ATHELSTAN'S REFORMS.

237

his own nephew, whose youth had been spent in his Court. English kings before Athelstan had had relations with foreign princes; he is the first in whom we can trace a distinct foreign policy.

In the promotion of peace and order at home the King was notably active. There were local courts of justice, parts of the old English life, throughout the kingdom, but they were overridden by the usurpations and violence of powerful nobles. Athelstan set himself to correct this abuse by giving more power to the superior justice which proceeded from himself. "If any be so rich or of such great kindred that he cannot be kept back from robbery or the defence of robbers, let him be taken out of that part of the country, with wife and child, and all his goods, into that part of the kingdom that the King wills." Anticipations of modern Poor Laws are to be found in the provision made for the support of one poor Englishman on every two of the King's farms, and for the redemptions of those whom debt or offence had brought into a state of slavery. The "masterless men, the "sturdy beggars" of a latter age, the “vagrants,” who are so well known to ourselves, were not forgotten. Every man that had neither property nor lord to answer for him had to be placed under a lord. Strong regulations were made against theft, which was to be punished with a severity that long remained a blot on English laws.'

Markets and trade generally were put under strict regulation. Attention was also paid to the coinage

1 As late as 1827 the stealing of goods to the value of a shilling from a dwelling-house was punishable with death or transportation.

of money, which thenceforward was only to be carried on at certain places. Another institution of English life, to which Athelstan gave new force, is strange to modern society. This was the "frith-gild," or peaceclub, as it may be translated. The old custom of

"frank pledge" had been one in which a man freely engaged with his neighbour to join with him in working for certain objects that concerned the public good. This grew up, under the encouragement of Athelstan and other kings, into the regular system of "peace-clubs." Every member of them swore to help his associates in all cases of need. They were leagues against violence and fraud, benefit clubs, and burial clubs.2

Athelstan survived his great victory at Brunanburgh three years. He died on October 20, 940, and was buried at Malmesbury. His tomb is still to be seen 3 in the splendid Abbey Church, which is all that remains of the great monastery. He was but forty-six years of age. Again and again we find England suffering grievous loss from the early death of some of her ablest kings.

I ought, perhaps, to except "Vigilance Committees," bodies which have been long familiar in some parts of the United States, and which are beginning to be known in England.

2 On the Continent, where the Roman law, always adverse to voluntary associations, had a firmer hold, these " peace-clubs were put down with much severity.

3 The tomb itself is comparatively modern.

EDMUND I. AND EDRED.

EDMUND, half-brother of Athelstan, and youngest son of Edward the Elder, was but eighteen years of age when he came to the throne. Nevertheless, three years before he had fought by his brother's side at Brunanburgh. In those days, and indeed for long afterwards, Englishmen of royal and noble race ripened early. It was at fifteen, when a boy is now thought but just old enough for a great school, that Edward the Black Prince won the battle of Creçy.

It was no easy work that the young Edmund had to do. Athelstan had set over Northumbria a Norwegian prince, Eric of the Bloody Axe. "Eric," says Mr. Green, "is one of the few figures who stand. out distinct for us from the historic darkness which

covers the north." I "Stout and comely, strong and very manly, a great and lucky man of war, but evilminded, gruff, unfriendly, and silent." 2 He was in name a Christian, but he followed the ways of his heathen countrymen." As he had little land, "he went on a cruise every summer, and plundered in

Shetland and the Hebrides." When Athelstan was dead Eric felt himself unsafe. He took to his ships, and set off on another cruise for plunder. The Danes of Northumbria sent for Anlaf, and when he came in 941 broke out into open revolt. They were joined by their kindred in Mercia, and in the following year found a powerful supporter in Wulfstan, Archbishop of York. Anlaf and Wulfstan, for the archbishop seems to have taken the field in person, led the Danish army into the dominions of Edmund. At first the English were worsted, suffering in particular a severe defeat at Tamworth. Then they recovered themselves. Mercia and the Five Boroughs 1 fell into their hands; with Leicester Anlaf and Wulfstan were almost taken prisoners. Then a treaty was concluded, the negotiators being the two archbishops, Wulfstan and Odo, both of them, strangely enough, of Danish, or half Danish, extraction. By this Edmund gave up to Anlaf all the country north of Watling Street. The Danish king was to acknowledge Edmund as his overlord; but this was a matter of form, and, for the time, at least, England was reduced to the dimensions which it had sixty years before.

But the time was short. Anlaf died very soon after the conclusion of the treaty, and his dominions were divided between another Anlaf (son of Sihtric 2) and Regnault (son of Guthfrith). They enjoyed their power, however, but for a short time. In 944 Edmund drove them both out, and the Dane-law again became part of England.

I

By this name were known the five towns of Derby, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford, and Leicester, which had formed a confederacy in the early days of Alfred's reign.

2

See p. 231.

66

HE HARRIED ALL CUMBRIA."

241

In the same year the English king still further strengthened his position. The Britons of Strathclyde or Cumbria had been among the foes of Athelstan at Brunanburgh, and they had taken the occasion of Edmund's weakness to plunder the country to the south. It was against them, however, that he turned his arms as soon as the Danes were disposed of. "He harried all Cumbria," and handed it over, when it was conquered, to Malcolm I. of Scotland, son of that Constantine who had barely escaped with his life from the defeat of Brunanburgh. It was a wise act, for Cumbria gave no trouble to the kings of England for many years thereafter.

After a reign of scarcely six years, this young prince, who had shown such signal proofs of ability as a soldier and a statesman, came to a violent end— another instance of the unhappy fate which cut off so many of the best English kings in the very midst of their work. He was keeping the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury (May 26th) at Pucklechurch, in Gloucestershire, when an outlawed robber, Leofa by name, insolently entered the hall, and took his seat at the King's table. The cupbearer attempted to put him out, and Leofa drew his sword on him. The King rushed to the help of his servant, seized Leofa by the hair, and threw him to the ground; but the robber, as he fell, drew a dagger from his belt, and stabbed Edmund to the heart.

Edmund's sons were but children, and he was succeeded by his brother Edred, another able ruler, but short-lived like the rest of his house. The great event of his reign was what may be called the final