34.-CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF THE SAXON KINGS.

FROM EGBERT TO THE DEATH OF HAROLD, 1066.

(From Chronology of History, by Sir Harris Nicolas.)

827 EGBERT, or EGBRYHT, king of Wessex. He defeated and slew the king of Mercia in 825, and conquered that kingdom and all south of the Humber in 827, when he became the first sole monarch of England. He died 836-7.

837 ETHELWULF, son of king EGBERT, succeeded his father in February, 839. Died 857, "having reigned eighteen years and a half.”*

858 ETHELBALD II., eldest son of king Ethelwulf, succeeded his father in the kingdom of Wessex in 858. Died 860.

861 ETHELBERT, or ETHELBRIGHT II., second son of Ethelwulf, succeeded his father in the kingdoms of Kent, Essex, Surrey, and Sussex, and in 860 he succeeded his brother in the kingdom of Wessex. Died 866, "having reigned five years."*

866 ETHELRED, or ETHERED, third son of king Ethelwulf, succeeded his brother Ethelbert in 866. Died 871, "having reigned five years." *

872 ALFRED THE GREAT, fourth son of king Ethelwulf, succeeded his brother in 871. Died "six nights before the feast of All Saints," viz., the 25th or 26th of October, 901, having reigned twenty eight years and a half.

901 EDWARD I., THE ELDER, eldest surviving son of king Alfred, succeeded his father in 901. Died 925.

925 ATHELSTAN, or ETHESTAN, natural son of king Edward the Elder, elected by the Witan on the death of his father in 925. Died 27th of October, 940, "having reigned fourteen years and ten weeks."*

940 EDMUND I., THE ELDER, fifth son of king Edward the Elder, succeeded king Athelstan in 940. Died 26th of May, 947, "having reigned six years and a half.” *

947 EDRED, brother of king Edmund I., whom he succeeded in 947. Died 23d of Novem-
ber, 955, "having reigned nine years and a half."*

955 EDWY, or EDWIN, eldest son of king Edmund I., succeeded his uncle, and was crowned
at Kingston-upon-Thames in 955. Died 1st of October, 957 or 959.
959 EDGAR, THE PEACEABLE, succeeded his brother king

Edwy in 959. "Consecrated
Died July 18th, 975.

as king with great pomp at Bath," 11th of May, 973. 975 EDWARD II., THE MARTYR, eldest son of king Edgar, succeeded his father in 975. Died 11th of March, 978.

4978 ETHELRED II., THE UNREADY, half

brother of king Edward the Martyr,
whom he succeeded in 978. Abdi-
cated the throne in 1012, but was
restored in 1015. Died 23d of April,
1016.

1016 EDMUND IRONSIDES, natural son of
king Ethelred, elected by the Witan
in London, and the citizens, on the
death of Ethelred; crowned April,
1016, but was defeated by Canute,
with whom he divided the realm,
Edmund taking Wessex, and Canute
Mercia. Died 30th of November,
1010.

1013 SWAIN, or SWEYN, king of Denmark, brother of king Etheldred II., usurped the crown, and was proclaimed king in the autumn of 1013. Died 3d of February, 1014.

16

1014 CANUTE, or CNUT, son of king Swain, was elected king of England by the fleet, in February, 1014. He defeated Edmund Ironsides in 1016, and divided the realm with him, Canute taking Mercia, and Edmund Wessex. That prince died 30th of November, 1016, and in 1017 Canute became sole monarch of England; or, as one copy of the Saxon Chronicle expresses it, "took to himself the whole kingdom of England," whilst another copy says, "this year [1017] Cnut was chosen king." Died 1036.

• Saxon Chronicle. It will be seen that the length assigned to several reigns in that work

does not agree with the date assigned to the accession of the kings.

1036 HAROLD I., son of king Canute, succeeded his father, by election of the Witan, in 1036, and died 16th of April, 1039, "having reigned four years and sixteen weeks." 1039 HARDICANUTE, or HARDICNUT, king of Denmark, half brother of king Harold I., succeeded to the throne about Midsummer, 1039. Died 8th of June, 1041. "He was king over all England two years all but ten days."

1041 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, son of king Etheldred II., and half brother of king Hardicanute; elected to the throne before the funeral of Hardicanute, in June, 1041, and was crowned at Winchester on Easter-day, 3d of April, 1043. Died 5th of January, 1066.

2

1066 HAROLD II., son of Godwin, earl of Kent, succeeded under a grant of the kingdom by Edward the Confessor. He was crowned on the 6th of January, 1066, but was slain at the battle of Hastings, 14th of October in the same year.

