for a reserve. After exhorting them to do their best for country and home, he gave the signal for battle. Edmund himself was everywhere, directing as a general and fighting as a soldier. The enemy, with whom were ranged the men of Hampshire and Wiltshire under Edric, were too strong to be repulsed, and the battle was undecided. It was renewed next day. Edmund made a gallant attempt to strike down Canute himself. He succeeding in cleaving his rival's shield, and in wounding his horse. Overpowering numbers then forced him to retire. It was then, according to the narrative of the battle, that the traitor, Edric, holding up the head of one Osmar, who was strangely like to Edmund, cried out to the men of Dorset and Devon, that their king was slain, and bade them submit. Edmund, however, showed himself to his troops, and stopped the panic. The second day left the battle still undecided, but Canute broke up his camp that night, and returned to London. To London Edmund followed him, and succeeding in raising the siege of that city He won another victory over the Danes at Brentford. something drew him off to the West. He returned, and again vanquished the enemy at Otford, in Kent, and so, says the Chronicler, would have utterly destroyed them, but that Edric kept him at Eglesford. What means he used we do not know, and cannot guess. The Chroniclers seem to have attributed all failures and reverses to this malignant influence.

Then

The last and greatest battle of the war was fought at Aslingdon, in South-eastern Essex. Edmund drew up his force in three lines, and at first stood on

THE BATTLE OF ASLINGDON.

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Then

the defensive. But Canute, though urged by Thorkill to attack, was too cautious to do so. When he began to move, it was seemingly to make his way to his ships, the very thing which Edmund was eager to prevent. When he saw this, therefore, he gave the signal for battle, and charged down the hill upon the enemy. He led the attack himself, and charged the enemy, sword in hand, like a thunderbolt, as one of the Chroniclers expresses it. The Danes began to give ground before this furious onset, and it seemed as if a really decisive victory might be won. the bad genius of England intervened. "Edric took flight with the men of Herefordshire, and betrayed his natural lord and the whole English people." It is an inexplicable mystery how the traitor was fighting on the English side, and, it would seem, in high command. The English still held out, but it was with a weakened and broken line. The battle was not ended by darkness. When the moon rose English and Danes were still engaged in the struggle. At last victory plainly declared for the invaders, and the English fled in all directions, Edmund himself hastening from the field. Some of the noblest chiefs of England fell on that fatal day, among them Ulfkytel, the brave East Anglian whom we have seen twice doing battle with the Danes. Great Churchmen, too, were slain on the field of battle, the Bishop of Dorchester, and Wulfrig, Abbot of Ramsey, among them.

Edmund was still unvanquished. He raised another army, and prepared to fight again for his throne. But the nobles were weary of battle, and persuaded him to make peace. The two kings met on a little island in

the Severn, and there agreed to a partition of the kingdom, Edmund was to have Southern, Canute Northern England.

It was but for a short time that this partition remained in force. On St. Andrew's Day (Nov. 30th), Edmund Ironsides died. The cause of death is uncertain. He had done enough in the last few months of his life to exhaust the powers even of a healthy man, and we know that the princes of his house were not healthy. Of course his death was attributed to violence; equally of course Edric was named as the murderer. He was buried at Glastonbury by the side of his grandfather, Edgar the Peaceable.

CANUTE.

It is impossible to say what were really the terms of the treaty by which England was divided between Canute and Edmund-were these thereafter to be two kingdoms, handed down to the heirs of each prince? or was the survivor of the two to inherit the whole ? Canute contended for the latter view, and summoned a great assembly of nobles and Churchmen to meet at London for the settlement of the question. Some of these great personages had been present at the making of the treaty. They swore-for the treaty itself does not seem to have been produced-that Edmund had made no stipulation as to the succession of his brother, and that he had provided for the interests of his children, by arranging that Canute should be their guardian till they reached their majority. This settled the question of the succession, and Canute was acknowledged without further difficulty as King of England. Early in the next year (1017) he was solemnly crowned at London. He received the usual vows of obedience from his new subjects, and swore in return that he would rule them justly. All enmity between Englishmen and Danes

I

was to cease, all past grudges were to be forgotten. The brother of the late king, the Atheling Edric, was outlawed, and his children were sent out of the country-first to Olaf of Sweden, and from him to Stephen, King of Hungary. There still remained. a possible enemy in Emma, the widow of Ethelred, who, with her children, was now living at the Court of her brother, Richard of Normandy. Canute made her an offer of marriage, which she did not hesitate to accept. There was no little difference in their ages, for Emma had become the wife of Ethelred when her second husband was but seven years of age. But the "Gem of the Normans" was, doubtless, still beautiful, and Canute may have been moved by dove as well as by policy in offering her marriage. Emma made no effort to secure the rights of her children by her first husband. It was stipulated that the crown of England should descend to any heir whom she might bear to Canute. When in the course of the year the outlawed Edric came to his end 2 Canute felt himself secure on his new throne, as far as rivals of the English royal house were concerned. But there were still persons of whom he was anxious to rid himself. It was not long before Edric

It was said that Canute wished Olaf to put these children to death, as likely afterwards to become troublesome claimants of the throne. Olaf was unwilling either to commit this crime, or to offend his powerful neighbour by protecting possible rivals, and sent them to Hungary. Edmund, the elder of the two, married one of Stephen's daughters, and died in early manhood without children; of the younger, Edward, we shall hear again.

2 According to the more commonly accepted account, he was assassinated by order of Canute. William of Malmesbury declares that he returned secretly to England, and died of grief.