a monastery and received the tonsure. After many years, however, they compelled him to go out against the king Penda; but he would only carry a staff in the battle, in which he was slain. The king Ecgric and his whole army fell with him. Anna succeeded, who was son of Eni, of the royal race, an excellent man, and the father of an excellent son. In the thirteenth year of Kenwald's reign, Penda the Strong attacked Anna, the king of the East-Angles, before named, to whom the verse of Lucan may be applied': "But Penda for destruction eager burns, Free passages and bloodless ways he scorns." Thus he rose with threatening aspect before the doomed host of King Anna :— "Fierce as a wolf, by hunger rendered bold, Prostrates the foremost of his cowering foes." So King Anna and his army fell quickly at the edge of the sword, and there was scarcely one who survived. Ethelhere succeeded his brother Anna, and was slain in his turn by Penda, Ethelwulf succeeding. The kingdom of EastAnglia having been plundered, Penda the Strong withdrew his army into Northumbria. In the fourteenth year of Kenwald [A.D. 655], Penda, who had slain others with the sword, himself fell by the sword; as it is written, "He who smiteth with the sword, shall perish by the sword."" Penda was slain by King Oswy near the river Winwed3, whence it is said: At the Winwed was avenged the slaughter of Anna, He was succeeded by his son Peda, the first of the kings of 1 Phars. ii. 439. 2 Matt. xxvi. 52. 3 The river Aire, near Leeds. Mercia who was baptized; and the people of Mercia, also called Midel-engle, that is, Middle-England, were by him and with him converted to the faith. He was slain shortly afterwards [A.D. 657], upon which Wulfere, his brother, reigned in his stead twenty years; a king who inherited the virtues of his family. At that time also was baptized Sigbert, king of Essex, that is, of the East-Saxons, who succeeded to that kingdom upon the death of Sigbert, surnamed the Little. [A.D. 658.] Kenwald, king of the West-Saxons, was compelled to fight the Britons near Pen'. For, learning that he had been conquered and driven from his kingdom by Penda the Strong, and concluding that he was ill-prepared for war, they mustered a great army, and commenced hostilities with great insolence. At the first onset, the English, for a time, gave way; but, as they dreaded flight more than death, and stood on their defence, the Britons were exhausted, their strength melted away like snow, and, turning their backs on the enemy, they fled from Pen even to Pedred2, and an incurable wound was inflicted that day on the race of Brute [A.D. 661]. Kenwald also, in the twentieth year of his reign, engaged in war with Wulfere, king of Mercia, who was son of Penda. For the king of Mercia3, inheriting his father's valour and good fortune, having put to flight and expelled the king of Wessex, marched through the enemy's country with a numerous army, and reduced and took possession of the Isle of Wight, which lies opposite. By his influence, Ethelwulf, king of Sussex, was first converted to the faith; and, receiving him from the laver of baptism, he conferred on him the Isle of Wight in token of his adoption; and that he might convert the inhabitants to the faith of Christ, he sent to him Eppa, a presbyter, to preach the Gospel: but at first he was unsuccessful. third year afterwards [A.D. 664], on the 3rd of May, there was an eclipse of the sun, followed by a grievous pestilence both in Britain and Ireland. That year, Erchenbert, king of Kent, together with Deusdedit, archbishop of Canterbury, died the same day. After that, Egbert, the 1 See Saxon Chronicle. Pen, near Gillingham, Dorset. 2 Petherton, on the Parret, in Somersetshire. 3 See Sax. Chron. The son of this king, reigned nine years in Kent; and Egbert king, and Oswy king, sent Wighard, the priest, to Rome, that he might be appointed archbishop [A.D. 667]. But, Wighard, dying while he was at Rome, the Pope Vitalian, consecrated in his stead Theodore the Great, archbishop, whose vigorous administration will be noticed in its place. [A.D. 670.] In the twenty-ninth year of the reign of Kenwald, the great king of Northumbria, Oswy, fell sick and died. Egfert, his son, who succeeded him, reigned fifteen years. Kenwald himself died in the thirty-first year of his reign [A.D. 672]. Upon his death, his wife Sexburgh, reigned one year. The preceding year, flights of birds in England encountered each other in a desperate fight. The same occurrence was repeated in my own time in Normandy during the reign of Henry [A.D. 1119], who is the first of the kings of England so named, and is thus distinguished from any future king of the same name. Birds were distinctly seen engaged in flight near Rouen, in such numbers that myriads of their dead bodies were found; and the foreign birds appeared to have been put to flight. This prodigy was considered to portend the battle between Henry, sovereign Lord of England and Normandy, and Lewis, son of Philip, king of France, in which the powerful King Henry was victorious, and Lewis was defeated and put to flight1. During Sexburgh's short reign, Egbert, king of Kent, died, and was succeeded by his son Lothaire, who reigned twelve years. In his time, Theodore the archbishop held a council at Thetford 2. Escwin also succeeded to the throne of Essex, but his reign was cut short by premature death. In his second year, however, he had a terrible battle with Wulfere, king of the Mercians3. [A.D. 675.] Inheriting the valour of his father and grandfather, the Mercian king had rather the better of it in the conflict, though both armies were severely handled, and on either side many thousand soldiers were sent to the shades below. We are led to reflect how worthless are human achievements, how perishable the warlike triumphs of kings and nobles, when we find that, The battle of Noyon, in which Henry was nearly killed by Crispin, a Norman officer. 