Burghred king of Mercia, or Mercland, in the old register of Worcester. And at her marriage, saith Matt. Westm. [sub anno 852.] reginæ nomen promeruit. There is also a singular example of her in the chartulary of the abbey [Bibl. Cott. fol. 4. and in col. Æd. Christi, Oxon.] of Abingdon, where she alone by charter gives to one Cuthwolf her servant lands in Lacinge, in these words, + Ego Æthelswith regina, Deo largiente, Merciorum cum consensu meorum seniorum concedens donabo Cuthwolfo, &c. which is very properly used by some [Sir Ed. Coke in præfat. ad lib. iv.] to shew, that the law of England then was, that the queen in this island might, as at this day, give or contract as a femme sole. After king Edgar, it seems, the law of the West-Saxons also utterly vanished, and the wives of the Saxon kings were always styled queens, or reginæ. In an instrument [Regist. Wigorn. ecclesiæ vetust. fol. 166. MS. in Bibl. Cotton] that testifies how Agelwin, dean of Worcester, (decanus Wigorniensis ecclesiæ, so is his title of that time, but a prior and convent then supplied what now the dean and chapter do,) and his brother Ordric gave three cassats of land in Cundicotam to the monks there, Edward the Confessor, ad confirmationem sermonum istorum, subscribes, and then his queen Edgith thus; + Ego Edgith regina consentio. So in a charter of king Cnout to the abbey [Cart. 4 Ed. III. num. 58.] of St. Edmondsbury, his wife Alfgifa calls herself Ego Alfgifa (or Elfgiva, as in Monast. Angl. tom. i. p. 287.) regina, and in a Saxon charter of his to the same Church, he styles her [see Mon. Anglic. vol. i. p. 288.] myne queen Alfgif, and regina mea Alfgifa in the Latin of it, where he speaks of her giving to the Church a revenue of 4000 eels in Lakinghith. It appears also clearly, that the Saxon queens were always, in the latter times of that kingdom, crowned, anointed, and set with the kings in their seats of state, as other queens, and so that law or custom which proceeded from Queen Edburg was soon abrogated." Spelm. Life of Alf. p. 24.

Asser (and Florence who has copied Asser) tells us, that Ethelwolf made his wife Judith sit on the throne beside him, after he returned to England, and that she did so to the day of his death.

Ethelbald, to suit his own purposes, fanned the flame of sedition, and drew over to his own party Alstan, Bishop of Salisbury, and Enwolf, Alderman of Somersetshire, with whom he now began to concert plans, how they might keep his father, as imbecile, out of the kingdom, and secure the possession of the crown for himself. This conspiracy, however, was broken up by the king's return; but by the moderation which Ethelwolf displayed, no evil effects resulted either to himself or to the kingdom. Many of his faithful subjects joined him on his arrival, and offered to expel from the kingdom his son Ethelbald and those who had espoused his cause: but the king would not attend to these suggestions, and with commendable discretion listened to the representations of his son. The event of these counsels was the division of the kingdom into two parts. The kingdom of Wessex, which was by far the most valuable, was given to Ethelbald; and the eastern portion, consisting of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, remained in the hands of Ethelwolf.

This settlement, by which the king's eldest son obtained the object of his wishes, was not, however, of long duration. Ethelwolf, though apparently still far removed from what may be termed an advanced age, did not long survive the partition of the kingdom. He died on the 13th of January, A.D. 8584, leaving a will, which has attracted the notice of posterity. By this instrument it was directed that the kingdom should be divided between his two eldest sons, Ethelbald and Ethelbert, his private inheritance between his sons, his daughter, and his relations: his money was to be applied, partly to charitable purposes, and in part to the use of his sons and nobles. As regarded that

d Florence of Worcester.

portion which was devoted to charity, it was directed, that in every ten of his manses, or royal residences, should be maintained one poor man or a stranger, in meat, drink, and clothing, for ever; and that three hundred mancuses of gold should every year be carried to Rome, one hundred to buy oil for St. Peter's Church on Easter Eve, one hundred as an offering to St. Paul, and one hundred for the use of the Pope himself'.

e

• Thorn says, the value of the mancus was about seven shillings and sixpence.

f For fuller particulars on this and similar subjects, the reader is referred to Dr. Lingard's History and Antiquities of the AngloSaxon Church, &c. They can only be incidentally mentioned in a biographical work like the present.

CHAP. V.

ETHELBALD REIGNS OVER WESSEX, FROM 858 To 860.—ETHELBERT OVER THE DEPENDENT KINGDOM OF KENT, SUSSEX, AND ESSEXETHELBALD MARRIES JUDITH, HIS FATHER'S WIDOW-ETHELBALD DIES-JUDITH RETURNS TO FRANCE.

In accordance with their father's will, Ethelbald continued to hold the principal sovereignty of Wessex, whilst his brother Ethelbert received the government of Kent, Essex, and Sussex. The first act of the new king of Wessex gave great displeasure to his subjects. Notwithstanding his former opposition to his father's wishes, when that monarch brought with him the princess Judith from the court of France, he now contracted with her a marriage, which, according to every law then in force, was looked upon as incestuous both by the clergy and the laity. As this female, who furnishes perhaps the only instance of one that has been a wife to two kings who have stood in the relation of father and son, was really, as we have before noticed, only thirteen years old when she first contracted marriage with Ethelwolf, we may infer that her union with that monarch was rather nominal than real; but the Church did not recognise such distinctions, and we need not doubt that much scandal arose in the minds of all the subjects of Ethelbald. It has even been asserted by some of the later Chroniclers, that

Asser, Flor. Sim. Ingulf, Malmesb. Roger de Wendover.

F