VI.

924.

CHAP. II.

The Reign of ATHELSTAN.

BOOK IMMEDIATELY after Edward's interment, EthelAthelstan. ward, the eldest son of his first marriage, the pattern of the illustrious Alfred, in manners, countenance, and acquisitions, was taken away from the hopes of his countrymen.' On his death the Anglo-Saxon sceptre was given by the witenagemot to Athelstan, and he was crowned at Kingston. He was thirty years of age at his accession. His father's will directed the choice of the approving nobles.2

3

ATHELSTAN, the eldest but illegitimate son of Edward, was born in Alfred's lifetime. He could be only six years of age when his grandfather died, and yet, interested by his beauty and manners, Alfred had invested him prematurely with the dignity of knighthood, and given him a purple vestment, a jewelled belt, and a Saxon sword, with a golden sheath. His aunt, Ethelfleda, joined with her husband in superintending his education; and the attainments of Athelstan reflected honour on their attentions.4

1 Malms. 46. Flor. 347. Sax. Ch. 111. Malmsbury says, the prince died in a few days after his father. The MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. b. iv. particularises sixteen days, "rythe hɲade then zefon ymbe 16 dazar æt OxanƑopda."

2 Malmsb. 48, 49.

3 His mother was a shepherd's daughter of extraordinary beauty. Malmsb. 52. Bromton, 831. Matt. West. 351. She is called Egwina, illustris femina, by H. Silgrave, MS. Cleop. A. 12., and in J. Bever's Chron. MSS. Harl. 641. It was her daughter who married Sigtryg. 4 Malmsb. 49.

Ibid.

THE Anglo-Saxon sovereign became a character

CHAP.

II.

of dignity and consequence in Europe, in the per- Athelstan. son of Athelstan. His connections with the most respectable personages on the Continent give to his reign a political importance.

SIGTRYG, the son of Ingwar', and grandson of Ragnar Lodbrog, was a reigning king in Northumbria at the accession of Athelstan. He is chiefly known in the Saxon annals, for having murdered his brother; and in Irish history, for his piratical depredations. He, therefore, deserves the character of barbarian, both in mind and in nation. 8 Athelstan, however, to conciliate his friendship during the first years of his government, gave him his own sister in marriage. Their nuptials were celebrated with magnificence. Perhaps the circumstance of the king's birth, and the existence of legitimate brethren, disposed him to court the alliance, rather than to encounter the enmity, of the Anglo-Danes, while his power was young. Sigtryg embraced Christianity on the occasion; but soon repenting, put away his wife, and resumed his idolatry. 10 Roused by the insult, Athelstan

9

5 He is named the son of Ivar in the Annals of Ulster. See them, p. 65, 66, 67.

6 914. Niel rex occisus est a fratre Sihtrico. Sim. Dun. 133. So Huntingdon, 354. The Annals of Ulster contain a similar incident, which they date in 887, p. 65. They call the brother Godfred. Whether this is a misnomer, or whether Sigtryg perpetrated two fratricides, I cannot decide.

7 See the Annals of Ulster.

8 So Malmsbury entitles him, gente et animo barbarus, p. 50. 9 Hoveden, 422. Flor. 328. The MS. Chronicle, Tib. b. iv. mentions the place and the day of this marriage. It says that the two kings met and concluded the nuptials at Tamworth, on 30th of January, "925, hæp Æthelstan cyning J Sihepic Nopchymbpa cyning heo geramnodon æt Tamepopthehige, 3 kal. Febpuapn J Æthelstan hir rpeostop him fopgear." MSS. Tib. b. iv. 10 Matt. West. 360.

924.

VI. Athelstan.

BOOK prepared to attack him; but Sigtryg died before he invaded. 11 11 His sons fled before the king; the warlike Anlaf into Ireland, and Godefrid into Scotland.

924.

ATHELSTAN pursued Godefrid; he sent messages to Eugenius, king of the Cumbri, and to Constantine, king of the Scots, to demand the fugitives. The Scottish prince obeyed the necessity, and came with homage to England. Godefrid, with a friend, escaped during the journey; and endeavoured, but in vain, to interest York in his favour. Retiring from this city, he was besieged, but again eluded the danger. His friend perished at sea; the prince, after as much misery on the waters as upon land, submitted to Athelstan, and was honourably received at his court. Four days' enjoyment satiated him with the charms of civilised life. His early habits impelled him to abandon that tranquillity which is so grateful to the cultured mind, and he fled to maritime piracy.

12

ATHELSTAN exerted his power with an effect to which Edward's superiority had never reached. He drove Ealdred from Bebbanburh, demolished the castle at York 13, and added Northumbria to his paternal dominions. 14

14

11 926. Sihtricus vita decessit. Flor. 348. The Annals of Ulster express it thus: "926, Sigtryg O'Ivar died in his old age,” p. 67. 12 Malmsb. 50.

