nople in 1205. Pope Innocent III., in the thirteenth century, bestowed the body of the saint on the church of S. Denys, near Paris. It had been brought into Italy from the East.

So not alone Christ's mission-crown on high

Shall gird your brows with radiance, but the urn
Of Heaven's own light in your true bosoms burn;
For the great God who fills eternity,

Makes lowliest hearts His temple; such we see

When to Faith's earliest morn our eyes we turn,
And round the all-conquering Cross of shame discern,
Kneeling in light, a suffering Hierarchy;

Thence high and wide, 'mid Persecution's night,
The East and West are with their glory bright;
As on some festal eve in glorious Rome,
Far through the pillared shades of Peter's dome,
A thousand glowing lamps fling light on high,
Making their own calm day, their own pure sky,
Around the holiest altar-cross, whence springs
The mystic dove, shaking her golden wings.
Cathedral, p. 47.

OCTOBER 13.

Translation of S. Edward, King and
Confessor.

DIED 1066.

TRANSLATED 1163.

66

"ABOVE all other states and kingdoms upon earth, England glories in the sanctity of her kings;" says S. Aelred, abbat of Rievaulx in Yorkshire; some of them are crowned with martyrdom, and have departed from an earthly to a heavenly kingdom; others preferring exile to their home, have chosen to

die for Christ, far from their own land. Some laying aside their crown, have submitted to monastic discipline; and others, reigning in justice and sanctity have desired to benefit rather than to command their subjects. Among whom, like a bright star, the glorious Edward shone; as the morning-star in the midst of a cloud, or like the full moon, he gave light in his days'." His father king Ethelred ascended the throne of England in 978, on the death of S. Edward the martyr, which the wicked ambition of queen Elfrida had occasioned, in order to secure the crown for her Ethelred married Elfleda, and their son Edmund, surnamed Ironside, succeeded him. On her decease he espoused Emma, the daughter of Richard I., duke of Normandy; its Flower and Pearl, as she was called. The holy king Edward was the eldest of her sons.

son.

Ethelred was not allowed to enjoy in peace the honours which had been so injustly gained, even though he was innocent of his mother's crime. His reign was continually disturbed by incursions of the Danes; and in 1013 Sweyn king of Denmark invaded England with a large force, and leaving his fleet under the command of his son Canute, he laid waste the inland counties with fire and sword. He besieged the capital, but Ethelred with the assistance of Turkill, a Danish nobleman, resisted him so vigorously that he was obliged to retire. But his progress was checked only for a moment, and he soon made himself master of the whole country. Ethelred, finding his cause desperate, sent Emma, and her two sons Edward and Alfred, into Normandy, whither he 1 De Vitâ et Mir. S. Edw. Conf. Prolog.

himself followed in the end of the year 1014. He was honourably received at the Norman court. The sudden death of Sweyn, within a short time after, opened a way for his return, and on the conclusion of a treaty with the English nobles he renewed the war with the Danes, at first with some success. But fresh forces arriving from Denmark, his fortunes were again brought to the verge of ruin, when death released him from his troubles in 1016. His son Edmund, queen Emma, and S. Edward, were in London with him when he expired.

The greater part of the kingdom then submitted to the Danish conqueror, but the citizens of London supported the claims of Edmund, the eldest son of Ethelred. The doubtful issue of the war was settled by their dividing the kingdom between them. But Edmund survived the partition only seven months. In 1017 he was barbarously murdered by Edric, count of Mercia, who hoped to recommend himself to Canute by removing his rival. The king was buried at Glastonbury, near the remains of his grandfather Edgar. His two sons, Edwin and Edward, were sent into Sweden, that they might be secretly put to death. But Olave the king took pity upon

them, and allowed them to retire to the court of Stephen, king of Hungary, who received them with kindness. Edwin soon died; and Edward married Agatha, the sister of Stephen. Their son Atheling, and their daughters Margaret and Christina, became afterwards celebrated in British history.

In the meanwhile Canute had seized the whole kingdom; but as if to atone for this act of injustice, he punished Edric and the other murderers of K.

Edmund with death. During his long reign, he laboured unceasingly to win the favour of the English, by the wisdom of his laws, and by the liberality of his gifts to the Church. He restored to the monasteries all that his father had taken from them; and on the site of every great battle he endowed a chauntry chapel for a priest to say masses for the souls of the slain. He married the dowager queen Emma, who seems to have become estranged from her children, the sons of Ethelred. He undertook a journey to Rome in 1030; and died at Shaftesbury in 1036. His remains were buried at Winchester.

S. Edward immediately fitted out a fleet, and landed in Hampshire; but receiving no encouragement, even from his mother queen Emma, who was then at Winchester, he soon returned to Normandy. The kingdom was again divided between Hardicanute, the son of Canute and queen Emma, and Harold, surnamed Harefoot, the offspring of his former marriage. But Hardicanute remained so long in Denmark, that his brother gained possession of the whole kingdom, in 1037. Queen Emma went into exile, and Baldwin count of Flanders hospitably lodged her in his castle of Bruges. Alfred the younger brother of S. Edward was treacherously invited into England; and was made prisoner by Godwin, earl of Kent and Wessex, and after much cruel treatment was put to death at Ely.

Hardicanute was then

Harold died in 1040. invited to fill the throne. His mother returned to England; and he soon after received his brother S. Edward as a guest, and provided a residence for him worthy of his rank. His death took place in

1042. The English then united their strength, and finally expelled the Danes from the country. This event was annually commemorated for many ages afterwards at Hoketide, in the third week of the Paschal season.

The nearest heir to the throne of England was Edward, sometimes called the Outlaw, the son of K. Edmund Ironside. But as he was then in a distant country, the more powerful barons, headed by earl Godwin, made choice of S. Edward as their king. His advancement to the throne had been foretold many years before, by Brithwold, abbat of Glastonbury, in the reign of Canute. His great

sanctity, as well as the length of his reign, had also been revealed to the recluse. The accession of S. Edward was hailed with joy by the people. He was crowned at Winchester by Eadsius, archbishop of Canterbury, who gave him many useful lessons in the art of governing. One of his first acts was to confirm the grants of former kings to the church of Canterbury. He also deprived queen Emma of the riches which she had amassed since the death of his father. Historians attribute to his councillors the blame of his harsh treatment of his mother. Perhaps it may have been intended to prevent her from renewing her intimacy with the Danes, for whose sake she had married the enemy of her first husband, and had wholly neglected his children. Edward allowed her to enjoy her dower in seclusion at Winchester, where she died in 1052. The tales of her trial by ordeal are quite unfounded. S. Edward had not been long seated on the throne when he was threatened with an invasion from Norway, but the death of the king