BOOK 628. Edwin's police. EDWIN and his nobility were soon afterwards baptised, in the eleventh year of his reign. In 632, he persuaded Eorpwald of East Anglia, the son of Redwald, to imitate his example. Sigebert, the brother and successor of Eorpwald, not only increased the diffusion of Christianity in East Anglia, but applied so closely to the study of it as to be called by the Chronicler, "Most Learned." 23 EDWIN reached the summit of human prosperity: a considerable part of Wales submitted to his power, and the Menavian islands; and he was the first of the Angles that subdued or defeated all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms but Kent." The in 66 intruder. But seeing the fire roll as harmlessly as if no one were present, the people acknowledged the greatness of the God of Kapiolani, and from that time few have been the offerings and little the reverence offered to the fires of Peli." Lord Byron's Voyage to the Sandwich Islands, 1827, p. 188. The missionaries had made no general impression, nor could the king and chiefs subdue the worship, till the rod of Kapiolani thus dissolved the spell. 23 Doctissimus. Flor. Wig. 233, 234. Analogous to Edwin's conduct in this overthrow of the Saxon superstitions, was that of Riho Riho, king of the Sandwich Islands, in May, 1819, which may be here noticed as illustrating the Northumbrian revolution, and confirming its historical probability, and thereby our Bede's veracity. After several conferences with his nobles on the absurdities of their religion, which the visits of Captain Cook and others, and some American missionaries, had led his father's mind and his own to perceive, he declared his resolution, if the chiefs consented, to desecrate their sacred morais, and to destroy their idols. His mother enquired, "What harm their gods had done?" 66 Nay," answered the nobles, "what good? Are not the offerings we are required to make, burdensome? Are not the human sacrifices demanded by the priests, cruel and useless! Do not the foreigners laugh at our supposing these ill-shaped logs of wood can protect us?" The maternal queen replied, "Do as you will;" and on the same day their consecrated places and images were destroyed, and Christianity was soon after introduced into these interesting islands. See Ellis's Narrative, and Lord Byron's Voyage, for the fuller details. 24 Flor. Wig. 233. Sax. Chron. 27. Bede, ii. c. 9. and 16. The Menavian Islands were Eubonia and Mona, or Man and Anglesey. — VII. 628. ternal police which prevailed through his dominions CHAP. was so vigilant, that it became an aphorism to say, that a woman, with her new-born infant, might walk from sea to sea without fear of insult. As in those days travelling was difficult and tedious, and no places existed for the entertainment of guests, it was an important and kind convenience to his people, that he caused stakes to be fixed in the highways where he had seen a clear spring, with brazen dishes chained to them, to refresh the weary sojourner, whose fatigues Edwin had himself experienced. In another reign these would have been placed only to have been taken away; but such was the dread of his inquiring justice, or such the general affection for his virtues, that no man misused them. It is remarked by Bede, as an instance of his dignity and power, that his banner was borne before him whenever he rode out, either in peace or war. When he walked abroad, the tufa preceded him. 25 But FOR seventeen years he reigned, victorious over his enemies, and making his subjects happy. Edwin, with all his merit, was an imperfect character. He had admitted Christianity to his belief, but he was forty-three years old before he had adopted it. His mind and temper had therefore Bede, c. 9., states that Anglesey contained 960 hydes. or families, and Man 300. The fertility of Anglesey occasioned the proverb, Mon mam Cymry; Mona the mother of Wales. Pryse's Pref. to Wynne's Caradoc.. The king of Gwynedd had his royal seat in it at Aberfraw, which is now a small village. Camp. Reg. 1796, p. 402. 25 We know, from a passage of Vegetius, corrected by Lipsius, that the tufa was one of the Roman ensigns; and we are informed by Isidorus, that Augustus introduced a globe upon a spear among his signa, to denote a subjected world. Lipsius is of opinion that this was the tufa alluded to by Bede. - De Militia Romana, lib. iv. c. 5. p. 169. ed. Antwerp, 1598. BOOK 628. His conduct to Cadwallon been formed into other habits before he allowed the new faith to affect him. He was still the Saxon warrior, and partook of the fate which so many experienced from their martial character. Five years had not elapsed after his conversion before his reign was ended violently; and the disaster resulted from his ambition. The tender years of his life had been cherished by the father of Cadwallon, the and Wales. sovereign of North Wales; but when Edwin had obtained the sceptre of Ethelfrith, he waged furious war with the son of his host. We know neither what had caused him, when young, to leave his asylum in Wales, nor what occasioned now the hostility between him and Cadwallon. But as the Welsh king invaded Edwin, we may presume him to have been the aggressor. Edwin defeated Cadwallon, who had penetrated to Widdrington, about eight miles north of Morpeth. 