boundary which determined the confines of England and Wales; a boundary jealously guarded with the most rigorous penalties.43 Offa's desire of reading is mentioned by Alcuin.44 The basest action of Offa was the murder of Ethelbert, king of East Anglia. CHAP. X. 777. Ethelbert. At the close of Offa's reign, Ethelbert possessed offa's the crown of East Anglia, a peaceful and intelligent murder of prince, in the bloom of youth and beauty, interesting in his manners, and virtuous in his disposition. Invited or welcomed by Offa 45, he went to Mercia, for the purpose of receiving the hand of Etheldritha, the daughter of the Mercian king. He travelled with a splendid retinue. Offa received him with that distinction which was due to the allotted husband of his daughter. But before the marriage was completed, Ethelbert was assassinated, and the father of his beloved commanded the murder. Though Offa had pledged his protection, had received the king of East Anglia as his guest, had introduced him to his daughter as her approved husband, and the nuptial feast had begun, Offa is represented as having procured his assassination.46 The favourable moment of annexing East Anglia to Mercia was a temptation which overpowered the feelings of the father and the man. The friends of Ethelbert fled in consternation. 43 Jo. Sarisb. Polycrat., in his De nugis curialium, lib. vi. p. 184. "Alcuin in a letter to him says, "It greatly pleases me that you have such an intention to read; that the light of wisdom may shine in your kingdom which is now extinguished in many places." He adds some good moral advice. Alc. Op. p. 1554. 45 The welcome is affirmed by all. The invitation by Malmsbury, 29., and the author of the life of Offa, p. 23., and Hen. Silgrave, MSS. Cott. Cleop. A. 12. 46 That Offa commanded the murder is expressly asserted by Ethelwerd, 840. ; Hoveden, 410.; Huntingdon, 344.; Sax. Chron. 65.; Flor. Wig. 281.; Malmsb. de Pont. 287.; Bromton, 749,; Higden, 251.; Rad. Dicet. 446.; and Asseri Annal. 154. Their uniting evidence does away the attempt of Matt. West. p. 283., and the fabulous monk of St. Alban's, in Vita Offæ, p. 23., who want to fix it solely on the queen.-Both these apologists admit that Offa immediately seized East Anglia; and such an action, after such a catastrophe, is among the most forcible evidences of his guilt and its motive. BOOK Offa invaded his dominions, and East Anglia was added to his conquests. 777. of Offa's family. Did such a complication of crimes benefit the perpetrator? Before two years elapsed, he sank from Calamities his empire to his grave. Remorse embittered all the interval. His widowed daughter abandoned his court, fled into the marshes of Croyland, and pined away her life in mourning solitude 47; his queen, the evil counsellor of his ambition, perished miserably 48; the husband of another of his daughters was cut off in the same year with himself 49; the other, who married Brihtric, died a martyr to vice and penury the most extreme, scorned and abhorred 50; his son Ecgfrid, who succeeded him, was permitted to exist only 141 days 51; and thus the race of Offa disappeared for ever. 784. Cynewulf of Wessex assassinated. During the reign of Offa, the sceptre of Wessex had been swayed, since 755, by Cynewulf. He warred with the Britons successfully 52, and met Offa in the disastrous conflict at Bensington. After a reign of many years, he fell a victim to revenge and desperation. He endeavoured to expel Cyneheard, the brother of the deposed Sigebyrht; a suspicion that he 47 Ingulf. 7. Bromton, 752. Vit. Offæ, p. 24. 48 Vit. Offæ, p. 25. 50 See further, note 58. 51 Bromton, 754. Hunt. 344. Ingulf. 6. Offa went to Rome before his death, and extended to his own dominions the liberality of Ina, called Romescot. It was with strict truth that the friend of the great Alfred mentions Offa with the epithet "universis circa se regibus et regionibus finitimis formidolosus rex." Asser de Reb. Gest. Elfredi, p. 10. I find the following curious circumstance in the public papers : —“In digging a vault in the churchyard of Hemel Hampstead (in Hertfordshire), the sexton struck against a large stone about four feet below the surface; it was found to be the lid of a coffin. The coffin was taken up in a perfect condition; the bones within, on being exposed to the air, crumbled into dust. On the lid of the coffin is an inscription, partly effaced by time, yet sufficiently legible to prove that it contained the ashes of the celebrated Offa, king of the Mercians. The coffin is very curiously carved, and altogether unique of its kind. The church was built in the seventh century."