In the year 634, Oswald, the nephew of Edwin, raised his banner in Northumbria, and he surprised Cadwallader and his Welsh forces near Hexham. The Anglo-Saxons this time prevailed. On their part the battle began with prayers: it ended on the part of the Welsh in their defeat and the death of Cadwallader. Oswald was recognized by the two Northumbrian states of Bernicia and Deira; recovered all that his uncle Edwin had lost; and was acknowledged as Bretwalda. He shewed his gratitude by endeavouring to establish Christianity throughout the north, in which he appears to have been successful. As Bretwalda, Oswald exercised an authority over the Saxon nations and provinces equal to that of his uncle Edwin, and he is said to have compelled the chiefs of the Scots and Picts to acknowledge themselves as his vassals. But Oswald's reign was brief. He was slain in battle in the year 642, by the fierce and still unconverted Penda, king of Mercia.

Oswald was succeeded by his brother Osway; but about the year 651, his kingdom was re-divided into its two ancient independent states: whilst Oswy retained Bernicia, Odelwald reigned in Deira. Penda was still anxious to obtain the dignity of Bretwalda, and after having driven the Christian king of Wessex from the throne, in the year 652, he again advanced into Northumberland. Oswy entreated for peace, which he obtained by means of presents, hostages, and an arrangement of intermarriage. But as long as Penda was alive, there could be no lasting peace in the country. Having desolated East Anglia in 654, he returned into Northumbria, and this time gifts and offers were of no avail. Oswy was compelled to fight, and he was victorious. Penda perished by that violent death he had caused so many princes, and many of his chief captains were slain with him. After Penda's death, Oswy overran the country of his old enemies the Mercians; attached all the territory north of the Trent and the southern part of Mercia to his kingdom; and assumed the rank of Bretwalda.

There was soon another Bretwalda. In 656 the nobles of Mercia rose up in arms, expelled the Northumbrians, and gave the crown to Wulfare, one of Penda's sons, whom they concealed from the search of Oswy. Wulfare extended his dominions by conquest in Wessex and the neighbouring countries, and then proclaimed himself king of all the "Australian regions," or Bretwalda in all those parts of the island

south of the Humber. About this time a sickness, called the yellow, or the yellow plague, ravaged the country. Kings, archbishops, monks, and nuns were among the victims of this pestilence. It lasted for twenty years, and during its progress, Oswy, who is generally considered the last of the Bretwaldas, died, though not of the disease, A. D. 670.

Oswy was succeeded by his son Egfrid, who had scarcely ascended the throne when the Picts, seated between the Tyne and the Forth, revolted. They were defeated, and again reduced to a doubtful obedience, after which Egfrid, ambitious of obtaining all the possessions his father had once held, invaded Mercia. A battle was fought in the year 679, and great slaughter took place on both sides, when peace was restored by the mediation of a bishop. Egfrid was slain in 685, in a war with Brude, king of the Picts, and the kingdom of Northumbria then became the scene of wretchedness and anarchy. In the course of a century six kings were murdered; five were expelled by their subjects; two became monks and one only died with the crown on his head.

On the decline of Northumbria, its old rival Mercia assumed the ascendancy. By the year 737, Ethelbald, the Mercian king, ruled with paramount authority over all the country south of the Humber, Wales excepted. The superiority of Mercia, however, was more successfully asserted by Offa, between the years 757 and 794. After subduing parts of Sussex and Kent, he invaded Oxfordshire, and took all that part of the kingdom of Wessex that lay on the left of the Thames. Subsequently he drove the kings of Powis from Pengwern, now Shrewsbury, beyond the river Wye, and planted strong Saxon colonies between that river and the Severn. He caused a ditch and rampart to be drawn all along the frontiers of Wales, remains of which still exists, which are called Offa's Dyke. This work was scarcely finished when the Welsh filled up part of the ditch, broke through the rampart, and slew many of Offa's soldiers while enjoying the festivities of Christmas. Offa took a terrible revenge. Encountering the mountaineers at Rhuddlan, the king of North Wales, and the pride of the Welsh youth and nobility were slain. The last exploit of Offa was the defeat of a body of Danish invaders: a people that were designing the future conquest of England. Offa died in the year 795, when the great power of Mercia began rapidly to decline, and Wessex to obtain the ascendancy.

At the time of Offa's death the kingdom of Wessex was ruled by Beortric. The right of Beortric to the throne of Wessex was unquestionable, but he prevailed over his rival Egbert, who repaired to the court of the emperor Charlemagne. Beortric married Eadburgha, the daughter of Offa, who was a woman of a most depraved character, and possessed the most cruel nature. Eadburgha had prepared a cup of poison for a young nobleman who was her husband's favourite, and the king drank of it, with the intended victim, and died a horrid death. Eadburgha fled and took refuge with Charlemagne, who assigned her a residence in a convent, but she was expelled from thence for vicious conduct, and she ended her days at Pavia, in the garb of a mendicant.

