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_Royal Combat._--Near the city of Gloucester, on the Severn, the river
dividing, forms a small island called _Alney_, which is famous for a royal
combat fought on it, between Edmund Ironside and Canute the Dane, to
decide the fate of the kingdom, in sight of both their armies. Canute was
wounded, when he proposed an amicable division, and accordingly he
obtained the northern part; the southern falling to Edmund.