13 Malmsb. 50. In Edward's reign, Reginwald, a pagan king, came with a great fleet and conquered York. Two of his leaders are mentioned, Scula, and the cruel Onlafbald, to whom he gave possessions. He drove out Aldred and his brother, and defeated Constantine. Ibid. 74. Sim. Dun. 23. This was in 919. Ibid. 133. Reginwald had before attacked Dublin. Ibid. In 921, he submitted to Edward. Ibid. 153. The Annals of Ulster state, in 917, that the Gals, from Ireland, attacked the Scotch, and Northern Saxons, and that Reginald M'Beolach, one of the leaders of the Gals, attacked the Scotch and Saxons in the rear with great slaughter, p.66 14 Matt. West. 360. Flor. 348. The MS. Tib. b. iv. gives a

II.

924.

BUT Athelstan was not permitted to enjoy his CHAP. triumph unmolested. The Northmen chieftains Athelstan. saw that the progress of Athelstan's power was advancing to their complete subjection. The states on the Baltic were still full of fierce and active adventurers who had to seek fame and fortune in other regions; and descendants of Ragnar Lodbrog yet existed, both enterprising and popular. These circumstances occasioned a great effort to be made against Athelstan, which not only threatened to emancipate Northumbria from his authority, but to overwhelm his inherited government. The greatness of the confederacy and the preparations by which it was supported, excited great attention in Europe, as well as in England. It is narrated in a Northern Saga, as well as in the English Chronicles; and, from a careful comparison of all the documents, the following facts seem to be an authentic detail.

15

IN 934, Athelstan had ravaged Scotland with his army, as far as Dunfoeder and Wertmore, while his fleet spread dismay to Caithness. Constantine was then unable to withstand the storm, but he prepared for a day of retaliation. Anlaf also, the son of Sigtryg, though he had obtained a

passage in Saxon not in the printed Chronicle, but of the same import with the Latin of Florence, ad an. 926. On comparing the two MS. Chronicles of Tib. b. i. and Tib. b. iv. I find that they contain in several places passages which are no where else preserved, but in Florence, or Matthew of Westminster, Hoveden, or in Huntingdon. The Annals of these writers and of Ethelwerd, seem, therefore, to be but Latin translations of Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, some of which are now lost.

15 Mailros, 147. Sax. Chron. 111. Sim. Dun. 134. The cause of the invasion was Constantine's violation of his treaty. The Scottish king gave up his son as an hostage, with many presents. Sax. Chron. 349.

934.

VI. Athelstan.

934.

his

BOOK Sovereignty in Ireland, was planning to regain power in Northumbria. In Wales, the princes, humbled by Athelstan 16, were ready to co-operate for the diminution of his strength. The AngloDanes (as, for convenience and dispatch, we will hereafter term the descendants of the Northern colonists of Northumbria and East Anglia), beheld with displeasure the preponderance of the Saxon sovereign, and the petty state of Cumbria had no choice but to follow the impulse of the potent neighbours who surrounded it. All these powers confederated" against Athelstan, and the united mass of their hostilities was increased by fleets of warriors from Norway and the Baltic. 18 By an attack of this magnitude, it seemed a certain calculation that the single force of Athelstan must be overthrown. England had never been assailed before with a confederacy of so much power, formed with so much skill, and consisting of so many parts.

SUCH a combination of hostility could not be

16 Florence mentions the prior subjection of Huwal, king of the West Britons, and Wer, the king of Gwent, in 926, p. 348. Matt. West. names these princes Hunwall and Wilferth, p. 360.

17 The members of the confederacy are stated from Ingulf, 29. 37.; Flor. Wig. 349.; Sax. Ch. 111-114.; Hoveden, 422.; and the Egilli-Saga, in Johnston's Celto Scandicæ, p. 31. Florence, Alured Bev. and Hoveden, say, that Constantine incited Anlaf to the attempt.

18 The British Chronicle in the Cotton Library, MS. Cleopatra, b. v. says, "Ac ý doeth gwyr Denmarc ý geisiaw goresgyn yr ynys y arnaw. "And the men of Denmark came who sought to conquer the island from him." It adds, "Ac ý rodes ynter kyffranc ydunt ac yny kyffranc hwnnw y llas brenhin yr yscottieit, phýmp brenhin o Denmarc." "And he gave them battle, and in this battle were slain the king of Scotland, and five kings of Denmark." This Chronicle ends near the year 1200. The Saxon song mentions Nortmanna to have been in the battle. "Thæp geflemes peapth Nopchmanna

bpezu," p. 113. The Annals of Ulster call the struggle, a great and destructive war between the Saxons and Normans," p. 67. So Hunt. mentions Froda as ductor Normannus, p. 354. Ingulf mentions Danorum and Norreganorum, 37.