Saxon Chronicle.

The following Chronology of English History to the Battle of Hastings, is taken from the 'Chronological Index to the Pictorial History of England.'

B.C.

✓ JULIUS CESAR lands in Britain; gains several battles, and returns the same year to

Gaul.

54 Julius Cæsar lands a second time in Britain; fights Cassivellaunus; forces the passage of the Thames; takes the capital of Cassivellaunus; appoints a yearly tribute, and again returns to Gaul.

A.D.

43 Aulus Plautius lands in Britain; defeats Caractacus and Togodumnus, and com pels some of the tribes to submit. Claudius arrives in Britain, receives the submission of some of the tribes, and returns to Rome after being in the island six months.

50 Ostorius Scapula, proprætor, arrives in Britain; carries on the war nine years; erects forts and lines; defeats the Sceni, captures Caractacus, and sends him to Rome. 59-61 Paulus Suetonius takes Mona (Anglesey). Boadicea defeats the Romans, and is afterwards defeated by Suetonius, and poisons herself.

75-78 Julius Frontinus subdues the Silures.

Agricola completes the conquest of South Britain, and reconquers Mona.

79 He pursues his operations in the south-west.

80,81 He builds Agricola's wall; erects a chain of forts from Solway Frith to the Friths of LClyde and Forth.

82 Agricola subdues the Novantæ, Selgovæ, and Damnii, and clears the south-west of Scotland.

83 Crosses the Frith of Forth, and defeats the Caledonians.

84 Again defeats them at the Grampians under Galgacus. Britain discovered to be an island. Agricola recailed to Rome by Domitian.

120 Hadrian arrives in Britain; raises a rampart between Solway Frith and the German Ocean.

121 He repairs the wall of Agricola.

138 Lollius Urbicus drives the Caledonians beyond the Clyde and Forth, and there fixes the 140 Roman frontier; erects a rampart on the line of Agricola's forts.

183 The Caledonians lay waste the country between the lines of Agricola and the wall of Hadrian.

207 Severus lands in South Britain; penetrates into Caledonia; builds a wall parallel with those of Agricola and Hadrian.

211 He marches against the Caledonians, but dies at Eboracum (York). Caracalla yields the ground between the Solway and Tyne and the Friths of Clyde and Forth to the Caledonians.

288 Carausius defeats the Scandinavian and Saxon pirates; is made emperor of Britain, &c. Britain a naval power.

297 He is murdered at Eboracum by Allectus, who succeeds him.

300 Allectus defeated and slain.

K

A.D.

306 Constantius Chlorus dies at Eboracum.

337 The Emperor Constantine the Great dies.

367 The Picts and Scots pillage Augusta (London) and make the inhabitants slaves.

382 Maximus becomes emperor of Britain, Gaul, Spain, and Italy.

388 He is defeated and put to death by the Emperor Theodosius the Great.

895 Theodosius dies, bequeathing the empire of the west to Honorius, over whom he ap points Stilicho guardian.

Stilicho repels the Picts, Scots, and Saxons.

403 The Roman empire dismembered; part of the Roman troops recalled.

407 Marcus elected emperor of Britain; dethroned and murdered.

Constantine elected emperor of Britain; conquers a great part of Gaul; gives Spain

411 to his son Constans; dies.

420 The Romans finally abandon Britain.

428 Leogaire MacNeil, first Christian King of Ireland, began to reign.

441 The Roman party in Britain petition Ætius for aid. Germanus, a Gallic bishop, de

feats the Picts.

449 Vortigern calls in the aid of the Saxons under Hengist and Horsa, whom he places in the Isle of Thanet.

463 Leogaire MacNeil, first Christian king of Ireland, dies.

Hengist and Horsa drive out the Picts and Scots. Vortigern marries Rowena.

The Saxons fortify Thanet. Vortigern is deposed, and Vortimer elected king. The Saxons massacre the Britons at Stonehenge. Hengist founds in Kent the first Saxon kingdom.

470 Riothamus, a king of Cornwall, embarks with 12,000 British to assist the Gauls. 477 Ella, the Saxon, with his three sons, lands in Sussex; defeats the Britons, and founds the kingdom of the South Saxons.

510 He dies, having been the first Bretwalda.

527-9 Ercenwine takes possession of Essex, and founds the kingdom of the East Saxons. 547 Ida, the Angle, lands at Flamborough head, and settles between the Tees and the Tyne, and founds the kingdom of Bernicia.

