1.

Oswald, king of Northumberland, who had married his CHAP. daughter, and who had attained a great ascendant in the Heptarchy. Kenwalch next succeeded to the monarchy, and dying in 672, left the succession so much disputed, that Sexburga, his widow, a woman of spirit, kept possession of the government till her death, which happened two years after. Escwin then peaceably acquired the crown; and, after a short reign of two years, made way for Kentwin, who governed nine years. Ceodwalla, his successor, mounted not the throne without opposition; but proved a great prince, according to the ideas of those times; that is, he was enterprising, warlike, and successful. He entirely subdued the kingdom of Sussex, and annexed it to his own dominions. He made inroads into Kent; but met with resistance from Widred, the king, who proved successful against Mollo, brother to Ceodwalla, and slew him in a skirmish. Ceodwalla, at last, tired with wars and bloodshed, was seized with a fit of devotion; bestowed several endowments on the church; and made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he received baptism, and died in 689. Ina, his successor, inherited the military virtues of Ceodwalla, and added to them the more valuable ones of justice, policy, and prudence. made war upon the Britons in Somerset; and having finally subdued that province, he treated the vanquished with a humanity hitherto unknown to the Saxon conquerors. He allowed the proprietors to retain possession of their lands, encouraged marriages and alliances between them and his ancient subjects, and gave them the privilege of being governed by the same laws. These laws he augmented and ascertained; and though he was disturbed by some insurrections at home, his long reign of thirty-seven years may be regarded as one of the most glorious and most prosperous of the Heptarchy. In the decline of his age he made a pilgrimage to Rome; and after his return, shut himself up in a cloister, where he died.

He

THOUGH the kings of Wessex had always been princes of the blood, descended from Cerdic, the founder of the

a Bede, lib. 4. cap. 12. Chron. Sax. p. 41

I.

CHAP. monarchy, the order of succession had been far from exact; and a more remote prince had often found means to mount the throne in preference to one descended from a nearer branch of the royal family. Ina, therefore, having no children of his own, and lying much under the influence of Ethelburga, his queen, left by will the succession to Adelard, her brother, who was his remote kinsman: But this destination did not take place without some difficulty. Oswald, a prince more nearly allied to the crown, took arms against Adelard; but he being suppressed, and dying soon after, the title of Adelard was not any farther disputed; and in the year 741, he was succeeded by his cousin, Cudred. The reign of this prince was distinguished by a great victory which he obtained, by means of Edelhun, his general, over Ethelbald, king of Mercia. His death made way for Sigebert, his kinsman, who governed so ill, that his people rose in an insurrection, and dethroned him, crowning Cenulph in his stead. exiled prince found a refuge with duke Cumbran, governor of Hampshire; who, that he might add new obligations to Sigebert, gave him many salutary counsels for his future conduct, accompanied with some reprehensions for the past. But these were so much resented by the ungrateful prince, that he conspired against the life of his protector, and treacherously murdered him. After this infamous action, he was forsaken by all the world; and skulking about in the wilds and forests, was at last discovered by a servant of Cumbran's, who instantly took revenge upon him for the murder of his master.b

The

CENULPH, who had obtained the crown on the expulsion of Sigebert, was fortunate in many expeditions against the Britons of Cornwal; but afterwards lost some reputation by his ill success against Offa, king of Mercia. Kynehard also, brother to the deposed Sigebert, gave him disturbance; and though expelled the kingdom, he hovered on the frontiers, and watched an opportunity for attacking his rival. The king had an intrigue with a young woman who lived at Merton in Surrey, whither having secretly retired, he was on a sudden environed, in

b Higden, lib. 5, W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 2.

c W. Malmes. lib. 1. cap. 2..

I.

49

the night-time, by Kynehard and his followers, and after CHAP.. making a vigorous resistance, was murdered with all his attendants. The nobility and people of the neighbourhood, rising next day in arms, took revenge on Kynehard ́ for the slaughter of their king, and put every one to the sword who had been engaged in that criminal enterprise. This event happened in 784.

d

e

BRITHRIC next obtained possession of the government, though remotely descended from the royal family; but he enjoyed not that dignity without inquietude. Eoppa, nephew to king Ina, by his brother Ingild, who died before that prince, had begot Eta, father to Alchmond, from whom sprung Egbert, a young man of the most promising hopes, who gave great jealousy to Brithric, the reigning prince, both because he seemed by his birth better entitled to the crown, and because he had acquired, to an eminent degree, the affections of the people. Egbert, sensible of his danger from the suspicions of Brithric, secretly withdrew into France, where he was well received by Charlemagne. By living in the court, and serving in the armies of that prince, the most able and most generous that had appeared in Europe during several ages, he acquired those accomplishments which afterwards enabled him to make such a shining figure on the throne. And familiarizing himself to the manners of the French, who, as Malmesbury observes,* were eminent both for valour and civility above all the western nations, he learned to polish the rudeness and barbarity of the Saxon character: His early misfortunes thus proved a singular advantage to him.

