IX. 731. Wybba, reigned.52 In Essex, which was becoming СНАР. fast the satellite of Mercia, Suebricht had governed alone since his brother Offa went to Rome.53 In Kent, Eadbert had ascended the throne of Wihtred, whose laws remain to us.b4 In East Anglia, Aldulphus was succeeded by Selred; on his death, Alphuald, for a short time, inherited the sceptre. 52 Sax. Chron. 51. 59. Ing. 33. 55 Bede, lib. v. c. 24. He was the son of Alwion. 53 By mistake, Langhorn, 281., and Rapin, place Selred on the throne of Essex. Malmsb. 35.; Flor. Wig. 273. ; and Al. Beverl. 85., led them into the error. We learn from Huntingdon, that Selred was king of East Anglia, p. 339., whom the Chronicle of Mailros supports. Suebricht or Sueabred was king of Essex, and died 738. Mailros, p. 136. Sim. Dunelm. 100. A charter of his, dated 704, is in Smith's Appendix to Bede, p. 749. In another he signs with Sebbi and Sighear, ib. p. 748. Swithred reigned in Essex 758, Sim. Dun. 275. After a reign of thirty-four years and a half, Wihtred died in 725, and left Edilberct, Eadbert, and Alric his heirs. Bede, lib. v. c. 23. Eadbert reigned until 748. Sax. Chron. 56. or 749. Mailros, p. 137. Ethelbert until 760. Sax. Chron. 60., when the surviving brother, Alric, succeeded. Malmsbury, p. 11. After this period we find three kings again in Kent signing charters contemporaneously; as in 762 Sigiraed and Eadbert appear, in one charter, as kings of Kent; and in another, Eardulf; and in 765 Egebert signs a charter with the same title. Thorpe, Reg. Roffens. p. 16. So many kings, in so small a province as Kent, strikingly illustrate the gavel-kind tenure of lands which still prevails there. 55 In the synod at Hatfield in 680, Adulph was present. This was the seventeenth year of his reign. Bede, lib. iv. c. 17., and the Ely History, MSS. Cott. Nero. A. 15., state Aldulph to have been reigning in 679. The Chronicle of Mailros accurately places Selred after him, who died 747. Gale, Script. i. 137. Alphuald, the successor of Selred, died 749. ibid. Humbean and Albert divided the kingdom afterwards, ibid. Sim. Dun. 103. M. West names them Beorna and Ethelbert, p. 273. Bromton, p. 749. Flor. Wig. places Beorn in 758, p. 275. I hope these few last notes correctly state a very troublesome chronology. 725. 747. BOOK III. 728. Æthelheard in Wessex. Ethelbald in Mercia. CHAP. X. The History of the Octarchy, from the Death of INA to the ETHELHEARD, the kinsman of Ina, and a descendant The king of Mercia at this period, Ethelbald, was a man of elegant stature, a powerful frame, a warlike and imperious spirit. Persecuted in his youth by the king he had succeeded, and to whom he had 1 Sax. Chron. 52. Flor. Wig. 269. Ran. Higd. Chron. Petri de Burgo, p. 6., gives this date, which Ethelwerd, p. 837., also sanctions. Matt. West. p. 266. has 727; yet the expressions of Bede, a contemporary, imply the year 725. Smith's ed. p. 188., note. — A passage of Malmsbury, in his Antiq. Glast. Eccles. p. 312. promises to reconcile the contradictions. It states that Ina went twice to Rome. "Eodem anno quo idem rex Romam personaliter adiit, privilegium apostolico signaculo corroboratum in redeundo Glastoniam apportavit. Et postea iterum cum Ethelburga regina sua, instinctu ejusdem, Romam abiit."- Bede may have dated his first peregrination; the others his last. 2 Huntingd. 338. In the charter of Ina, transcribed by Malmsbury, Antiq. Glast. p. 312., Ethelheard signs frater reginæ. Oswald was the son of Ethelbald, of the race of Cerdic, through Cealwin and Cuthwin. Flor. Wig. 269. Sax. Chron. 53. The plural expression of Bede, taken in its natural force, seems to express that Ina left his crown to Oswald, as well as Ethelheard, “ipse relicto regno ac juvenioribus commendato," lib. v. c. 7. Brut y Saeson, and Brut y Tywysogion, 471, 472. 4 Sax. Chron. 55. The Chronicle of Mailros, a document valuable for its general accuracy, countenances Bede's date of Æthelheard's reign; it says, that in 740, after a reign of fourteen years, he died. Gale's Rer. Angl. Script. i. p. 136. CHAP. X. 530. been dangerous, he owed his safety to the secresy of his retreat. Here the pious Guthlac endeavoured to moralise his mind, and, in gratitude to the friend of his adversity, Ethelbald constructed the monastery of Croyland over his tomb.5 The military abilities of this Mercian king, procured him the same predominance over the other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which Egbert afterwards acquired. He subdued them all up to the Humber; and afterwards, in 737, invaded and conquered Northumbria.6 The Welsh next attracted his ambition; and, to annex the pleasant region between the Severn and the Wye to his Mercian territories, he entered Wales with a powerful army. At Carno, a mountain in Monmouthshire, the Britons checked his progress in a the Welsh. severe battle, and drove him over the Wye with great loss. But he afterwards marched another army against the Britons, in conjunction with Cuthred, who had succeeded Ethelheard in Wessex. The 743. great superiority of the Saxon forces obtained a de- Defeats cisive victory at Ddefawdan. After much plunder, the victors retired.8 The friendship between Ethelbald and Cuthred was not lasting. Cuthred wished to emancipate himself