204 A REGISTER OF THE ABB^Y OP MlLTOtf. 



after a single embrace, and giving birth to a son, Athelstan, 

 proved the truth of her dream ; for, when his boyhood was 

 passed and he grew into manhood, he gave great promise of a 

 royal temperament, distinguishing himself by brilliant exploits. 

 Later his father died, and was followed by Edward, a son by his 

 lawful wife, who put himself to death. Then the eyes of all 

 were turned to Athelstan ; but Alfred, a man of great pride, 

 opposed him in secret with a party of his own as far as he could, 

 disdaining to be subjected to any lordship which he had not 

 accepted of his own choice. There were some who charged 

 King Athelstan's brother, Edwin, with treachery a horrible and 

 disgraceful deed of wickedness in order to upset his brother's 

 affection by sinister hints. Edwin, although he implored the 

 confidence of his brother both in his own person and by the 

 mouths of his other brothers, and although he denied the 

 accusations upon oath, was driven into exile. Further, the 

 muttered insinuations of certain persons so prevailed upon a 

 mind distraught with many anxieties that, forgetful of the ties of 

 kinship, Athelstan got rid of the youth, who should have been an 

 object of pity even among strangers, with an unheard of measure 

 of cruelty ; for he was ordered to embark alone with one esquire 

 upon a ship without oars or crew, and moreover rotten with age, 

 Fortune toiled long to restore the innocent man to the land ; but, 

 when at length the sails could no longer bear up against the fury 

 of the winds, the young man, weary of life under such conditions, 

 deliberately threw himself into the water and perished. His 

 esquire more wisely suffered himself to cling to life, and, some- 

 times avoiding the adverse waves, sometimes paddling with his 

 feet, he brought his master's body to land in a narrow arm of 

 the sea to wit, at Wythsand, over against Dover. Athelstan, 

 after his anger cooled and his mind was sobered, abhorred his 

 own deed and, as it is said, submitted to a voluntary imprison- 

 ment for a seven years' penance at Langport. And when he saw 

 thence the neighbouring church of Muchelney, which was built 

 in an unpretentious style, he is said to have vowed more than 

 once that if he ever left his prison he would raise it to a lofty 