26 It is with regret we read that he was not satisfied with defensive war, and did not forbear to use the rights of victory against his early friend and protector. He obeyed his resentment or his ambition in preference to his gratitude. He pursued Cadwallon into Wales, and chased him into Ireland. 27 So severely did he 26 Jeffry's account of the quarrel is, that Edwin wished to wear his crown independently of the Welsh prince, who was advised to insist on his subjection, and threatened to cut off his head if he dared to crown it. Lib. xii. c. 2, 3. 27 The 34th Triad states, that Cadwallon and his family lived seven years in Ireland, p.7.-Jeffry annexes a pretty nurse tale to Cadwallon's exile. Sailing to Armorica, he was driven by a tempest on the island of Garnereia: the loss of his companions affected him to sickness; for three days he refused food, on the fourth he asked for venison; a day's search discovered none. To save his king, Brian cut an ample piece out of his own thigh, roasted it on a spit, and presented it to the king as genuine venison. It was greedily devoured. The wind changed, they got safe to Armorica, and Brian afterwards killed the second-sighted magician of Edwin. Lib. xii. c. 4. and 7. VII. exercise his advantages, that the British Triads CHAP. characterise him as one of the three plagues which befel the Isle of Anglesey.28 633. and Penda FOR a few years his authority continued over Cadwallon Gwynedd. But this apparent triumph only flat- unite. tered him into ruin. Cadwallon besought the aid of Penda, the Mercian king, who armed in his cause with all the activity of youth. The confederated kings met Edwin in Hatfield Chase in Yorkshire, on the 12th of October. As Mercia until that time had been obscure and tranquil, and an appendage to his kingdom of Deira, Edwin had no reason to apprehend any danger from this union. But the end of all battles is uncertain: the death of a commander; the mistake of a movement; a sudden unforeseen attack on some part; a skilful, even at times an accidental, evolution, has frequently made both talent and numbers unavailing. The detail of this conflict has not been transmitted, but its issue was calamitous to Edwin. He Edwin's fell in his forty-eighth year, with one of his children; and most of his army perished." THE victors ravaged Northumbria; the hoary Penda exercised peculiar cruelty on the Christian inhabitants. Consternation overspread the 28 Matt. West. 224., in his Combustis Urbibus et Colonis destructis, explains the direful scourge. 29 Osfrid fell before his father. Bede, lib. ii. c. 20. Sax. Chron. 29. Gibson and Carte place the battle in Hatfield Chase. Langhorn prefers Hethfield, in Derbyshire, near Cheshire, 176.; others, more absurdly, have glanced on Hatfield, in Herts. Near the Yorkshire town many intrenchments are to be seen. I will not aver that rats shun the town, or that the sparrows are displeased with Lindham in the moors below it. Gibson's Add. to Camden, 725.-The men of Powys so distinguished themselves in this battle, that they obtained from Cadwallon a boon of fourteen privileges. The Welsh call the scene of conflict Meigin. Cynddelw, cited in Owen's Llywarch, p. 117. fate. III. BOOK Country. The royal widow fled in terror, under the protection of Paulinus, and a valiant soldier, with some of her children, to her kinsman in Kent.30 633. Cadwal lon's suc cesses. ON Edwin's death, the ancient divisions of Northumbria again prevailed, and an heptarchy reappeared. His cousin Osric, the grandson of Ella, succeded to Deira; and Eanfrid, the long exiled son of Ethelfrith, to Bernicia: both restored paganism, though Osric had been baptised. The Welsh king Cadwallon, full of projects of revenge against the nation of the Angles, continued his war. Osric rashly ventured to besiege him in a strong town", but an unexpected sally of Cadwallon destroyed the king of Deira. For For a year the victor desolated Northumbria: his success struck Eanfrid with terror, and his panic hurried him to his fate. He went with twelve soldiers to sue peace of the Welshman. Notwithstanding the sacred purpose of his visit, he was put to death. THE Swords of Cadwallon and his army seemed the agents destined to fulfil their cherished prophecy. The fate of the Anglo-Saxons was now about to arrive; three of their kings had been already offered up to the shades of the injured Cymry; an Arthur had revived in Cadwallon. 30 Eadbald received them honourably, and made Paulinus Bishop of Rochester. Bede, lib. ii. c. 20. Sax. Chron. 29. He gave her the villam maximam Lininge (Liming) cum omnibus adjacentibus, in which she built a monastery. Hugo. Candid. Cænob. Burg. Hist. p. 37. ed Sparke. She exhibited a novelty to the English, which produced serious consequences. She took the veil. Smith's Notes on Bede, 101. The hospitality of Eadbald seems not to have been unchequered; her apprehension of him and Oswald induced her to send her children to France, to Dagobert, their relation. Bede, c. 20. 31 Bede, lib. iii. c. 1. The town was a municipium, and was therefore in all probability York. Smith's Notes on Bede, 103. |