from the power of the Mercian, who, to keep Wessex in subjection, fomented its civil distractions. The son of Cuthred gave him this advantage. This impetuous youth attempted to depose his father, but 5 Ingulf. p. 2-4. To sustain the stony mass, an immense quantity of wooden piles was driven into the marsh; and hard earth was brought in boats nine miles, to assist in making the foundation. There is a MS. life of Guthlac, in the Cotton Library, Vesp. D. 21., in Saxon, by a monk named Alfric, and addressed to Alfwold, king of East Anglia. His beginning will show the respectful style used by the clergy to the sovereigns at that time. "Unum pealdende mht gelyrendum, a populd minum tham leopestan blafonde, oren ealle othpe men eopdlice Kýningar, Alppold East Angia Kyning, mid nilite et mid ge-pirenum pice healdend." MSS. ibid. 6 Hunt. lib. iv. p. 339, 340. Brut y Tywysogion, p. 472. 8 Ibid. Sax. Chron. 54. Flor. Wig. 272. Sax. Chron. 55. Mailros, p. 136., and Matt. West. 271., date the event in 744. 728. Wars with them. BOOK 748. Suppresses perished in the guilty struggle. Two years after, Cuthred suppressed a dangerous rebellion of Edelhun, one of his chieftains, whose extraordinary valour a rebellion. Would have conquered the superior numbers of the king, if in the hour of victory a wound had not disabled him.10 War between Cuthred and Ethelbald. 752. Cuthred, now presuming his power to be equal to the effort, disclaimed the intolerable exactions of Ethelbald, and resolved to procure the independence of Wessex, or to perish in the contest. At Burford, in Oxfordshire, the rival princes met. Cuthred was assisted by the brave Edelhun, who had now become a loyal subject; Ethelbald displayed the forces of Kent, East Anglia, and Essex, in joint array with his Mercians. Edelhun, advancing beyond his line, pierced the golden dragon ", the splendid banner of Mercia, and, animated by his intrepidity, the West Saxons uttered the shout of battle, and rushed to the charge. The chronicler describes with unusual warmth a conflict terrible to both armies. Ambition inflamed the friends of Mercia. The horrors of subjection made Wessex desperate. Slaughter followed the sword of Edelhun, and Ethelbald raged like a resistless fire. Their mutual fury brought the general and the king into personal collision; each collected his full vigour, and struck at the other with a power and determination that menaced destruction in every blow: but the king of Mercia at last discerned the superiority of his antagonist, and, preferring safety to glory, he gave to his yet struggling army the first example of a hasty flight.12 9 Sax. Chron. 55. Mailros, 137. Huntingdon, 341. His expression, that Ethelbald afflixit eum nunc seditionibus nunc bellis, implies that the insurrection was fostered by Mercia. "The ancient Wittichind describes the Saxon standard on the continent, as a representation of a lion and a dragon with an eagle flying above; intended to be symbols of their bravery, prudence, and rapidity, Hist. Sax. p. 6. 12 Huntingdon has preserved the circumstances of the battle, p. 341. It is also CHAP. X. The event of this conflict rescued Wessex from the yoke of Mercia, and established the foundation of that predominance which was afterwards improved into the conquest of the island. Cuthred again attacks the successfully invaded the country of the Welsh.13 753. Cuthred Welsh. succeeds. In 754, Cuthred died, leaving Wessex in a state of progress towards that superiority which, under the reign of Egbert, it finally attained. Sigebyrht succeeded 14; his reign was short, arrogant, and tyrannical; he perverted the laws to his convenience, or presumptuously violated them. When Cumbra, the Sigebyrht noblest of his earls, obeyed the solicitations of the people, and intimated their complaints to the king, he was arbitrarily put to death, and the grievances were multiplied. The nobles and the people assembled; after a careful deliberation, Sigebyrht was Is deposed, deposed from his authority by an unanimous decision, w and Cynewulf, a youth of the royal blood, was elected chosen. in his place. Deserted by all, the deposed king fled into the wood of Anderida: a swineherd of the murdered Cumbra discovered him in his hiding-place, and immediately slew him.15 and Cyne wulf 755. Ethelbald The long reign of Ethelbald, at one period so successful, terminated in calamity. His defeat by perishes. Wessex was never retrieved, and he perished at last by civil insurrection; by the same means of evil with which he had endeavoured to oppress Cuthred. Seggeswold the fatal battle ensued, for which he was not prepared, and Ethelbald fell, either by assassination or in the general slaughter. Bernred, who mentioned in Sax. Chron. 56. At Flor. Wig. p. 273. The Chron. of Mailros dates it, as the other events of this period, a year later, p. 137. A stone coffin was found near Burford, in December, 1814. 13 Sax. Chron. 56. Mailros, 137. The British Chronicles mention a battle at Henford in South Wales, about this time, where the Cymry triumphed. Brut y Tywys. 473. 14 Flor. Wig. 273. Sax. Chron. 56. this year. Cant-wara-burh, Canterbury, was burnt 15 Hunt. 341, 342. Malmsb. 15. Mailros, 137. Ethelwerd names the place of his death Pry fetesfleodan, p. 838. |