CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Mercia, Northumbria, and Wessex, struggled for 

 the supremacy ; but ultimately the last, under 

 Ecgberm, or Egbert, who succeeded to the throne 

 in 802, obtained the first place. He conquered 

 the Saxons and lutes, the Welsh in Cornwall ; and 

 Wales submitted to him, and the kings of Mercia, 

 East Anglia, and Northumbria became his vassals. 

 In his reign began the incursions of the Danes or 

 Northmen, a Teutonic race, speaking a kindred 

 tongue to that of the English, and among whom 

 piracy was a highly esteemed profession. It was 

 m 864, and in the reign of ^Cthelred, one of 

 Egbert's grandsons, that they made a formidable 

 invasion under two famous chiefs, Ingvar and 

 I'bba, overrunning Northumbria and Mercia. 

 jtthelred was succeeded, in 871, by the cele- 

 brated Alfred or Alfred, then twenty-two years 

 of age. He reigned for seven years, until his 

 sovereignty was virtually overturned in 878, by 

 Guthrum, a Danish chief, who suddenly overran 

 Wessex ; and for a time he had to hide himself 

 in the swamps of Somersetshire. Gathering 

 strength, however, he fell upon the Danes, and 

 gave them a crushing defeat, when they thought 

 themselves in no danger, and regained a con- 

 siderable part of his kingdom. Alfred spent the 

 rest of his life in literary study, of which he was 

 very fond, and in forming laws and regulations j 

 for the good of his people. He was one of the 

 most able, most virtuous, and most popular princes 

 that ever reigned in Britain. He died in the year 

 901, in the fifty-third year of his age. 



SAXON AND DANISH KINGS. 



Alfred's son, Eadward or Edward, who suc- 

 ceeded him on the throne, was perhaps the most 

 powerful of the Saxon kings. He was called 

 Lord of all Britain ; the Northumbrians, the Scots, 

 and the Welsh of Strathclyde, doing him homage. 

 The Danes had, however, obtained a firm footing 

 in the time of Alfred, having received, by a treaty- 

 concluded with him, East Anglia and part of 

 Essex and Mercia. For many reigns there was 

 a perpetual struggle with varying success between 

 them and the English. In the reign of ^thelred 

 1 1. (surnamed the Unready], who reigned from 979 

 to 1016, their invasions increased to such an 

 extent that the king endeavoured to buy them off 

 with money, obtained by a tax called Danegeld. 

 In 994, Swend or Swegen, the king of the Danes, 

 himself invaded England, and, after a severe 

 struggle, in which jCthelred sought shelter with 

 his brother-in-law Richard, Duke of Normandy, 

 and London four times drove off the invaders, 

 became in 1013 master of England. After Swend's 

 death the struggle was renewed between his son 

 Cnut or Canute, and the son of jEthelred, Edmund, 

 surnamed Ironside. Ultimately, the two divided 

 England between them. On Edmund's death, 

 Cnut, who was also monarch of Denmark, and 

 had conquered Norway and a portion of Sweden, 

 became sole monarch of England. After him, 

 there reigned two other Danish kings, Harold and 

 Harthacnut. When the latter died, in 1042, the 

 old Saxon line was restored, the people electing 

 to the throne Eadward or Edward, the son of 

 ./Ethelred, and surnamed the Confessor. Edward 

 had been brought up in Normandy, and shewed 

 a decided preference for the Normans, many of 

 whom he brought to England and loaded with 



133 



honours. The Saxons were jealous of the Nor- 

 mans, and their jealousy found a champion in 

 Godwin, the powerful earl of the West Saxons. 

 He was at one time banished, but returned with 

 such a powerful following, that the Norman 

 adventurers fled, and Edward, to make peace with 

 his powerful subject, married his daughter Edith. 

 Godwin was succeeded in the earldom by his son 

 Harold, who in reality ruled England, and who 

 gained many victories over the Welsh. 



THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 



Edward died in 1066, and although he was said 

 to have promised the throne of England to Wil- 

 liam, Duke of Normandy, he also seems, on his 

 death-bed, to have recommended to his people 

 and nobles his brother-in-law, Harold. The 

 latter, in spite of his having, according to report, 

 sworn allegiance to William himself, and although 

 Edgar ^Etheling, the grandson of Edmund Iron- 

 side, might be considered to have the most 

 legitimate title to the throne, was elected king by 

 the Witan on the day of Edward's death. Duke 

 William resolved to contest the throne, and being 

 recognised by Pope Alexander II. as the rightful 

 heir, made preparations for an invasion of Eng- 

 land. Before he landed, Harold had other 

 enemies to encounter in Harold Hardrada, a 

 gigantic warrior, and king of Norway; and his 

 own brother Tostig, who had been banished from 

 his government of Northumberland during the 

 previous reign, and now invaded the north of 

 England together with Hardrada. Harold met 

 them at Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire, on 

 25th September ; the invaders were completely 

 defeated, and both the leaders of the invasion 

 were left among the slain. William landed on 

 the 28th at Pevensey, on the Sussex coast, and 

 occupied Hastings. Harold marched southward 

 with all haste, and pitched his camp on the field 

 of Senlac. On the i4th October, the conflict for 

 the supremacy of England took place. It was 

 long and doubtful, but the English king falling, 

 pierced in the eye with an arrow, his army gave 

 way, and the day was William's. The English 

 even in London were so completely paralysed 

 by Harold's defeat, that, although for a time they 

 made a show of making young Edgar king, they 

 ultimately tendered the crown to the Norman 

 duke, who was formally crowned at Westminster 

 on Christmas Day. 



THE EARLY NORMAN KINGS. 



WILLIAM, surnamed the Conqueror, reigned 

 from 1066 to 1087, being chiefly engaged all that 

 time in completing the subjugation of the Saxons, 

 especially in the north, which he harried merci- 

 lessly. He is allowed to have been a man o 

 much sagacity, and a firm ruler; but his temper 

 was violent, and his disposition brutal. At the 

 time of his death, which took place in Normandy 

 WILLIAM, who was the second son, seized upon 

 the crown, which it was also the wish of his 

 father that he should have, Robert, the eldest son 

 having been frequently in rebellion against him 

 and having received besides the dukedom o 

 Normandy. William, who was an unpopular 

 monarch, and much addicted to sensual vice, was 

 shot accidentally, it was maintained, by Walter 