568 Ceawlin, king of Wessex, begins to reign.

593 Ethelbert, king of Kent, becomes Bretwalda.

616 He dies, and is succeeded as king of Kent by his son Eadbald.

617 Redwald, king of East Anglia, becomes Bretwalda.

The Angles of Bernicia and Deira united, and called Northumbrians.

621 Edilfrid, king of Northumbria, is slain, and Edwin, fifth Bretwalda, succeeds to his kingdom.

625 Edwin styled "Rex Anglorum."

634 Penda, prince of Mercia, and Cadwallader, king of North Wales, defeat and slay Edwin. Oswald defeats and slays Cadwallader at Hexham.

He is acknowledged Bretwalda.

642 He is slain in battle by Peda, and is succeeded in his kingdom by Oswy.

647 The Britons of Cornwall and Devonshire submit to the Anglo-Saxons.

651 The kingdom of Northumbria again divided.

652 Penda ravages Northumberland. Oswy sues for peace. The families of Penda and Oswy intermarry.

654 Penda is defeated and slain near York.

655 Oswy conquers Mercia, and assumes the title of Bretwalda.

656 Wulfere made king of Mercia, and becomes Bretwalda of parts south of the Humber. Alchfrid obtains part of Northumbria.

The yellow plague rages over Britain.

670 Oswy dies, and Egfrid, his son, succeeds.

Egfrid defeats the Picts.

679 Egfrid invades Mercia.

685 He is slain in a war with Brude, King of the Picts.

737 Ethelbald, king of Mercia, rules the country south of the Humber, except Wales.

742 Wessex again becomes independent.

748 The Danes make their first incursion into Ireland.

A.D.

to

757 Offa, king of Mercia, makes conquests in Sussex, Kent, and Oxfordshire; takes part of Mercia; defeats the Welsh; exacts tribute from the Northumbrians; builds a palace at Tamworth; and defeats the Danes, who invade England.

794

791 Constantine, a Pictish king, reigns in Scotland.

795 Offa the Terrible dies.

800 Beortric, king of Wessex, is poisoned by his wife Eadburgha, who is expelled the kingdom and the title of queen abolished.

Egbert becomes king of Wessex; defeats the Mercians, and takes possession of their kingdom; establishes sub-kings of Kent and East Anglia.

825 Egbert subdues Northumbria and makes King Eanred his vassal; assumes the title of Bretwalda.

830 Ungus, king of Scots, dies.

832 The Danish pirates land and ravage the Isle of Sheppey.

833 They land again and are fought by Egbert at Charmouth.

834 Egbert defeats the Danes and Britons of Cornwall and Devon at Hengsdown Hill. 836 Kenneth II., Pictish king of Scots, begins to reign.

Egbert dies, and is buried at Winchester.

Accession of Ethelwulf, who gives Kent, Sussex, and Essex to Athelstane.

843 Kenneth II. acknowledged king of the Picts and Scots.

845 Turgesius, the Dane, proclaimed king of all Ireland.

851 The Danes defeated at Okeley by Ethelwulf and Ethelbald. Barhulf, king of Mercia, is slain. The Danes are again defeated at Wenbury, in Devon.

853 Ethelwulf goes to Rome and stops a year; Alfred, his son, is anointed king by the pope. Ethelwulf marries Judith, daughter of the king of the Franks, and revives the title of queen.

He returns to England, and divides the kingdom with Ethelbald.

857 Ethelwulf dies.

Ethelbald succeeds, and marries his father's widow.

859 He dies and is succeeded by Ethelbert.

Kenneth MacAlpine, king of Scots, dies at Forteviot.

863 Donald III., successor of Kenneth, dies, and is succeeded by Constantine II.

866-7 Ethelbert dies, and is succeeded by Ethelred, who fights nine battles against the Danes.

V-871 Acanton of Alfred the Great.

875 The Danes under Halfden settle Northumbria.

876 They invade Wessex, land in Dorsetshire, and take Wareham. Alfred beats their ships at sea, and they evacuate Wessex.

A Saxon fleet destroys the Danish ships at the mouth of the Exe. Guthrun capitulates at Exeter, and gives hostages.

878 Alfred is surprised at Chippenham by the Danes under Guthrun, and is obliged to fly, and the Danes overrun Wessex. Alfred takes refuge in Athelney.

He fights the battle of Ethandune; defeats the Danes; and Guthrun embraces Christianity; and England is then divided between him and Alfred.

Asser made bishop of Sherburn.

