THE END
The day had been passed delightfully, hunting in the forests at the
bases of Cheviot Hill and Yeavering Bell. The royal party had assembled
at a trysting-place for an early supper, and was now riding home to
Adgefrin. Edwin looked splendid in his hunting-dress, with his golden
locks falling from a light cap, and his fair beard resting on the
darker leathern coat. He was superbly mounted, and in one hand he held
a hunting-horn. His eyes brightened with pride as he glanced at his
gallant young sons, Offrid and Eadfrid. Close behind him rode Osric and
his young son Oswin. Then followed Coelred, Porlor, and Godric, with
Froda and other faithful retainers bringing up the rear. Alas! it was
the good King's last hour of pleasure. The joyous laughter of the young
Athelings rang through the glades as the cavalcade reached home.
Sivel was at the gate, his face full of anxiety, his horse covered with
foam and ready to drop. He brought certain news that Penda, the King
of Mercia, was marching across the country of the Gainas with a large
army, and had given a defiant answer to a messenger who had been sent
to ask the cause of his invasion. In a few days he would be on the Don.
Cadwalla was known to have an equally large force in motion, and Bassus
was sending out scouts to ascertain his position day by day. He had
also summoned the Deiran tribes to meet at York.
Edwin sorrowfully remembered the timely warning of his faithful
general. Fresh horses were ordered, and the King set out at once,
accompanied by the four paladins and his two sons. Osric undertook to
guard the Queen, Paulinus, and the children, and to escort them as
quickly as possible to Aldby. The King reached York in the first week
of October 633. Still worse news awaited him. Cadwalla, with an immense
army, had crossed the moors from Chester, and was marching rapidly with
the apparent object of forming a junction with Penda. In a hurried
consultation Bassus pointed out that every hour was of moment, as the
only hope was in engaging the two armies in detail, before they were
in touch of each other. But the Northumbrian force was very small, and
there was no time to wait for reinforcements. Bassus wished to attend
on the King's person, but Edwin insisted that he must remain at York.
"If anything happens to me," he said, "who is to guard my wife and
children, who is to save the kingdom if you fall by my side?" Bassus
reluctantly yielded. He was to strive to form a second army at York,
and guard the Queen.
Edwin left York with a small but valiant force, commanded by himself
in person, Coelred, Porlor, Godric, Sivel, the two Athelings, and the
principal thegns of Deira. He felt confident that he could dispose
of Penda if he could engage him before the arrival of Cadwalla. All
depended upon that. At the ford of Nehalennia loyal old Saebald joined
the King with his Billingas. But news also came that Cadwalla was
already advancing down the valley of the Calder. Edwin increased the
rapidity of his marches to the Don.
Hatfield Chase was a vast extent of lake and morass on the lower
course of the Don, overgrown with reeds and other water plants, and
dotted with islands covered with trees and frequented by deer in great
numbers. Penda led his army across this labyrinth, from island to
island, wading and sometimes swimming. He had just escaped from his
difficulties and drawn up the forces of Mercia on the firm land, when
the well-marshalled army of Edwin came in sight. They passed the night
facing each other, with the camp fires of both sides visible, and next
morning they joined battle.
Edwin rose at dawn and called his chiefs around him. "We must beat the
Mercians," he said, "before our other enemies arrive, or we are lost.
It is in the hands of God. If it is His will I will die on this field
fighting for the right. But keep the men in good heart. Friends and
brothers, never in the world's history had king such faithful servants!
Living or dying, our hopes, our aims, are one. True and loyal friends,
we stand or fall together." He embraced his sons, his four surviving
paladins, and the venerable Saebald, whose hair was now white with
age. He was seventy-three. They then all knelt down and received the
sacrament from James the Deacon, who offered up prayers for the good
men and true who were to fight that day in a righteous cause. It was
the morning of the 14th of October 633.
Edwin's army was in three divisions. He entrusted the right to Godric
and Saebald, with his son Offrid. Porlor and Eadfrid commanded the
left. The King and Coelred were in the centre. Sivel was well mounted,
and undertook to bring news to the King from the two wings and to carry
orders. The whole line advanced bravely to the attack, the numbers of
the two armies being about equal, but Penda had his back to the swamps.
