THE WOLF. rs 
Flixton, near Filey, in that county, wherein travellers 
might seek refuge if attacked by them. 
Camden says :—‘‘ More inward stands Flixton, 
where a hospital was built in the time of Athelstan, 
for defending travellers from Wolves (as it is word 
for word in the public records), that they should not 
be devovred by them.”* It is currently believed 
that a farmhouse between the villages of Flixton 
and Staxton now stands on the site of this hospital. 
It was restored and confirmed in 1447 by the name 
of Canons Spittle, and was dissolved about 1535. 
The farm is still called Spittal Farm, and a small 
stream running by it is called Spittal Brook.* 
When Athelstan, in 938, obtained a signal victory 
at Brunanburgh over Constantine, King of Wales, 
he imposed upon him a yearly tribute of money and 
cattle, to which was also added a certain number of 
“hawks and sharp-scented dogs, fit for the hunting 
of wild beasts.”{ His successor, Edgar, remitted 
the pecuniary payment on condition of receiving 
annually from Ludwall§ (or Idwal|), the successor of 
Constantine, the skins of three hundred Wolves.‘ 
* Camden, “ Britannia,” tit. Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 902. 
+ This information was communicated to the author by the Rev. 
Henry Blane, of Folkton Rectory, Ganton, York. 
~ William of Malmesbury, ‘“ Hist. Reg. Anglorum,” lib. 11. ¢. 6. 
§ Cf. Holinshed’s “ Chronicles,” vol. 1. p. 378 (4to ed. 1807), and 
Selden’s Notes to Drayton’s “ Polyolbion,” Song ix. 
|| Cf. Camden’s “ Britannia,” tit. Merionethshire, vol. 1. p. 785. 
| William of Malmesbury, op. cit. lib, 1. ¢. 8. See_also the quaint 
remarks on this subject by Taylor, the Water Poet, in his “ Journey 
through Wales,” 1652 (pp. 31, 32, Halliwell’s edition, 1859). The 
value of a wolf-skin in Wales, as fixed by the Code of Laws made by 
Howel Dha in the ninth century, was eightpence, the same value 
being set upon an otter-skin. 