IT was not long ere Egbert had opportunities of displaying his natural and acquired talents. Brithric, king of Wessex, had married Eadburga, natural daughter of Offa, king of Mercia, a profligate woman, equally infamous for cruelty and for incontinence. Having great influence over her husband, she often instigated him to destroy such of the nobility as were obnoxious to her; and where this expedient failed, she scrupled not being herself active in traiterous attempts against them.

She

d Chron. Sax. p. 16. VOL. I.

e. II. Hunting, lib. 4.

f Lib. 2. cap. 11.

H

I.

CHAP. had mixed a cup of poison for a young nobleman who had acquired her husband's friendship, and had on that account become the object of her jealousy: But, unfortunately, the king drank of the fatal cup along with his favourite, and soon after expired. This tragical incident, joined to her other crimes, rendered Eadburga so odious, that she was obliged to fly into France; whence Egbert was at the same time recalled by the nobility, in order to ascend the throne of his ancestors.1 He attained that dignity in the last year of the eighth century.

In the kingdoms of the Heptarchy, an exact rule of succession was either unknown or not strictly observed; and thence the reigning prince was continually agitated with jealousy against all the princes of the blood, whom he still considered as rivals, and whose death alone could give him entire security in his possession of the throne. From this fatal cause, together with the admiration of the monastic life, and the opinion of merit attending the preservation of chastity even in a married state, the royal families had been entirely extinguished in all the kingdoms except that of Wessex; and the emulations, suspicions, and conspiracies, which had formerly been confined to the princes of the blood alone, were now diffused among all the nobility in the several Saxon states. Egbert was the sole descendant of those first conquerors who subdued Britain, and who enhanced their authority by claiming a pedigree from Woden, the supreme divinity of their ancestors. But that prince, though invited by this favourable circumstance to make attempts on the neighbouring Saxons, gave them for some time no disturbance, and rather chose to turn his arms against the Britons in Cornwal, whom he defeated in several battles. He was recalled from the conquest of that country by an invasion made upon his dominions by Bernulf, king of Mercia.

i

THE Mercians, before the accession of Egbert, had very nearly attained the absolute sovereignty in the Heptarchy: They had reduced the East-Angles under subjection, and established tributary princes in the kingdoms

g Higden, lib. 5. M. West. p. 152. Asser. in vita Alfredi, p. 3. ex edit. Camdeni. h Chron. Sax. A. D. 800. Brompton. p. 801. i Chron. Sax. p. 69.

of Kent and Essex. Northumberland was involved in
anarchy; and no state of any consequence remained but
that of Wessex, which, much inferior in extent to Mercia,
was supported solely by the great qualities of its sovereign.
Egbert led his army against the invaders; and encoun-
tering them at Ellandum, in Wiltshire, obtained a complete
victory, and by the great slaughter which he made of them
in their flight, gave a mortal blow to the power of the Mer-
cians. Whilst he himself, in prosecution of his victory, en-
tered their country on the side of Oxfordshire, and threat-
ened the heart of their dominions; he sent an army into
Kent, commanded by Ethelwolph, his eldest son; and ex-
pelling Baldred, the tributary king, soon made himself
master of that country. The kingdom of Essex was con-
quered with equal facility; and the East-Angles, from their
hatred to the Mercian government, which had been estab-
lished over them by treachery and violence, and probably
exercised with tyranny, immediately rose in arms, and
craved the protection of Egbert. Bernulf, the Mercian
king, who marched against them, was defeated and slain ;
and two years after, Ludican, his successor, met with the
same fate.
These insurrections and calamities facilitated
the enterprizes of Egbert, who advanced into the centre
of the Mercian territories, and made easy conquests over
a dispirited and divided people. In order to engage them
more easily to submission, he allowed Wiglef, their coun-
tryman, to retain the title of king, while he himself exer-
cised the real powers of sovereignty." The anarchy
which prevailed in Northumberland, tempted him to carry
still farther his victorious arms; and the inhabitants,
unable to resist his power, and desirous of possessing
some established form of government, were forward on
his first appearance, to send deputies, who submitted to
his authority, and swore allegiance to him as their sove-
reign. Egbert, however, still allowed to Northumberland,
as he had done to Mercia and East-Anglia, the power of
electing a king, who paid him tribute, and was dependent
on him.

THUS were united all the kingdoms of the Heptarchy in one great state, near four hundred years after the first k Ethelwerd, lib. 3. eap. 2. 1 Ibid. lib. 3. cap. 3. m Ingulph. p. 7, 8. 10.

CHAP.
I.