Both sides fought most valiantly. At last the Mercians began to give
way. Porlor had actually driven a large body into the swamps. The day
appeared to be won. At this critical moment Sivel galloped up to report
that the Welshmen under Cadwalla were in sight, and rushing down upon
the rear of the English right flank in overwhelming numbers. Edwin was
obliged to order two-thirds of his force, under Godric and Saebald, to
face round and advance to meet the Welsh. Before leaving with these
orders, Coelred called Sivel aside, and entreated him, by their sacred
friendship, to save his life. "One of us must survive," he said. "The
safety of the widows and children will be in your keeping. My Sivel,
you must live on." They pressed each other's hands, and Sivel galloped
off with his orders.
Penda now saw that the force opposed to him was so weakened that it
was less than half his own strength. He rallied his men, and a terrible
slaughter commenced. The Deirans fell where they stood. None fled.
There was not a man who was not ready to die for his beloved King.
Porlor had closed up from the left, and the brothers were now fighting
by the side of Edwin. At this moment Froda arrived with the appalling
news that Godric, Saebald and his sons, and Offrid had all been slain,
and that the right wing was falling back, overwhelmed by numbers.
"Froda, my true friend," said Coelred, "go at speed to the Humber bank,
where you will find one of my boats. Hurry to Hemingborough and to
Stillingfleet. Tell the ladies to fly with the children to Driffield in
the Wolds. Then speed to York and announce the tidings to Bassus that
all is lost. Remember that, when we are dead, Froda the son of Tanwin
is chief of the Stillingas." The young man knelt down, kissed the hands
of the King, of Coelred, and Porlor, then galloped off in the direction
of the Humber.
The very thick of the fight now centred round the King and his two
paladins. Their brave men had fallen in heaps. Not one yielded an inch
of ground. Edwin retreated fighting until he had a bank about six
feet high, covered with tangled briers, at his back. Here he made his
last stand. He wielded his sword like a true Viking, but at length a
spear-thrust dealt him a mortal wound. He fell. Coelred and Porlor
now stood over the body of their King--their backs to the bank, and
half surrounded by the foe. It was not the Berserker rage that flashed
from their eyes, yet something as terrible. It was the righteous wrath
of brave men who foresee the ruin of a great cause. Their blows were
dealt with deadly force and with deadly skill. Before the death-dealing
strokes their assailants recoiled and paused more than once. In such
moments the brothers clasped hands and exchanged a few words. Then
again their swords flashed right and left with lightning speed, dealing
death around. Penda himself had been carried away, sorely wounded.
There was a semicircle of Mercian dead round the hero brothers, as
they protected the body of their King. Another pause. "The Valkyrie
have chosen us at last, my Porlor," said Coelred. "They are carrying
us away." "To Christ," continued Porlor. Then they both quoted the
words of Alca spoken long ago when they were little boys. "We fall in
battle, fighting in a righteous cause." These were their last words.
There were loud yells and shouts, and an irresistible rush of spearmen,
for no sword could touch them. They both fell dead across the body
of the King, which they had defended so long and so valiantly. Their
hands were clasped, their faces turned to heaven. The battle swept
away in another direction, and there was silence. Brambles and ivy and
the straggling branch of an overhanging yew tree, through which the
sunbeams found their way in flickering light, shaded the mortal remains
of three heroes, three among the chief makers of England.
[Illustration: King Edwin. Coelred, and Porlor Slain]
* * * * *
"All is lost!" Froda had realised the fears of Bassus. No hope.
Few men had come to his standard. The time was too short. There was
no choice for the Queen but immediate flight. The three widows at
Hemingborough and Stillingfleet had escaped, with the children, to the
fortified post of Driffield on the Wolds. Bassus hastily got one of
Coelred's finest vessels ready, and the Queen, with the three children,
Eanflaed, Wuscfrea, and Iffi, came from Aldby. Paulinus was at York,
and said that he would accompany the Queen to Kent. "Are you not Bishop
of York?" said Bassus with surprise. "Is not your duty here? The Queen
is safe with me." "My duty is to accompany the Queen," replied York's
first bishop, who wanted a safer see. "Coward!" muttered Bassus. "He
deserts at the first hint of danger, like the monks sent by Gregory,
like Mellitus and Justus when they ran away from Canterbury." Unknown
to Bassus, Edwin's golden chalice and cross belonging to the church at
York were appropriated by Paulinus, who wished to make his appearance
in Kent more acceptable by the presentation of these treasures.
Cadwalla would scarcely have perpetrated such an act as this. So
Ethelburga and her children, and her timid bishop, sailed for Kent
under the protection of Bassus.
