III. that the papal rescript had been procured by CHAP. bribery, or falsified by his contrivance. Wearied at last with his constancy, and harassed by the importunities of the abbess Ebba, they consented to his enlargement, but on the condition that he should bind himself by an oath never more to set his foot within the dominions of Egfrid. Wilfrid retired into Mercia. From Mercia he was driven by the intrigues of his persecutors into Wessex; and from Wessex was compelled to seek an asylum among the pagans of Sussex. Edilwalch their king took him under his protection: and the exile repaid the benefit by diffusing among his subjects the doctrines of the gospel. The South-Saxons were the last people of the octarchy who embraced christianity." wars and death. 679. Though the royal families of Northumbria Egfrid's and Mercia were allied by marriage, their union had been broken by the ambition of Egfrid. The hostile armies met on the Trent: their valour was wasted in a dubious conflict; and peace was restored by the paternal exhortations of Theodore. Elfwin, the brother of Egfrid, had fallen in the battle: and as the honour of the king compelled him to demand compensation, he was persuaded to accept the legal were instead of prolonging hostilities for the uncertain purpose of vengeance. Afterwards, in the year preced 6 Edd. xxxiii-xl. Bed. iv. 13. v. 19. 7 Edd. xxiii. Bed. iv. 21. 684. III. 685. CHAP. ing his death, he dispatched Beorht, a warlike and sanguinary chieftain, to ravage the coast of Ireland. Of his motives for this expedition we are not informed. Bede assures us that the Irish were a harmless and friendly people. To them many of the Angles had been accustomed to resort in search of knowledge, and on all occasions had been received kindly, and supported gratuitously. Beorht requited their hospitality by ravaging their country, and burning their towns, churches, and monasteries. The natives, unable to repel the invader by force, implored on the author of their wrongs the vengeance of heaven: and their imprecations were believed to be fulfilled in the following year by the unfortunate death of Egfrid. Against the advice of his council the king led an army into the territory of the Picts. Brude, the Pictish king, prudently retired before a superior enemy, till his pursuers had entangled themselves in the defiles of the mountains. At Drumnechtan was fought a battle, which proved most fatal to the Northumbrians: few escaped from the slaughter: Egfrid himself was found on the field by the conquerors, and honourably interred in the royal cemetery in the isle of Hii. The Picts, and Scots, and some tribes of the Britons, took advantage of this opportunity to recover their independence: Trumwin, whom Egfrid had appointed bishop at Abercorn, fled with his clergy into the south; and of the Saxon settlers all, III. who had not the good fortune to make a preci- CHAP. pitate escape, were put to the sword, or consigned to perpetual slavery.8 Egfrid had left no issue by Ermenburga; and Aldfrid. the Northumbrian thanes offered the crown to Aldfrid, the reputed but illegitimate son of Oswio. During the last reign he had retired to the western isles, and had devoted the time of his exile to study under the instruction of the Scottish monks. His proficiency obtained for him from his contemporaries the title of the learned king. Though a pacific disposition, and the diminished power of the kingdom, did not permit him to assume the superiority, which had been posseseed by several of his predecessors, he reigned respected by his neighbours, beloved by his subjects, and praised by the learned whom he patronised. If he conducted in person any military expedition, it has escaped the notice of historians but the celebrated Beorht, by his order or with his permission, attempted to obliterate the disgrace, which the late defeat had brought on the Northumbrian arms; and, like the unfortunate Egfrid, lost in the attempt both his life and his army.9 In the second year of his reign, Aldfrid, at the recommendation of archbishop Theodore, had restored Wilfrid to his bishopric and possessions. The reconciliation was not lasting. Bed. iii. 27. iv. 26. Edd. xliii. Chron. Sax. 45. Sim. Dun. Hist. ecc. Dun. p. 48. 9 Bed. v. 24. 687. III. CHAP. The prelates who had been expelled by the restoration of Wilfrid, acquired the confidence of the king: Brihtwald, the successor of Theodore, was induced to favour their cause; and the persecuted bishop was compelled to appeal a second time to the justice of Rome. He returned with a papal testimonial of his innocence: but Aldfrid refused to see him, and he sheltered himself under the protection of Coenred of Mercia. Aldfrid died in 705: and in his last moments regretted his treatment of Wilfrid, and bequeathed to his successor the charge of doing justice to the injured prelate. A compromise, satisfactory to all parties, was effected in the course of the same year.10 705. Succession of Nor Hitherto the actions, and abilities of the Northumbrian thumbrian princes have demanded a more ample kings. space: a few pages may suffice for the history of their successors, which will present nothing to the reader but one continued scene of perfidy, treason and murder. At the death of Aldfrid, his son Osred was eight years old. The ealdorman Eadulf usurped the sceptre, and besieged the royal infant in Bamborough: but the people espoused the cause of Osred, and the usurper, after a tumultuous reign of two months, paid the forfeit of his treason. Berctfrid assumed the guardianship of the king, and chastised the incursions of the Picts in a bloody battle fought 711. 10 Bed. v. 19. Edd. xlii-lviii. III. 716. 729. 731: near the wall. But Osred soon emancipated CHAP. himself from the restraint of his tutor: and the ungovernable youth was slain in his nineteenth year on the banks of Winandermere, in an attempt to suppress a dangerous insurrection headed by his kinsmen, the two brothers Canred and Osric. Cænred possessed the throne two years, Osric eleven, at whose death it descended to Ceolwulf the brother of his predecessor. The learning and piety of Ceolwulf are attested by venerable Bede: but he possessed neither the vigour nor the authority requisite for his station. In the second year of his reign, he was seized, shorn, and shut up in a monastery. From this confinement he escaped, reascended the throne, and learned amid the splendid cares of royalty to regret the tranquillity which he had reluctantly possessed in the cloister. After a reign of eight years, he voluntarily resigned the sceptre, and embraced the monastic profession at Lindisfarne. He was succeeded by his cousin Eadbert, who during a reign of one-and-twenty years enlarged the territory, and revived for a while the ancient glory of the Northumbrians. The Picts and Mercians felt the superiority of his arms: and with the assistance of Ouengus, the Pictish king, he took Dunbarton from the Britons, and added Cyil to his dominions. In his old age he imitated his 11 Mailros, 139. Sim. Dun. 100. 737. |