3 See Sax. Chron. 2 Or "Heortford." of the two kings, who, for the sake of vain pomp and empty glory, inflicted such grievous sufferings on their country, the one, Wulfere, died from disease the same year, the other the year following. Ethelred succeeded him in the kingdom of Mercia. Escwin's reign in Wessex lasted only two years: Kentwin, who succeeded him, reigned nine years. The same year, Ethelred, the new king of Mercia, engaged in an expedition against Lothaire, king of Kent; upon which Lothaire, terrified by the hereditary renown of the Mercian king, shrunk from his approach, and did not venture to march against him. Ethelred, therefore, destroyed the city of Rochester, and, having overrun the whole of Kent, retired with an enormous booty. [A.D. 678.] In the third year of King Kentwin, a comet was seen during three months, which every morning shone with a brightness like that of the sun. The year following, Egfert, king of Northumbria, and Ethelred, king of Mercia, had a fierce battle near the Trent; in which was slain Alwin, brother of Egfert, a young noble1 dear to the people of both kingdoms, inasmuch as Ethelred had married his sister Osrith. It seemed now that the seeds were sown of a fierce contest and protracted hostilities between the two warlike nations and kings; but Theodore, a prelate beloved of God, by divine assistance succeeded by his salutary counsels in altogether extinguishing the flames which threatened to burst forth, so that the kings and people on both sides were appeased, without the forfeiture of a single life for the death of the brother of the Northumbrian king, whose revenge was satisfied by the payment of the regulated fine. For a long time afterwards the treaty of peace concluded between the two kings and their respective kingdoms continued unbroken. The same year died Ætheldrida, who was married to King Egfert, but continued to observe her vow of perpetual virginity. [A.D. 680.] In the seventh year of his reign, Kentwin engaged in war with the Britons, who, making a feeble defence, were furiously driven with fire and sword as far as the sea. About this time a council was held at Hatfield, by Theodore the archbishop. After the death of Kentwin, Cedwalla became king of Wessex [A.D. 685], who caused "The Etheling." the conquered Isle of Wight to be converted to the faith, to which he himself became a convert. All the kings of England, therefore, were now believers, and all parts of the land were blessed with the light and Christ. grace of "Of the In this Book, which might have for its title, arrival of the English," I have traced, so to speak, the labyrinth of English affairs while the people were still heathens, bringing them down from the time of the first invasion of Britain by the Saxons, until each of the kingdoms could boast of their illustrious kings, and each of the kings were illuminated by the glorious light of the gospel. And here I bring to a close the present Book, which, though the narrative is contained in a few words, yet describes a long succession of events, achievements, and wars. In the Book following, I propose to relate particularly who were the missionaries, by what exhortations, by what miracles, by what preaching, what kings, and in what order, our countrymen were converted to the faith of the Lord. The wars which have been described were carried on during the reigns of fourteen emperors, comprising a period of about 218 years: in the time of Marcian, who reigned 7 years; of Leo, who reigned 17 years; of Zeno, who also reigned 17 years; of Anastasius, who reigned 18 years; of Justin the elder, who reigned 8 years; of Justinian the elder, who reigned 38 years; of Justin the younger, who reigned 11 years; of Tiberius, who reigned 7 years; of Maurice, who reigned 21 years; of Phocas, who reigned 8 years; of Heraclius, who reigned 26 years; of Heracleon, who reigned 2 years; of Constantine, who reigned half a year; and of Constantine, his son, who reigned 38 years. I now propose to collect the names of all the kings of England to this era, which are scattered throughout the history, in short tables referring to each kingdom; which, it appears to me, so far from being tedious, will be clear and satisfactory to the reader1. 1 << In this recapitulation, the total of each series neither agrees with itself, nor with the truth. The kings of Kent, from Hengist to Baldred, filled a |