They arrived safely in Kent, where Ethelburga was affectionately
received by her brother King Eadbald, and she brought up her daughter
Eanflaed at Canterbury. But she could not feel that the boys were safe
while they remained in England. She persuaded Bassus to take Wuscfrea
and Iffi to Paris, and to put them under the protection of her cousin
King Dagobert. They both died in infancy, and were buried with the
honours due to royal children, it is believed at St. Denis. Bassus is
supposed to have then returned to his native country, and to have died
at Rome full of years, fondly cherishing to the last the memory of his
beloved friend Lilla.
The saddest thing of all was the fate of Edwin's two brave young sons.
The body of Offrid was never found. Eadfrid was taken prisoner, and
shortly afterwards was basely murdered by his cousin Penda.
* * * * *
In the second night after the battle three lights might have been
seen flickering over the ghastly field. One came from a lantern held
by Wiglaf, Godric's man, who was searching for the body of his master,
accompanied by the two sons of that valiant paladin. They found it, and
carried it to his home, where it was buried amidst fruit trees, on the
site on which afterwards rose the church of East Markham. The other
two lights were carried by Sivel and the Deacon James. They found the
precious remains lying as they fell under the yew tree. Long they gazed
on those peerless forms. "When will God send us their equals?" sighed
Sivel. "It must be long, alas!" assented the good Deacon. "Perhaps in
His own good time men like them may arise again." The three bodies
were borne away to the Humber by many loving hands, and placed in a
boat. Proceeding up the Ouse, the boat was met opposite to Acaster by
Froda and a few surviving Stillingas. The bodies of Coelred and Porlor
were handed over to them, and were borne slowly to Stillingfleet,
where they were interred by the side of Shuprak on the spot they had
loved so well. The Deacon James performed the funeral service, and
afterwards a tumulus was raised over their grave. Sivel then went to
York with the body of the King. Bassus and Ethelburga had already
departed. The head of Edwin the Great was interred under the porch of
his unfinished church. His body was borne to Aldby, and buried by the
side of his sister Alca. Long afterwards it was removed to Whitby by
his grand-daughter the Abbess Elflaed.
The work of Edwin and his paladins seemed to be all undone. But it was
not so. The good seed was sown. Northumbria flourished wonderfully for
nearly a century through the initiative given to progress by Edwin's
brilliant administration, and her Kings were Bretwaldas of Britain.
A great calamity swept over the land, a storm beat down the ripening
grains, but they rose again, bright and golden, and the sowers had not
lived in vain.
Through labour to rest,
Through combat to victory.
THOMAS À KEMPIS.
EPILOGUE
This story will be incomplete if a concluding narrative is not given
of the subsequent fates of the friends and relatives of King Edwin and
his paladins, of their children and immediate descendants, as well as a
brief notice of the historian to whose laborious zeal our knowledge of
this striking episode in our annals is due.
As soon as Sivel had performed his pious duties, he took refuge at
Driffield, for the Welsh were close upon his track.
Penda and Cadwalla met after the slaughter. As the former was wounded,
he determined to return to Mercia, after making a bargain for a
share of the plunder. Cadwalla dispersed his army in large parties,
moving northwards to kill, harry, and destroy. The Welshmen committed
every conceivable atrocity: neither age nor sex was spared, and the
savages revelled in their cruelty. Bilbrough and Ulfskelf were sacked.
Hemingborough escaped, but of Stillingfleet not a vestige was left,
and the ancient buildings of Aldby were levelled with the ground. Few
houses escaped their fury. Finally, they occupied York itself, where
there were new scenes of devastation and horror.
Osric collected the remnant of the Deirans at Driffield, who
proclaimed him their King. He declared that he adhered to the religion
of his ancestors, and if the wretched old Coifi had not died soon after
he polluted the sanctuary of Woden, he would probably have been taken
to Godmundham and put to death. After months of preparation, Osric
advanced to York, where the King of Gwynedd still remained. The King
of Deira attacked the Decumanian Gate; but Cadwalla sallied out with
his whole army and put the English to flight. Osric was himself among
the slain. Cadwalla then marched northwards to subdue the Bernicians.
On the death of Edwin, the sons of Ethelfrith had returned from their
exile among the Picts, and the eldest, Eanfrid, had been accepted as
King of Bernicia. On the approach of the ferocious Welsh King, he sued
for peace, and it was arranged that there should be an interview.
