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doom'd for the fight.

on that battle-stead 30 by the sword put to

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sleep; so seven, too, of Anlaf's earls and numbers of the hostvikings and Scots. There was put to flight the leader of the Northmen,

impelled by need towards his ship's prow with a small band;

35 into the deep pressed the bark, the king departed

on the fallow flood, There, too, the agéd north to his country

no need to boast

saved his life.

Constantine

fared in flight;

had the hoary warrior

40 of that meeting of swords; he was bereft of his kinsmen, deprived of his friends, on that battle-stead

in conflict slain; and his son he left,

young in war,

on the field of slaughter

destroyed by wounds. No need to exult

45 had the gray-haired warrior, old and crafty,

in that bill-clashing

-nor Anlaf the more;

they had no need to

with the remnants of their host

laugh

because they were the better on the battle-stead, in deeds of war, in the rush of standards,

50 in the flight of spears, in the clash of weapons, on the field of slaughter

in the strife of men,

when they played
with Edward's sons.

Departed then the Northmen

in their nail'd barks

—those whom the darts left- into Dynges mere,

Dublin to seek,

overcome by defeat.
both together,
sought their country,
in war exulting.
the carcases to enjoy,

55 o'er the deep water
Ireland once more,
Likewise the brothers
king and atheling,
the West-Saxons' land,
60 They left behind them,
the swart raven
and horned beak,
eagle, white behind,
and that gray beast,
65 carrion to devour.
ever yet greater

with dark coat
and the gray-coated

the greedy war-hawk,
the wolf in the weald,
No slaughter has there been
in this island,

of folk laid low, of edges of swords, and old sages70 Angles and Saxons sought Britain

before this clashing

-from what books tell us since hither from the east

came to land,

over the broad seas,

the proud war-smiths overcame the Welsh, the glory-eager earls conquered this land.

937 [F]. Here king Æthelstan and Edmund, his brother, led the fyrd to Brunanburh and there fought against Anlaf, and Christ aiding, had the victory and there slew five kings and eight earls. [Hic factum est illud magnum et famosum bellum in Brunanbyri.] 940 [A].1 Here king Athelstan died [at Gloucester]2 on vi kl. Nov. (Oct. 27th), forty-one winters-save one night-after the death of king Ælfred. And Edmund atheling [his brother] succeeded to the kingdom, and he was then eighteen winters old; and king Æthelstan reigned fourteen years and ten weeks. [Then was Wulfhelm archbishop in Kent.]

941 [A].1 Here king Edmund,

protector of men, overran Mercia Whitewell's gate

5 broad sea-stream.

lord of the Angles,

belov'd deed-doer,

where the Dore separates

and Humber's river,

Five boroughs

and Stamford too,

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Nottingham

and Derby

were by need constrained

erst under the Danes, under the Northmen,

10 in heathen fetter-bonds

a long time
until again redeemed them
through his worthiness
Edward's son,
the warrior's bulwark, Edmund king.

[King Edmund] received king Anlaf at baptism; and the same year, a good long space after, he received king Ragnold at the bishop's hands. (And here died Wulfhelm) the archbishop."

941 [D]. Here the Northumbrians were false to their 1 Originally 941 and 942 respectively; see note on 893 A. 2 MS. D.

4

3 MS. E.

Conjectural restoration of a lacuna in the MS. by Plummer.

plighted troth and chose Anlaf from Ireland for their king.

942 [E]. Here king Anlaf died. Et Ricardus uetus suscepit regnum, et regnauit an. lii.

943 [D]. Here Anlaf stormed Tamworth, and great slaughter was made on either side; and the Danes got the victory, and much war-plunder they carried away with them; there during the pillage was Wulfrun taken.

Here king Edmund besieged king Anlaf and archbishop Wulfstan in Leicester; and he would have taken them, were it not that they escaped out of the town by night. And, after that, Anlaf gained king Edmund's friendship; and the king Edmund then received king Anlaf at baptism and royally gifted him. And the same year, a good long time after, he received king Ragnold at the bishop's hands. [Here king Edmund entrusted Glastonbury to St. Dunstan, where he afterwards became the first abbot.]'

944 [A]. Here king Edmund subdued the whole land of the Northumbrians into his power; and expelled two kings, Anlaf son of Sihtric and Ragnold son of Guthferth.

944 [E]. Here king Edmund subdued all the Northumbrians; and expelled two men of royal birth, Anlaf and Ragnold.

