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the bishop, led him to their husting on the eve of Sunday, the octaves of Easter, which was on the 13th of the calends of May, (April 19); and there they then shamefully slaughtered him: they cast upon him bones and the heads of oxen, and then one of them struck him with an axe-iron on the head, so that with the blow he sank down, and his holy blood fell on the earth, and his holy soul he sent forth to God's kingdom. And on the morrow the body was carried to London, and the bishops Ednoth and Elfun, and the townsmen, received it with all reverence, and buried it in St. Paul's minster; and there God now manifesteth the miraculous powers of the martyr"."

Ethelred takes forty-five of the Danish ships into his pay.

Canute, the son of Sweyn, lands in Scotland, near Buchan, but is defeated.

A.D. 1013. Sweyn arrives at Sandwich with his fleet, in the summer.

He overruns East Anglia and Northumbria, and receives hostages from every shire.

Leaving his ships and the hostages with his son. Canute, he proceeds southward, captures Oxford and Winchester, but is repulsed from London, "where much of his people was drowned in the Thames, because they kept not to any bridge."

Sweyn proceeds to Bath, when the western shires submit to him. "And when he had thus succeeded,

* A popular assembly, not in the open air, the word meaning literally house-court."

The body was removed to Canterbury in the year 1023, by command of Canute; before which this passage must have been

written.

then went he northward to his ships; and then all the people held him for full king."

"And after that the townsmen of London submitted, and delivered hostages, because they dreaded lest he should utterly undo them. Then Sweyn ordered a full tribute, and provisions for his army during the winter; and Thurkill ordered the like for the army which lay at Greenwich; and for all that, they plundered as oft as they would."

King Ethelred sends his queen and the athelings, Edward and Alfred, to Normandy; he soon follows them, and remains there till after the death of Sweyn.

A.D. 1014. “In this year King Sweyn ended his days at Candlemas, (Feb. 3) . . . and all the fleet then chose Canute for king."

"Then counselled all the witan who were in England, clergy and laity, that they should send after King Ethelred; and they declared that no lord were dearer to them than their natural lord, if he would rule them rightlier than he had before done. Then sent the king his son Edward hither with his messengers, and ordered them to greet all his people; and said that he would be to them a loving lord, and amend all those things which they all abhorred, and each of those things should be forgiven which had been done or said to him, on condition that they all, with one consent, would be obedient to him, without deceit. And they then established full friendship, by word and by pledge, on either half, and declared every Danish king an outlaw from England for ever. Then, during Lent, King Ethelred came home to his own people, and he was gladly received by them all."

The people of Lindsey make a compact with Canute, "that they should find him horses, and that afterwards they should all go out together and plunder."

King Ethelred attacks them with his full force, and Canute retires to his ships.

Canute comes to Sandwich, "and there he caused the hostages to be put on shore who had been delivered to his father, and cut off their hands, and ears, and noses."

A great sea-flood, which washed away many vills and a countless number of people, Sept. 28.

The Northmen defeated at Clontarf (near Dublin), by Brien Boru, who is himself slain.

A.D. 1015. Siferth and Morcar, the chief thanes in the Seven Burghs', treacherously slain by Edric.

Edmund the atheling takes Siferth's widow from the convent of Malmesbury, marries her, and obtains possession of the burghs.

Canute ravages Wessex, and subdues it; he is joined by Edric with 40 ships.

A.D. 1016. Canute and Edric pass into Mercia "and they ravaged, and burned, and slew all that they could come at."

A force is gathered against them, and headed by King Ethelred, but, being apprehensive of treachery, he retires to London, and the troops disperse.

Canute passes into Northumbria, where, by the advic of Edric, he kills Uhtred the ealdorman, son-in-law o Ethelred, and appoints Eric in his stead.

Probably the Five Burghs already named (p. 109), with the ad dition of Chester and York.

Canute returns to Wessex, and prepares for an expedition against London.

Edmund the atheling retires to London.

"Then befel it that king Ethelred died, before the ships arrived. He ended his days on St. George's massday (April 23), and he held his kingdom with great loss and under great difficulties, the while that his life lasted."

EDMUND IRONSIDE a.

EDMUND, the eldest son of Ethelred, succeeded him, but after many fierce contests with Canute, he found himself obliged to agree to a partition of his kingdom, and he died shortly after, most probably by assassination. By his wife Algitha, the relict of Siferth, he left two sons, Edward and Edmund, who were exiled by Canute. Edwy the Churl king (the king of the people, or popular favourite), banished by Canute, is by some writers said to have been a son of Edmund, but the point is not satisfactorily established.

A.D. 1016. "All the witan who were in London, and the townsmen, chose Edmund to be king; and he strenuously defended his kingdom the while that his time lasted."

Edmund leaves London, and overruns Wessex.

"Then came the ships to Greenwich at Rogation days (May 7). And within a little space they went to London, and they dug a great ditch on the south side, and dragged their ships to the west side of the bridge; and

This popular name is first met with in Florence of Worcester.

afterwards they ditched the town around, so that no one could go either in or out; and they repeatedly fought against the town, but the townsmen strenuously withstood them."

Edmund fights with the Danes at Pen, by Gillingham, in Dorsetshire, and at Sceorstan, (Shirestone, near Burford,) then relieves London, and two days after defeats the Danes at Brentford.

Edmund retires into Wessex, when the Danes again besiege London; "and they beset the town around, and strongly fought against it, as well by water as by land. But the Almighty God delivered it."

The Danes retire from London, proceed up the Orwell, and ravage Mercia. "Then King Edmund assembled, for the fourth time, all his forces, and went over the Thames at Brentford, and went into Kent, and the army fled before him, with their horses, into Sheppy; and the king slew as many of them as he could come up with." Edric comes over to the king at Aylesford, and dissuades him from following up his victory.

The Danes again pass through Essex into Mercia.

Edmund pursues them, but, being betrayed by Edric, is defeated at Assandun, (Ashdown, near Saffron Walden), "and all the nobility of the English race was there destroyed."

Then

Canute pursues Edmund into Gloucestershire. counselled Edric the ealdorman and the witan who were there, that the kings should be mutually reconciled. And they delivered hostages mutually; and the kings came together at Olanege, near Deerhurst, and they b The isle of Olney, near Gloucester.