Eanfrid came to the enemy's camp with six attendants, and was foully
murdered by Cadwalla. Eanfrid had also adhered to the religion of his
ancestors. Consequently both these gallant young princes, Osric and
Eanfrid, are vilified and slandered by the monks.
Oswald, the son of the peerless Alca, then succeeded, and was joyfully
received, both by the Bernicians and Deirans, as their King. He saw
that there could be no terms with the faithless Welshman--he must be
stamped out. Cadwalla was in the neighbourhood of Hexham, near the
Great Wall. When Oswald reached a spot called Heavenfield, he put up
a cross, helping to fix it in the ground himself. Then, raising his
voice, he cried to his army, "Let us all kneel and jointly beseech the
true and living God Almighty in His mercy to defend us from the haughty
and fierce enemy. He knows that we have undertaken a just war for the
safety of our nation." Advancing towards the enemy at dawn, he gained
a great victory, and Cadwalla was killed at a place called Denisburn,
perhaps Dilston.
Oswald came to York, and visited the melancholy ruins of Aldby, where
his happy childhood had been passed with his mother, and where he
had been torn from the arms of Bergliot by the savage Ethelfrith. He
consulted with Sivel, and encouraged him to persevere with the work of
building the church of St. Peter at York until it was completed. Oswald
applied to the monks of Iona for a bishop, and in 635 they sent him a
devout man named Aidan, to whom he assigned the island of Lindisfarne
as his episcopal see. "A man of singular meekness, piety, and
moderation, and zealous in the cause of God." Oswald was acknowledged
as Bretwalda of all Britain in succession to his uncle, Edwin the
Great, and "when raised to that height of dominion he always continued
humble, affable, and generous to the poor and strangers." The ruthless
savage Penda had to add one more crime to the long list before his
cup was full. He invaded Northumbria, and killed the good and saintly
Oswald at the battle of Maserfield, probably at Winwick in Lancashire,
in the year 642. Oswald's niece Osfrith, Queen of the Mercians,
translated her uncle's bones to the Abbey of Bardney in Lincolnshire in
697, and in 909 they were removed into Mercia. The monks traded much
with them, as a means of working miraculous cures.
Oswald was succeeded in Bernicia by his half-brother Oswy, who had
received a mother's care from Queen Alca, though not her son. He
usurped the rights of Oswald's son Ethelwald, the grandson of Alca.
In Deira Oswin became king in succession to his father Osric. This
excellent prince had been brought up by Bergliot with the sons of
Lilla, to whom he was warmly attached. Trondhere, the eldest, became
his adviser and constant companion. The younger son, Trumhere, entered
the priesthood. During the first year of Oswin's reign the Princess
Bergliot died, and was buried by her sons, by Lilla's side, in the
old Roman fort at Hemingborough. Oswin was a man of wonderful piety
and devotion, and governed Deira very prosperously, with the aid of
Sivel, Trondhere, and Bishop Aidan, during seven happy and prosperous
years. He was tall and graceful, affable and always courteous, and most
generous, so that he was beloved by all ranks of the people. He was
warmly attached to Aidan, who was astonished at his humility, a virtue
rare in kings.
A story was recorded by Sivel, and repeated by Bede, which exemplifies
this virtue. The King had given Aidan an extraordinarily fine horse,
either to use in crossing rivers or in any extraordinary emergency,
for ordinarily the Bishop travelled on foot. Soon afterwards, meeting
a beggar, Aidan dismounted and presented the horse, with all its royal
furniture, to the miserable creature. This was told to the King when he
and the Bishop were going in to dinner. Oswin said, "Why did you give
the beggar that royal horse which was necessary for your use? Are there
not many other horses of less value which would have been good enough
to give to the poor?" Aidan answered, "What is it you say, O King? Is
that foal of a mare more dear to you than the Son of God?" Upon this
they went in to dinner, and the Bishop sat in his place, but the King,
who had just returned from hunting, stood warming himself, with his
attendants, at the fire. Suddenly, calling to mind what the Bishop had
said to him, Oswin ungirt his sword, gave it to a servant, and hastily
knelt before the Bishop asking forgiveness. Aidan was much moved,
and, starting up, raised the King, saying he was entirely reconciled,
if he would sit down at meat and lay aside all sorrow. The King then
began to be merry. The Bishop, on the other hand, became so melancholy
as to shed tears. His priest asked him in Gaelic why he wept. In the
same language Aidan answered, "I weep because I know the King will not
live long. For I never before saw so humble a king, whence I conclude
that he will soon be snatched out of this life, for this nation is not
worthy of such a ruler."