945 [A]. Here king Edmund harried the whole land of the Cumbrians and granted it all to Malcolm king of Scots on the condition that he should be his fellowworker both on sea and on land.

946 [A]. Here king Edmund died on St. Augustin's mass-day (May 26th); and he had the kingdom six and a half years. [It was widely known how he ended his days-that Liofa stabbed him at Puckle-church. And Æthelflæd of Damerham, daughter of aldorman Ælfgar, was then his queen. And after him]2 then Eadred atheling, his brother, succeeded to the king

An interpolation in MS. A by a fairly early hand. The same sentence is also inserted on top margin of F.

2 MS. D. Ælfgyfu was Edmund's first wife; see 955 D.

dom and subdued the whole land of the Northumbrians into his power; and the Scots gave him oaths that they would all what he would.

947 [D]. Here king Eadred came to Tanshelf; and there Wulfstan the archbishop and all the witan of the Northumbrians plighted their troth to the king and within a little time belied it all, both pledge and also oaths.

948 [D].' Here king Eadred harried the whole land of the Northumbrians, because they had taken Eric for their king; and then, during the pillage, the great minster at Ripon was burnt, which St. Wilfrid built. And when the king was on his way homewards, the host within York overtook him; the king's fyrd was behind at Chesterford, and there they made great slaughter. Then was the king so wrathful that he would lead his forces back again and utterly destroy the land. When the witan of the Northumbrians understood that, they forsook Eric and made compensation for the deed to king Eadred.

949 [E]. Here Anlaf Cuaran came to the land of the Northumbrians.

951 [A]. Here died Ælfheah, bishop of Winchester, on St. Gregory's mass-day (Mar. 12th).

952 [D]. Here in this year king Eadred bade archbishop Wulfstan to be brought into the fortress of Iudanburh, because he had been often accused to the king; and in this year also the king bade great slaughter be made in the town of Thetford, in revenge of the abbot Eadhelm, whom they had before slain. [Here the Northumbrians drove out king Anlaf, and received Eric, Harold's son.]2

954 [D]. Here the Northumbrians drove out Eric; and Eadred succeeded to the kingdom of the Northumbrians. Here archbishop Wulfstan again received a bishopric in Dorchester.

1 Under 948 MS. E:-Here king Edmund was stabbed; and Eadred, his brother, succeeded to the kingdom. And forthwith he subdued (as in 946 A).

2 MS. E.

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955 [A]. Here died king Eadred on St. Clement's massday (Nov. 23rd) at Frome; and he reigned nine and a half years. And then Eadwig, son of king Edmund, succeeded to the kingdom.1

955 [D]. Here died king Eadred; and he rests in the Old Minster [at Winchester]. And Eadwig succeeded to the kingdom of the West-Saxons, and Edgar his brother succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians; and they were the sons of king Edmund and St. Ælfgyfu. 956 [c]. Here died king Eadred; and Eadwig succeeded to the kingdom.

957 [D]. Here died archbishop Wulfstan3 on xvii kl. Januar. (Dec. 16th); and he was buried at Oundle. And in the same year abbot Dunstan was driven away over sea. [Here Edgar atheling succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians.]*

958 [A]. Here died king Eadwig' on kl. Octobr. (Oct. Ist); and Edgar his brother succeeded to the kingdom."

958 [D]. Here in this year archbishop Odo divorced king Eadwig and Ælfgyfu, because they were too near akin.

959 [E]. Here king Eadwig died; and Edgar his brother succeeded to the kingdom.

In his days was great prosperity; and God him granted

that he dwelt in peace

1 956. And banished St. Dunstan out of the land-an interpolation in MS. A by an early hand. F has the same entry in 955, but adds as a footnote-956. Here was abbot Dunstan driven out of England by king Eadwig.

MS. F.

3 MS. E places the deaths of Eadred and Wulfstan in 955 and 956 respectively.

4 MSS. B and C.

5 And Edgar was king after him over all Britain.-F.

In Wessex and in Mercia and in Northumbria; and he was then sixteen winters old-adds MSS. B and C which, however, place the whole annal in 959.

7 In MS. A under this year is interpolated by an early hand: Here he (i.e., king Edgar) sent after St. Dunstan and gave him the bishopric in Worcester, and thereafter the bishopric in London. MS. F has the same annal.

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