The death of Beortric took place A.D. 800, and he was succeeded by his old rival Egbert. Early in his reign, Egbert had to meet the hostility of the Mercians, who invaded Wessex, but he defeated them, and attached Mercia and all its dependencies to his kingdom. Egbert established sub. reguli., or under kings, in Kent and East Anglia, and in the year A.D. 825, he subdued the Northumbrians, and Eanred their monarch became his vassal and tributary. The kingdoms of the Heptarchy were now united under one sovereign; but Egbert did not assume the title of king of England. He contented himself with the style of king of Wes sex, to which he added the dignity and authority of Bretwalda. This authority was sometimes disputed, but there were none who could withstand his power, and during the last ten years of his reign he ruled over more territory than any Saxon monarch that preceded him. At one time he even coerced and kept Wales in a dependent state. But no

sooner had England made some approaches to union, and the blessings of a regular government, than the Danes, or Northmen, appeared on the coasts, and begau to throw everything into confusion. The land was again to become a prey to foreign and barbarous invaders.

CHAPTER IV.

THE INVASION OF THE DANES.

THE Danes were a people inhabiting Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. They were divided into several states, and were continually engaged in mutual warfare. Nor was their martial prowess confined to their own shores. Habituated to the use of arms, they were accustomed to navigate the seas, and to commit acts of piracy upon the neighbouring nations. War was their trade, and was followed universally by the sons of noble families, who were provided with ships and followers, and then sent to sea to pursue their fortunes. For a long time the warfare of these hordes of savages was confined to the shores of the Baltic and the adjoining coasts. At the close of the eighth century, however, they began to sail further from home, and in their onward progress they invaded the coasts of England.

In the year 832, when Egbert was in the plenitude of his power, a number of Danes landed in the Isle of Sheppey, and having plundered it, escaped to their ships without opposition. The next year the marauders again landed on the coasts, and were encountered by Egbert, at Charmouth, in Dorsetshire. Some accounts relate that Egbert was defeated, and it is certain that after a desperate battle the Danes maintained their position for a while, and again retreated to their ships without hindrance. In cruising along the English coasts they formed an acquaintance with the people of Cornwall, which ended in an alliance. In the year 834, the Danes, with these allies, marched into Devonshire; but Egbert met them with a large army at Hengsdown-hill, and defeated them with great slaughter. This was his last exploit: he died in 836.

ETHELWUlf.

Egbert was succeeded by his eldest son Ethelwulf. One of the first acts of Ethelwulf was to give the kingdom of Kent, with its dependencies, Sussex and Essex, in separate Sovereignty, to his son Athelstane. About the same time Mercia revolted and re-established its independence, and thus,

D

when union was becoming more necessary than ever, jealousy and discord prevailed.

In this state of things the Danish pirates returned to England, and having ravaged all the southern coasts of the kingdom, they sailed up the Thames and the Medway, and stormed and pillaged London, Rochester, and Canterbury. Their ravages induced Ethelwulf, and Barhulf, king of Mercia, to unite their forces, and some energetic measures followed their union. Barhulf was slain, but Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, gained a complete victory over the Danes at Okeley, in Surrey. Soon after, they were defeated by Athelstane, the king of Kent, at Sandwich, and they were also beaten by the men of Devon, at Wenbury. These checks, together with the disordered state of France, which favoured their incursions in that direction, induced the marauders to suspend their attacks on England; but such was the apprehensions they still inspired, that every Wednesday was appointed as a day of public prayer, to implore the Divine assistance against them.

Ever since their conversion the Saxons of superior condition had been accustomed to make pilgrimages to Rome: princes and kings had told their orisons before the altar of St. Peter. Ethelwulf, finding his kingdom was tranquil, followed the example of his predecessors: crossing the Alps and the Apennines, he arrived at Rome, where he remained nearly one year. On his return, though an old man, he espoused the youthful daughter of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, with great solemnity, in the cathedral of Rheims, where he placed her by his side, and caused her to be crowned as queen. The constitution and the laws of Wessex had for ever abolished the queenly dignity, in consequence of the crimes of Eadburgha, and on hearing of this event prince Ethelbald, Adelstane, bishop of Sherborn, and the thanes and men of Wessex, joined in a plot to dethrone Ethelwulf. On his return to the island with his young bride, he found a formidable faction in arms, and though he had still many friends, he shrunk from a civil war with his son, and consented to a compromise. He retained to himself the eastern part of Wessex, but resigned all the western, which was considered the richest and best portion, to Ethelbald. Ethelwulf did not long survive this partition: he died in the year 857.