I 
E N G L A N D. 
competitor. Neverthelefs, the death of their leader was 
not fufficient to intimidate his turbulent adherents. Dur¬ 
ing the whole of this prince’s reign, there were but few 
intervals free from the attempts and LnfurreCtions of the 
Northumbrian infurgents. Many were the battles he 
fought, and the vidfories he won; fo that, though he 
might be deemed unequal to his father in the arts of 
peace, he did not fall ftiort of him in military talents. 
He built fevcral'caftles, and fortified different cities. He 
reduced Turkethill, a Danifh invader, and obliged him 
to retire with his followers. He fubdued the Eaft An¬ 
gles, and acquired dominion over the Northumbrians; 
themfelves. He was affifted in thefe conquefts by his fif- 
ter Ethelfleda, the widow of Ethelbert, earl of Mercia, 
who, after her hufband’s death, retained the government 
of that province. Thus, after Edward had reduced the 
whole kingdom to his obedience, and begun to promote 
the happinefs of his people by the arts of peace, he was 
prevented by death from the accompljfliment of his de¬ 
ficits. 
To him fucceeded Athelffan, his-natural fon, A. D. 
925, the illegitimacy of birth not being then-deemed an 
obltaele to the inheritance of the crown. To this prince, 
as to the former, there was fonie oppofition made in the 
beginning. Alfred, a nobleman of his kindred, is laid 
to have entered into a confpiracy againft him, in favour 
of the legitimate fons of the deceafed king, who were yet 
too young to be capable of governing themfelves. What¬ 
ever his attempts might have been, he denied the charge, 
and offered to clear himfelf of it by oath before the pope. 
The propofal was accepted : and it is aflerted by the le¬ 
gendary, that he had no fooner fw’orn himfelf innocent, 
than lie fell into convulfions, and died in three days. 
This monarch received alfo feme dilturbances from the 
Northumbrian Danes, whom he compelled to furrender; 
and refenting the conduct of Conftantine, king of Scot¬ 
land, who had given them afliftance, he ravaged that 
coun'ry with .impunity, till at length he was appeafed by 
the humble fubmiffions of that monarch. Thefe fubmif- 
fions, however, being extorted, were infincere. Soon af¬ 
ter Athelffan had evacuated that kingdom, Conftantine 
enteied into a confederacy with a body of Danifli pirates, 
and fome Welfh chiefs, who were jealous of Athelftan’s 
growing greatnefs. A bloody battle was fought ad Brtinf- 
burg, in Northumberland, in which the Englifii monarch 
was again victorious. After this fuccefs, Athelffan en¬ 
joyed his crown in tranquillity ; and he is regarded as one 
of the ablefl and molt active of the Saxon kings. During 
his reign the Bible was tranflate'd into the Saxon lan¬ 
guage ; and fome alliances were alfo formed with the 
princes on the continent. He died at Gloucelter, after a 
reign of (ixteen years, A. D. 941, and was fucceeded by 
his brother Edmund. 
Edmund, like the reft of his predeceffors, met with dif- 
turbances from the Northumbrians on his acceffion to the 
throne ; but his activity foon defeated their attempts. 
The great end, therefore, which he aimed at, during his 
reign, was to curb the licentioufnefs of his people, by 
extending the mild influence of.Chriftianity. Among 
oilier regulations for the benefit of fuciety, he was the 
firff monarch who, by l.iw, inftituted capital punifhments 
in England. Remarking, that fines and pecuniary mulCts_ 
were infufficient to rep refs highwaymen and robbers, he 
enaCted, that when gangs of robbers were taken, the old- 
ell of them fhould be condemned to the gallows. This 
was confidered a very fevere law at the time, becaufe 
among our early unceftors, ail the penal lavvs were Angu¬ 
larly mild and merciful. The provilion made by this 
monarch againft men of that defperate way of living, was 
the caufe of his own death. His virtues, abilities, wealth, 
and'temperance, promifed him a long and happy reign ; 
when-, on a certain day, as he was folemnizing a feltival 
in Glouceffcrffiire, he remaiked that Leolf, a notorious 
robber whom he had fentenced to banifltment, had yet the 
boldnefs to enter the hall where he was dining, and to fit 
at table among the guefts. Enraged at this infolence, he 
commanded him to leave the room ; but, on his refilling 
to obey, the king, whole temper was haftv, flew at him, 
and caught him by the hair. The ruffian drew a dagger., 
and with a furious blow ftabbed the monarch to the heart, 
wdio fell dowm on the bofom of his murderer. The death 
of the alfaffin, who was inffahtly cut in pieces, was but a 
final! atonement for fo horrid a crime. 