It was too true. In 650 the ambitious Oswy collected a great army
to invade Deira. Oswin assembled a smaller force, and advanced, with
Trondhere, to Catterick. But finding that the King of Bernicia had
a much larger number of troops, he dismissed his men to their homes
to avoid useless bloodshed, resolving to go into concealment until
better times. A certain Earl named Hunwald promised him a safe place
of retirement at Gilling. But Hunwald was a traitor. The place was
betrayed to Oswy. On the 20th of August 650 a commander named Ethilwin
and several followers forced their way into the house. Like his father
Lilla before him, Trondhere threw himself before his master to protect
him from the blows of the assassins. But in vain. He was slain and
thrown aside, and then the good King Oswin was despatched. One may hope
that this was not done by order of Oswy, and that, as in the case of
Henry II. and Becket long afterwards, he was only guilty of a hasty
word misinterpreted by an unscrupulous servant. For some time the crime
was concealed.
It was not known to Sivel, who could hardly have taken a lenient view
of the King's conduct, when bitterly resenting the murders of the son
of Lilla and of the nephew of Hereric. But he was even then on his
death-bed. During the reign of Oswin the last of Edwin's paladins had
been chief of the Billingas, but he had resigned the duties and given
up all his rights to Saebald's grandson Osbert, whose two brothers,
named Adda and Utta, had become priests. For Sivel was now advanced in
years. He lived at York, occupied with his chronicle, his coinage, and
the completion of King Edwin's church of St. Peter, or York Minster.
His cousin Utta had been one of his clerks, and had since taken orders,
but continued to attend on Sivel in his old age. At last his long and
useful course was finished, having reached his seventy-first year,
and survived all his friends. More than two hundred years afterwards
there was a moneyer at York of the same name, who struck coins for
King Edwig, and who may not improbably have been a descendant of
Sivel's cousin Saebald. Osbert, Adda, and Utta conveyed the body of
the last surviving paladin of Edwin the Great from York to Bilbrough.
They buried Sivel in the tumulus of his father Vidfinn, by the side of
his beloved Forthere. The tumulus was then raised to nearly twice its
present height.
Adda became Abbot of Gateshead, and was afterwards employed in the
conversion of the Mercians. Utta was "a man of great gravity and
sincerity, and on that account honoured by all men, even the princes of
the world." When King Oswy resolved to send an embassy to Ercombert,
King of Kent, who had succeeded to his father Eadbald, in 641, to ask
for the hand of the daughter of Edwin the Great, he had consulted Sivel
with regard to the selection of an ambassador, who recommended his
cousin Utta. But the mission did not start until after the funeral of
Sivel. King Oswin, Bishop Aidan, and Sivel died within a week of each
other; and soon afterwards the mission left York.
Bishop Aidan, before his death on 31st August 650, made an excellent
suggestion to Utta. He thought it likely that a storm would be
encountered either going or returning, and he gave Utta a keg of oil,
saying that if he threw it overboard the rough sea would become smooth.
The experiment was remarkably successful, as Bede was told by a priest
named Cynemund, who had it from Utta himself.
Eanflaed, the daughter of Edwin by Ethelburga of Kent, arrived
safely, and was married to King Oswy, the step-son of her aunt, the
peerless Alca. She was then twenty-five years of age. The Queen was
horrified when she heard of the murder of her cousin Oswin, and
recoiled from her husband. He appears to have protested his innocence.
Eventually a monastery was built at Gilling, where daily prayers were
said for the soul of Oswin, and for forgiveness to the repentant Oswy.
The first abbot was Trumhere, the younger son of Lilla and Bergliot,
and brother of the murdered Trondhere. Born in 611, Trumhere was a
cousin of the slaughtered King, his mother Bergliot having been a
sister of Oswin's father. He was brought up in the same monastery with
Chad, the future saint, but not under his direction, as Bede says, for
they were contemporaries. Trumhere went from Gilling to be the first
bishop of the Mercians, with his see at Repton. Resigning his bishopric
into the hands of King Wulfhere, who appointed Jaruman to succeed
him, Trumhere retired to a monastery. When a very old man, he was the
instructor of the historian Bede, and told him the anecdote of St.