879 Guthrun the Dane baptized. An army of pagans land and winter at Fulham.

882 Constantine II., king of Scots, is defeated and slain by the Danes.

Accession and dethronement of Hugh, king of Scots.

Alfred gains a naval victory over the Danes.

815 He gains another naval victory, and the same year he drives the Danes from before Rochester, and compels them to retreat to their ships.

886 He rebuilds and fortifies London.

The Danes besiege Paris during this and the two following years.

893 Grig and Etha, kings of Scots, dethroned, and Donald IV. succeeds.

893-8 The Danes invade England and land at Romney Marsh. Another division under Hasting land at Milton. The Danes of England rise in their favour; Alfred defeats them at Farnham; he raises the siege of Exeter. Ethelred, earl of the Mercians, takes Hasting prisoner, whom Alfred liberates. The Danes are routed at Buttington and in various other battles. Hasting, abandoned by his followers, leaves England.

897

A.D.

901 Alfred dies at the age of fifty-three, and is buried at Winchester.

Edward and Ethelwald dispute the succession; the latter flies to Danelagh, and be comes king of the Danes.

904 Donald IV., king of Scots, killed in battle near Forteviot, and is succeeded by Constantine III.

905 Ethelwald is slain in battle by Edward.

911 Edward gains a signal victory over the Danes.

912 Ethelred dies, and leaves the care of Mercia to his widow Ethelfleda; she drives the Danes out of Derby and Leicester, compels many of the tribes to submit, and takes the wife of the Welsh king prisoner.

920 Ethelfleda dies; is succeeded in Mercia by Edward, who dies, and is succeeded by Athelstane.

925 Accession of Athelstane; reduces nearly all Wales; compels the Welsh to pay tribute, and drives the Cornish out of Devon.

934 North Britain called for the first time Scotland.

937 Athelstane defeats Anlaf the Dane, and Constantine, king of Scots, at Brunnaburgh; assumes the title of king of the Anglo-Saxons.

940 He dies and is buried at Malmsbury.

Anlaf again invades England; takes a great part; Edmund Atheling regains possession of it.

944 Constantine III., king of Scots, becomes Abbot of the Culdees of St. Andrews, and Malcolm I. succeeds.

Kenneth is murdered by Fenella at Fettercairn.

946 Edmund Atheling expels Dunmail, king of Cumbria, and gives the country to the king of Scots; puts out the eyes of Dunmail's sons; is stabbed by Leof; dies, and is buried at Glastonbury.

Accession of Edred. The Danes again infest England: are beaten; Edred obliges the Danes of England to pay a fine, and incorporates Northumbria with the rest of the kingdom; he dies.

948 The Danes of Ireland embrace Christianity.

953 Malcolm I., king of Scots, is killed, and succeeded by Indulf.

955 Accession of Edwy; appoints Edgar sub regulus of part of England; marries Elgiva; Dunstan insults him, and is banished. The Northumbrians and Mercians rise and declare Edgar king of England north of the Thames.

956 Dunstan returns. Elgiva cruelly treated and murdered.

958,9 Edwy dies, and is succeeded by Edgar. Dunstan is made archbishop of Canterbury. Edgar is styled emperor of Albion and king of England.

He causes the extirpation of wolves.

961 Indulf, king of Scots, killed at the battle of the Bauds, and is succeeded by Duff. 964 Edgar issues a new coinage. Athelwold marries Elfrida; he is murdered; Edgar marries the widow.

965 Duff, king of Scots, is assassinated, and Culen succeeds.

978 Culen is killed in battle, and is succeeded by Kenneth III.

973 Kenneth overcomes Dunwallon, king of Strathclyde, at the battle of Vacornar, and incorporates his kingdom with the rest of Scotland.

975 Edgar dies, and is buried at Glastonbury.

Accession of Edward the Martyr.

978 He is murdered near Corfe Castle by an attendant of Elfrida.

979 Ethelred is crowned at Kingston by Dunstan.

981 Southampton is plundered and its inhabitants taken for slaves by Sweyn, a prince of Denmark, who afterwards takes Chester, London, and attacks many other places.

991 The Danes ravage all between Ipswich and Maldon, and slay Earl Brithnoth. 992 A large fleet is collected at London, but Alfric, the principal commander, goes over to the Danes; the eyes of Elfgar, his son, are put out by Ethelred.

993 A Danish host land and take Bamborough Castle by storm.

994 Sweyn, king of Denmark, and Olave, king of Norway, ravage the south, and are bought off by the payment of 16,000 pounds of silver.

998 Ethelred prepares a large fleet.