the king repented of his incest, and put away his wife; but, if this be true, it was unknown to the contemporary writers, who have related the crime, but not the repentance, of the king. Neither is it likely that the queen herself would have been willing to remain two years in the country which had witnessed her disgrace, for it was not until the year 861, some months after Ethelbald's death, that she returned to her own country where she might be under her father's protection. The character, moreover, of her second husband seems to have been too resolute to have been easily guided or overcome by the monks. It may furnish a favourable view of his military virtues, that, as long as he was king, either alone or in conjunction with his father, the Danes made no attempt to ravage his dominions, and even before he became king, but acted in aiding his father's arms, those restless plunderers met with no success, but were invariably repulsed, whenever they landed on the island. Neither do the Chroniclers fortify by examples the charge of I cruelty and lawlessness" which they bring against Ethelbald, and which those servile imitators have repeated, the one copying from the other, almost in the self-same words. I am more disposed to believe, with the historian of Huntingdon, that "Ethelbald was cut off by a premature death, after he had reigned

b

"A.D. 859. Rex West-Saxonum, Ethelbaldus, ab errore supradicto resipiscens, dimissa Juditha noverca sua, cujus torum fœdaverat, peracta pœnitentia, tempore quo supervixit regnum cum pace et justitia temperavit." WENDOVER.

Rudborne quotes these words of Wendover, adding that it was done "sacris exhortationibus beatissimi patris nostri Swithuni." See Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 204.

• Wendover, copying from some of the earlier Chroniclers. d Henry Hunt.

five years, that all England lamented his youth, and made great mourning over him; for they knew well, and afterwards experienced, what a champion they had lost in him."

King Ethelbald died in 860, having reigned altogether five years, and was buried at Sherborne. If we believe that the only act of his reign was, to espouse his father's bride, we need not doubt that his early death was regarded, in that age of superstition, as a judgment from God for his offence. The same censure, however, could hardly have been passed upon him, if he hastened to atone, by a divorce, for the crime which he had committed. The fortunes of the lady, who has caused so much controversy among writers, are singularly connected with this country, and historians have taken delight in relating what

• "A Ms. chronicle in the Public Library at Oxon. [Digby 196.] says five years; and so also Robert of Gloucester, Ms. Digb. 305, f. 72, b. Asser [pag. 4.] two years and a half: Ingulfus two years: Polydore Virgil only five months: I suppose from some Ms. history that he had seen. For I find no longer time allowed to his reign in a Ms. which I have consulted in the Bodleian Library. [super Art. D. 19, f. 250, a.] Asser seems to be most exact; for if king Ethelwolf returned from Rome in the year 855, and lived about two years after, it is plain Ethelbald could not reign above two years and a half: for the Saxon annals tell us, that he died in the next year but two, namely, A. D. 860, and that his body was buried at Shireburn. Thomas Rudborne [Hist. Maj. p. 204. vol. i. Ang. Sacra] varies but half a year from the Saxon Annals, Ethelwerd and Malmsbury, who make him to have reigned five years and a half; but then he tells us, that two and a half of them were spent in debauchery, and the remainder in virtue and piety, being persuaded to repent by the exhortations of Swithun, bishop of Winchester. This he had from Girardus Cornubiensis de gestis regum WestSaxonum, lib. ii. a book which seems now to be lost." SPELM. Life of Alf. p. 28.

happened to her after her second husband's death. Judith retired to France, where she was placed by her father in a convent at Senlis, a few miles to the north of Paris, where she was "treated at the same time with the respect due to a queen. The cunning of Judith was, however, more than a match for the vigilance of her guards. By the connivance of her brother she eloped in disguise with Baldwin, great forester of France; and the fugitives were soon beyond the reach of royal resentment. The king prevailed on his bishops to excommunicate Baldwin, for having forcibly carried off a widow; but the Pope disapproved of the sentence; and at his entreaty Charles gave a reluctant consent to their marriage, though neither he nor archbishop Hincmar could be induced to assist at the ceremony. They lived in great magnificence in Flanders, the earldom of which was bestowed on them by the king";" her son Baldwin II., who was the second earl of Flanders, afterwards married the princess Elfrida, youngest daughter of Alfred the Great, from which marriage, through five generations, was descended Maud or Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, and ancestress of the present royal family of Great Britain'.

e

Lingard, Hist. of England.

See Annales Bertiniani, in Pouquet, tom. vii.

p. 77.

CHAP. VI.

ETHELBERT SUCCEEDS ETHELBALD, A.D. 860-WINCHESTER SACKED BY THE DANES IN 860-DEATH OF ST. SWITHUN IN 861-THANET INVADED BY THE DANES IN 864-ETHELBERT DIES IN 866.

ETHELBERT, the second son of Ethelwolf, succeeded without opposition to the throne of Wessex, on his brother's death, and thus all the south of England was again united under one king. The family of Egbert were all warlike. The sovereign, who now sat upon the throne, did not degenerate from the military virtues of his predecessors. In the language of Ingulf, the historian of Croyland Abbey, "Ethelbert was a strenuous youth, and an invincible conqueror of the Danes, and he bravely ruled his kingdom five years, and defended it against all their attacks."

But of the battles and victories of Ethelbert the Chroniclers have taken little notice, though enough has been told to make it evident that their invasions were beginning to assume a more fearful character than before. The first attack to which the south of England was subject happened in 860, the year of Ethelbald's death. A large fleet of Danes came to land on the coast of Hampshire: the crews of which stormed Winchester,

• “Ut justum erat" is the expression of the Chroniclers. Dr. Lingard observes, that, on the death of Ethelbald, the crown of Wessex ought to have descended, in conformity with their father's will, to Ethelwolf's third son Ethelbert, but I find no authority for this in the ancient writers.

the capital of Wessex, and carried off an immense booty; but, as they were returning to their ships, they were met by Alderman Osric with the men of Hampshire, and Alderman Ethelwolf with the men of Berkshire, who defeated the enemy with great slaughter, and drove them in confusion to their ships".

From this victory resulted three continuous years of tranquillity, concerning which the Chroniclers are silent, or they record nothing but the unimportant transactions of the monasteries and episcopal Churches; most of which had suffered severely by the Danish invasions. The principal ecclesiastic of this age was Swithun, bishop of Winchester, who, by his political talents, rose to be one of the king's chief ministers, whilst by his supposed piety he gained for himself the designation and honours of a Saint. He died in 861°, whilst his country was still free from the calamities which afterwards overwhelmed it.

The peace was disturbed in 865, when an army of the heathens landed in Thanet, and having formed their camp, entered into a treaty with the inhabitants. The men of Kent unadvisedly promised them a sum of money, on condition that their lands and property should be spared. But whilst the negociations were pending, the Danes, who probably only wished to gain time, and to lull the English into security, stole

Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. Rudborne, quoting from Girardus Cornubiensis de gestis regum West-Saxonum, and Vigilantius de basilica Petri, cap. 13. [Ang. Sacra, vol. i. p. 206.] place the capture of Winchester in the first year of Ethelred, A. D. 866—67. adding that the Danes, whilst they were sacking the city, suddenly entered the monastery, and destroyed all the monks, leaving not one of them alive.

Saxon Chronicle,