Chad, remarked upon by Jeremy Bentham in his _Life of Christ_, touching
his habit of praying whenever there was a storm, and the reason he gave
for the practice. St. Chad succeeded Jaruman as bishop of the Mercians,
and having transferred the see from Repton to Lichfield, he died there
in 674. Trumhere survived him for sixteen years.
A few years after Oswy's marriage, his kingdom was exposed to the
desolating incursions of the bloodthirsty King Penda of Mercia. He did
all in his power to appease the old man. His son Egfrith was even given
up as a hostage to the Mercian Queen Cynthryth. He offered immense
gifts if Penda would return home and cease to devastate the country.
But Penda refused them, swearing to destroy Oswy and all his race. Oswy
became desperate. He said, "If the Pagan will not accept our gifts, let
us offer them to Him that will, the Lord our God." He vowed that if he
was victorious he would dedicate his youngest daughter, Elflaed, to the
service of God.
On 15th November 655, the two armies met on the banks of a stream
near Leeds, which was much swollen by the rains. The place was
called Winwidfield. Penda's army was vastly superior in numbers to
the Northumbrians, and consisted of all the power of the Mercians,
besides a contingent of East Anglians led by their king, Ethelhard.
The dethroned son of Oswald, Etheldwald, the grandson of Alca,
was a spectator, but he did not engage in the battle against his
countrymen. Oswy had with him his (illegitimate?) son Alchred. After a
well-contested battle, the Mercians were forced back into the swollen
water of the flood, where there was much loss of life. Both Penda and
Ethelhard were among the dead. There was a great slaughter, and Oswy
gained a complete victory. The unfortunate son of Oswald is not again
mentioned, and his fate is unknown.
Oswy became very powerful. He was acknowledged as Bretwalda in
succession to Oswald, and for some years he personally administered
Mercia. Afterwards Peada, the son of Penda, having become a Christian,
was allowed to succeed, and was followed by his brothers Wulfhere
(659) and Ethelred (675), who married Oswy's daughter Osfrith. Oswy
must have been a man of considerable ability. He died on 15th February
676, leaving a son, Ealhfrith, by a first wife, and four children by
Eanflaed. These were Egfrith, his successor; Elfwin, cut off in his
youth, which was full of promise; Osfrith, the Mercian Queen; and
Elflaed the nun--the four grandchildren of Edwin the Great.
* * * * *
The daughters of Braga now claim our attention. Her younger sister
Nanna, or Mary Audr, as Godric loved to call her, died at Driffield
soon after their flight thither, and was buried by the side of her
brothers. Like her namesake, the wife of Balder, she could not survive
the death of her lord. Braga lived on. At the time of Hereric's flight
she had a strange dream. She fancied that she was seeking for him most
carefully, and could find no sign of him anywhere. After having used
all her industry to seek him, she found a most precious jewel under her
garment, which, whilst she was looking at it very attentively, cast
such a light as spread itself throughout all Britain. It was thought
that this dream was fulfilled in the life of her daughter St. Hilda.
Soon after her daughters were grown up, Braga died, and was buried at
Stillingfleet with her sister and brothers.
Braga's eldest daughter, Hereswith, married Ethelhard, King of East
Anglia, who was slain fighting for Penda at Winwidfield. Her son
Aldwulf, who succeeded, eventually became a monk. Hereswith herself
retired to the monastery of Chelles near Paris. Hilda wished to follow
her sister, but Bishop Aidan recalled her and induced her to lead a
monastic life on some land near the banks of the river Wear. She was
made Abbess of Heruteu (Hartlepool), and, after some years, was removed
thence to be Abbess of Streaneshalch (Whitby), where she was an example
of good life and a person of singular piety and grace. She also had
considerable influence in church and state; and the famous synod, with
Oswy presiding, when Wilfrid confuted Colman in the Easter controversy,
was held in her abbey. She was a great sufferer during the last year
of her life, and died at Whitby on 17th November 680, aged sixty-six
years. She had built another monastery at Hackness, and at the moment
of her death one of the Hackness nuns named Bega (St. Bees) saw her in
a vision being carried up to heaven by angels. When the monks came next
morning with the news, the Hackness nuns told them that they had known
it for some hours. Thus died St. Hilda, the child of Hereric and Braga.
Elflaed, the grandchild of King Edwin, was entrusted to her cousin
Hilda when she was at Hartlepool, and removed with her to Whitby. On
Hilda's death, Elflaed became abbess, and, on the death of Oswy, her
mother Eanflaed came to pass the last years of her life with her child.