- Standard, August 18th, 1836. 52 Flor. Wig. 274. Sax. Chron. 57. Of Cornwall, I presume; for in his charter to the monastery at Wells, dated 766, he adduces among his motives to the donation pro aliqua vexatione inimicorum nostrorum Cornubiorum gentis. See it ap. Dugd, i. 186. CHAP. X. 784. was mediating retaliation, occasioned the attempt.5 Cyneheard determined to prevent the blow; he watched the unguarded moment when the king with a few attendants visited a lady at Merton in Surrey; he collected about eighty desperadoes, hastened to the place, and surrounded the chamber to which the king had retired, before his friends were aware of his danger. The king quitted the apartment, and vigorously defended himself; he beheld Cyneheard, and, rushing forward, severely wounded him; but no courage could prevail against such numbers. Cynewulf was slain. Roused by the clamour of the struggle, his thanes hurried to the conflict. Safety and wealth were offered to them by the assassins; but no bribes could repress their loyal indignation; and they fell nobly by their master's side; one British hostage only escaped, desperately wounded. In the morning, the dismal tidings had circulated; and the great officers of the royal household, Osric, the friend, and Weverth, the faithful minister of Cynewulf, with their attendants, rode to the town. Cyneheard lavished both promises and presents, if they would assist him to obtain the crown. The disinterested The murthanes disdained the favours of a murderer, forced derers puan entrance with their battle-axes, and a deadly contest ensued, in which the guilty perished.54 nished. 787. land in This melancholy catastrophe led to the elevation Brihtric of Brihtric. He was of the race of Cerdic 55, and succeeds. married Eadburga, the daughter of Offa. The year Danes first of his accession was distinguished as that in which England. the Danes are recorded by the Anglo-Saxon writers to have first landed on the English shore. The gerefa of the place went out to see the strangers, who had arrived with three vessels, and was instantly 53 Matt. West. 280. This author states, that Cyneheard had been banished. 54 Sax. Chron. 59. 63. 55 Sax. Chron. 63. Flor. Wig. 278. Hunt. 343. BOOK 787. Vices of the killed.56 Their incursion was repeated on other parts of the island. The wife of Brihtric, or Beorhtric, is expressed by Asser to have imitated the tyranny of her father, Eadburga. Offa; to have hated all to whom her husband was Brihtric. attached, and to have done whatever was odious to mankind. She became familiar with crimes which the gentleness of female nature never perpetrates till its moral sentiments have been erased. She accused to the king whomsoever her caprice disliked, and thus deprived them of life or power. When he refused the gratification to her malice, she used the secret poison. To one youth the king was so attached, that her arts were fruitlessly exerted to procure his disgrace. She poisons She mingled for him a poisoned cup. It was the destiny of Brihtric, that, by accident, he should drink the contents. Thus punished for his unjust compliances with the malignancy of Eadburga, he expired as well as the youth, and was succeeded by Egbert.57 She escapes to France. Driven out of Wessex, the wretched woman sailed with great treasures to France, and presented herself to Charlemagne. With splendid presents she stood before the throne: "Choose, Eadburga," said the king, " which you prefer, me or my son." "Your son,' was her answer, "because he is youngest.' The monarch tauntingly assured her, that if she had selected him, he should have transferred her to his son; but that as her election had been otherwise, she should have neither. He gave her what he thought better suited her immorality, the habit and discipline 56 Sax. Chron. 64.; Flor. Wig. 280.; and see Ethelwerd. 57 Asser relates these incidents from the communications of his illustrious master: "Quod a domino meo Alfredo Angul-saxonum rege veredico, etiam sæpe mihi referente audivi : " p. 10. The Saxon chronicle mentions Worr as the ealdorman who died with Brihtric, p. 68. Brihtric was buried in Tewksbury. Chron. de Tewksb. MSS. Cott. Cleop. c. 3. CHAP. X. 787. Her miser of a cloister; but even in this retreat she indulged her depravity, and was turned out of the society. In poverty and miserable vice she dragged on a loathed existence, and, at last, accompanied by a little girl, able end. she begged her daily bread at Pavia; and closed an abandoned life by a deplorable death.58 58 Asser says he had this fact from many who had seen her, p. 12.—In 798, London was burnt, with many of its inhabitants. Chron. Pet. 10. |