The beginning of a new reign was always the signal for domestic convulsions. The Northumbrians again revolted, but were soon reduced to submission; and Ed mund took this opportunity of removing the Danes from the towns of Mercia, and thus preventing any farther dis turbances in the heart of the kingdom. He also took Cumberland from the Britons, and conferred it on Mal colm king of Scotland, upon condition of his doing ho mage for it, and protecting the northern frontiers from the ittpu•sions of the Danes. His reign, however, was but short. Leolf, a notorious robber, had presumed to seat himself at the same table with the king and his at tendants at dinner. Edmund, enraged at his insolence, commanded him immediately to leave the room ; the robber refused to obey ; upon which the king, naturally choleric, seized him by the hair; but during the strug gle, the dagger of Leolf found its way to the heart of Edmund, who expired in the arms of his murderer. Ilis children were too young to wield the sceptre of such a kingdom, and his brother Edred ascended the throne.
The Northumbrian Danes, as usual, rose in rebellion; but on the appearance of Edred with an army, they im mediately submitted ; and, to secure himself against their revolts in future, he placed garrisons in all their prin cipal towns, and appointed an English governor to watch their motions. Edred, though neither destitute of abili ties nor warlike vigour, became the slave of superstition. It was in this reign, that the celibacy of the clergy began first to be insisted upon ; and this dispute, together with the introduction of a new order of monks, under the pro tection of Dunstan, abbot of Glastenbury, excited in the kingdom the most violent completions. Dunstan had ob tained a complete ascendency over the mind of Edred, and had the direction of the most important matters, both in the church and state. He had acquired, by his austerities, a high reputation for sanctity and devotion. Having lost the favour of the former king by his licentious manners, lie determined to recover his character by a life of morti fication. He secluded himself from the world, in a cell so small, that he could neither stand erect nor stretch out his limbs in it. Here he employed himself in penance and devotion ; and pretended that he received frequent visits from the devil, whose strongest temptations he was enabled to resist. it is said that the evil spirit one day assailed him in the shape of a beautiful woman ; but the saint discovering the deceit, seized him by the nose with a pair of red hot pincers, and held him there, till he made the whole country resound with his bellowings. This and similar stories were not only industriously propa gated by the monks, but seriously believed by the peo ple; and Dunstan, on his exaltation to the head of the treasury under Edred, supported with all his power the monks against the secular clergy. He had introduced
celibacy into the convents of Glastenbury and Abingdon, and wished to make it universal throughout the king dom. The secular clergy, however, were numerous and rich, and would not renounce the advantages which they enjoyed. The monks accordingly inveighed against the vices of the clergy, and stigmatised their wives with the name of concubines. These invectives produced retaliation on the part of their adversaries, and the whole kingdom was involved in religious contentions and ani mosities. The monks, however, were for a time si lenced by the death of their patron, Edred, which hap pened in the ninth year of his reign. his nephew Edwy was raised to the throne when about 17 years of age, in preference to the infant children of Edred; and his reign is remarkable for the outrages and cruelties, which under the influence of a degraded bigotry, was commit ted upon the person of his beautiful but unfortunate queen.
Edwy was distinguished by his amiable virtues, as well as a most graceful figure. He had become early enamoured of Elgiva, a princess of the royal blood, and, within the degrees of affinity, prohibited by the canon law ; but he listened only to the dictates of passion, and married her in opposition to the advice and remon strances of his gravest counsellors. The monks were particularly violent ; and the king heightened their re sentment, by resisting their ambitious projects of ob taining possession of all the richest convents. Their hatred was marked with insult and cruelty; and their conduct on this occasion presents us with a melancholy picture of the human mind, when enslaved by supersti tion. \Vhile at the coronation feast of Edwy, the nobles were indulging themselves in riotous mirth, the king had retired from their noisy revelry to enjoy the compa ny of his beloved Elgiva and her mother Dunstan sus pecting the cause of his absence, soon followed, and, bursting into the queen's apartment, upbraided Edwy with his lasciviousness, tore him flour the arms of his queen, and pushed him back to the banqueting-hall. Ed wy resented this insult, by accusing Dunstan of malver sation in the treasury during the former reign, and ba nished him the kingdom. This step threw the nation into a violent ferment. Nothing was now heard but the praises of the banished saint, and exclamations against the impiety of the king. These clamours were encou raged by the clergy, till at last they proceeded to acts of the most unwarrantable outrage. Archbishop Odo, with a band of soldiers, forcibly entered the palace, and car ried off the queen. He first burnt her face with a hot iron, in order to destroy that beauty which had captivated her husband, and then sent her to Ireland into perpetual exile.