They translated King Edwin's body from Aldby to Whitby, and there they
both died and were buried. Oswy was also buried at Whitby. The death of
Elflaed took place in 714.
Both the children of Alca were canonised--St. Oswald and St. Ebba.
The sweet little Ebba was brought up by Bergliot at Hemingborough, and
early took to a religious life. She was abbess of the monastery of
Coludi, now called Coldingham, in Berwickshire. Bede tells us that Ebba
died before 679, when the Abbey of Coldingham was burnt down.
Egfrith, the grandson of King Edwin, succeeded his father Oswy in
670, at the age of eighteen, and married Etheldrida, daughter of Anna,
King of East Anglia, who preferred a monastic life, and bore him no
children. Eventually she obtained her husband's permission to take the
veil at Coludi, where St. Ebba, Egfrith's cousin, was abbess, whence
she removed to Ely. In 679 this king and his brother-in-law of Mercia
had an unfortunate quarrel, and there was a battle on the banks of
the Trent, in which young Elfwin, Egfrith's brother, was killed. He
was a youth of great promise aged eighteen, and his loss was deplored
by both sides. This made it easy for Archbishop Theodore to offer his
mediation, and the combatants were appeased. Egfrith was restless and
ambitious. In 684 he sent an army to invade Ireland; and the following
year he himself led a force to ravage the country of the Picts, much
against the advice of Bishop Cuthbert and his other councillors. He was
led into an ambush at Dunnichen, on the coast of Forfarshire, and slain
on the 20th of May 685, aged forty years, and having reigned fifteen.
Ealhfrith, a son of King Oswy, but not by Eanflaed, succeeded his
brother Egfrith, and retrieved the ruined state of the kingdom. He had
been instructed by St. Wilfrid, and was very learned in the Scriptures.
Adamnan, the Abbot of Iona, was ambassador at Ealhfrith's court, and
presented a book he had written on the Holy Places to that King, who
sent him back to his country well rewarded. In 697 Osfrith, Queen of
the Mercians, sister of Egfrith and grandchild of King Edwin, was
murdered, but the circumstances are not related. Her husband Ethelred
abdicated in 704 and became a monk at Bardney, where he died in 716.
Their son Coelred succeeded his cousin Kenred as King of Mercia in 709,
and dying in 716, he was buried at Lichfield. Coelred survived his aunt
Elflaed by two years, and was thus the last descendant of King Edwin.
King Ealhfrith of Northumbria died at Driffield in 709, and was
succeeded by his son Osred, who was then eight years of age. When only
fifteen, he appears to have been murdered, and a usurper named Coenred,
or Kenred, seized the government and held it for two years. He was
followed by a king named Osric, who reigned for eleven years, when he
is said to have been slain. Then, in 731, King Ceolwulf became ruler
of Northumbria, and reigned until 739. He was not of the family of
Oswy, but was descended directly from Ida, the first King of Bernicia.
He became a monk in 739, leaving the kingdom to his cousin Eadbert,
whose brother was Egbert, the Archbishop of York. This learned prelate
collected a large library, and ruled the see from 729 to 776. Alcuin
was his scholar. Eadbert, after a reign of twenty years, also became a
monk in 757, and died in 768.
* * * * *
The Ecclesiastical History of the Venerable Bede is the source whence
nearly all the information respecting the historical persons in this
story is derived. Bede was born during the reign of King Egfrith in
673, in the country between the Tyne and the Wear. Egfrith granted
a tract of land to a friend of his named Biscop in 675, on which
he founded Wearmouth; and in 682 Biscop erected the monastery of
Jarrow on the banks of the Tyne, and became abbot under the name of
Benedict. This remarkable man travelled several times to Rome, bringing
back books and works of art, masons and glaziers. Bede lived in the
monastery of Jarrow all his life, from the age of seven. He received
instruction in theology and the Scriptures from Trumhere, the son of
Lilla and Bergliot, then very old, who thus trained him for his future
historical labours. Bede was ordained priest in 705, during the reign
of King Ealhfrith of Northumbria, by John, Bishop of Hexham, better
known as John of Beverley. Bede seldom left his monastery, but he
certainly paid a visit to Archbishop Egbert at York, and was also most
probably the occasional guest of Ceolwulf, King of Northumbria, who was
a man of singular learning and a great patron of literature. It was
Ceolwulf who requested Bede to write the ecclesiastical history, and to
whom Bede sent the sheets for his perusal. The great historian died on
the 26th of May 735, four years before the retirement of King Ceolwulf
into a monastery.