The late king’s fons were’too young to undertake the 
direction of the government ; his brother Edred was 
therefore appointed to fucceed ; and, like his predecef¬ 
fors,' this monarch found himfelf at the head of a rebel¬ 
lious and refractory people. The Northumbrian Danes, 
as ufual, made feveral attempts to fliake olf the Englifii 
yoke ; fo that the king was at lad-obliged to .place garri- 
fons in their molt-confiderable towns, and to appoint an 
Englifii governor over them, who might fupprefe their 
infurreCtions in the bud. About this time, too, the monks 
began to^affume the direction in civil affairs ; and, by art¬ 
fully managing the fuperftitions and the fears of the peo¬ 
ple, eredted a clerical authority that u’as not ftiaken off 
for feveral fucceeding centuries. Edred had blindly de¬ 
livered over his confcience to the guidance of Dunftan, 
abbot of Glaftonbury, who was afterwards canonized; 
and this man, under the appearance of fanCtity, concealed 
the molt bouiidlefs ambition. The monks had hitherto 
been a kind of fecular priefts, who, though they lived in 
communities, were neither feparated from the reft of the 
world, nor ufelefs to it. They often married ; and were 
affiduoully employed in the education of youth, and fub- 
~jeCt to the commands of temporal fuperiors. The celi¬ 
bacy and the independency of the clergy, as being a inea- 
fure that would contribute to the eftablilhment of the 
papal power in Europe, was warmly recommended by 
the fee of Rome to all ecclefialtics in general, but to the 
'modk9 in particular. The prefent opportunity offered 
of carrying this meafure into an eccleliaftical law', from 
the fuperftitions character of Edred, and the furious zeal 
of Dunftan. Edred implicitly fubmitted to his directions 
both in church and ftate ; and the kingdom was in a fair 
way of being converted into a papal province by this zea¬ 
lous eccleftaftic, when he was checked in the mid ft of his 
career by the death of the king, who died of a quinfy, in 
the tenth year of his reign, A. D. 954. 
Edwy, his nephew, who afeended the throne, as his 
own fons were too young to govern, was a prince of 
great perfpnal accomplifhments, and of a martial difpoli- 
tion. But lie was to inherit a kingdom wherein he had 
an enemy to contend with, againft whom all military vir¬ 
tues could be of little avail. Dunftan, who had governed 
during the former reign, was refolved to remit nothing of 
his authority in this ; I'o that Edwy, immediately upon 
his acceffion, found himfelf involved in a quarrel with the 
monks, whofe rage his virtues could neither foften nor 
mitigate. He feems to have been eleCted by the l'ecular 
priefts in oppofition to the monks ; fo that their whole 
body, with Dunftan at their head, purfued him with im¬ 
placable animofity while living, and even endeavoured to 
viiify his character when dead. 
There was a lady of the royal blood, named Elgiva, 
whofe beauty had made a ftrong impreffion on JEdwy’s 
heart. He had even ventured to marry her, contrary to 
the advice of his counfellors, as fhe was within the de¬ 
grees of confanguinity 'prohibited by the canon law. On 
the day of his coronation, w hile his nobility-were giving 
a loofe to the pleafures of feftivity in the great hall, Edwy 
retired to his wife’s apartment; where, in company with 
his mother, he enjoyed the more plealing fatisfaCtion of 
her conversation. Dunftan no fooner perceived his ab- 
fence, than, conjeCturing the reafen, he rufhed fiercely 
into the apartment, and, upbraiding hhn with all the bit- 
ternefs of eccleliaftical rancour, dragged him forth in the 
molt outrageous manner. Dunftan, it feems, was not 
without Ills enemies ; for the king was advifed to punifli 
this infulr, by ordering him to account for the money 
with 