Bede wrote his history about a century after the death of Edwin the
Great. He received his education from the son of Lilla, and derived
his materials for the Northumbrian part of his history from the
chronicle of Sivel. It was providential that such a man should have
arisen at such a juncture, gifted with talent and ardour in the pursuit
of learning, and that the times should have been favourable for the
composition and preservation of his work. He lived under the reigns of
enlightened Kings of Northumbria, whose culture was due to the impetus
given to progress by Edwin and his paladins. To one of those kings,
the good Ceolwulf, he dedicated his history. He enjoyed the friendship
of the best and most learned of the Archbishops of York before the
conquest, Egbert, the brother of Eadbert the King. He was furnished
with materials from many quarters. But for Bede's history, written
under these favourable circumstances, we should know nothing of the
early proceedings of the makers of England, nothing of the story of
Edwin the Great.
In spite of the excessive number of monkish miracles he records, which
testify to his simplicity, and show that he was not in advance of
his contemporaries in the matter of credulity, Bede is transparently
honest. His authorities are perfectly safe in his hands, and he gives
all his information without a word of alteration. The confidence we may
justly repose in its author increases the interest as well as the value
of the earliest of our histories.
THE END
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_.
THE WOLF PATROL
A Tale of Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts.
BY
JOHN FINNEMORE
AUTHOR OF 'JACK HAYDON'S QUEST,' 'THE STORY OF A SCOUT,' 'TWO BOYS IN
WAR-TIME,' 'IN THE TRENCHES,' ETC. ETC.
Large Crown 8vo. Cloth. Containing Eight Full-page Illustrations in
Colour by H. M. PAGET.
Price =3s.= =6d.=
This story is the only boy's book which Mr. Finnemore will publish this
season, and deals with a subject now of burning interest among all
boys--the scouting movement founded by Lieut.-General Baden-Powell,
C.B., the hero of Mafeking. The story deals with the adventures of
boy scouts who formed a patrol, and above all, the doings of two
patrol-leaders who, beginning as bitter enemies, become close friends
under the influence of the boy scout movement. The book is dedicated by
special permission to General Baden-Powell, who has been so kind as to
read the story in manuscript, and to approve of it most heartily. In
a letter to the author he says, "Wishing you all success for this so
excellent a work." The book is thus stamped with the hall-mark of the
founder's approval.
PUBLISHED BY
A. & C. BLACK, 4, 5, AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
THE GOLDEN GIRDLE
BY
COL. MOCKLER-FERRYMAN
Large Crown 8vo. Cloth. Containing Eight Full-page Illustrations in
Colour by ALLAN STEWART.
Price =3s.= =6d.=
The hero of this thrilling story of pluck and adventure is a young
Englishman who, after a course of training at the British Museum, is
sent out by his uncle to Babylon, to unearth a mysterious girdle,
known to have been worn by one of the ancient Assyrian Queens. Making
a start from Baghdad, young Henderson, accompanied by the Residency
Surgeon, crosses Mesopotamia, and eventually enters the Arabian
desert. Here the two friends became the guests of a tribe of Bedouins,
and, while prosecuting their search, enjoy many strange experiences.
They return to Baghdad after a fruitless quest, and subsequently the
hero returns alone to the desert, when, with his Bedouin friends, he
resumes the pursuit of what he now discovers to be the object of the
most superstitious dread. The chase, as told, is replete with exciting
adventures, and the interest of the story is maintained to the end. The
young Englishman's indomitable determination has its reward, and the
mysteries ascribed to the Golden Girdle are laid at rest.
PUBLISHED BY
A. & C. BLACK, 4, 5, AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE
-Italic text is denoted by _underscores_; bold text by =equal signs=.
-fixed plain print and punctuation errors.
-Page 33: the word "Sose" has benn changed in "Sôse" as below
-Page 96: "Monte Cassiano" is obviously an error; corrected as
"Monte Cassino".
-Page 169: Every source gives "Naravatna" as a single word; I left it
as spelled by author.
-Page 291: "united kingdom" has not been capitalised because doen't
refer to the modern United Kingdom.
-Page 322: Colons spaced because they mean separation between words and
not punctuation, following the ancient inscription style.