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Article ANTIQUARIES AND ANTIQUITIES. ← Page 7 of 18 →
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Antiquaries And Antiquities.
Ethelwulf , having been previously made king of East-Anglia by the same influence , on the death or retirement of Eadwald . Leland , Speed , and other writers , speak of Eadwald haA'ing declined the croAvn , ancl retired to the abbey of Cernc , in Dorsetshire , Avhere he died in the odour of sanctity . But , though Eadwald reigned a short time onlyit is evident that he did reignas there
, , are at least three specimens of liis coinage remaining ; and these will piwe that he rather abdicated than declined the crown . Athelstan , when king of East-Anglia , gave his sister Edyre to Atheward , whose son was Eadmund , afterwards canonized . Thus Eadmund was either the grandson or the nepheAv of Ethel-Ai'ulfand the grandson or great-grandson of Ecgbeorht . When
, , therefore , on the death of that great prince , Athelstan Avas transferred to Kent , and the throne of East-Anglia became vacant , who was so likely to be appointed to it as Athelward ? — and to him , in the course of nature , succeeded his son Eadmund . Now , there are proofs of all these changes in the coins struck by these princes ; and Ave shall next look at a curious
MS ., preserved in the library of Caius College , Cambridge , Avhere the history of Athelstan is given as a legend * . — " Four persons , not related , ancl of different counties , met by chance in a forest , and there SAVore to be brethren in arms . Their
names were Athelstan , Ethelward , Vigmund , ancl Alric . The first , Ai'ho Avas of royal blood , afterwards became king . As soon as he Avas seated on the throne , he sent for his brothers in arms , and made Vigmund Earl of Dover , on Ethehvard he conferred the earldom of Stane , with the hand of his sister Edyre ; while to Alric , the archbishopric of Canterbury , then falling vacant , Avas
giA'en . Soon after , Vigmund accused Athelward and his AA'ife of plotting against the life of Athelstan , but they cleared themselves by the fiery ordeal , and Edyre gaA'e birth to a son , whom they called Edemund . " The names in the French chronicle are spelt variously Wymound , Vimound , and Vignund , Athelard and EgelandOdyre and Odyth . But we must remember that a
, Norman chronicler Avould take great liberties Avith Saxon names ; nor are AA e to look for any very great accuracy even in the facts ; still the story ancl the numismatic evidence do singularly bear out one another . It would be difficult to find a chain of circumstantial evidence more satisfactory than this . All the conditions of the theory are provided for by the facts of the case .
We see Avhy there should be coins of Eachvald , though exhibiting one class only of type . Why there should be a long series of coins struck by Athelstan , displaying both by their types and the places Avhere they Avere found , that some had a Kentish , and some an East-Anglian origin . We see why there should be
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Antiquaries And Antiquities.
Ethelwulf , having been previously made king of East-Anglia by the same influence , on the death or retirement of Eadwald . Leland , Speed , and other writers , speak of Eadwald haA'ing declined the croAvn , ancl retired to the abbey of Cernc , in Dorsetshire , Avhere he died in the odour of sanctity . But , though Eadwald reigned a short time onlyit is evident that he did reignas there
, , are at least three specimens of liis coinage remaining ; and these will piwe that he rather abdicated than declined the crown . Athelstan , when king of East-Anglia , gave his sister Edyre to Atheward , whose son was Eadmund , afterwards canonized . Thus Eadmund was either the grandson or the nepheAv of Ethel-Ai'ulfand the grandson or great-grandson of Ecgbeorht . When
, , therefore , on the death of that great prince , Athelstan Avas transferred to Kent , and the throne of East-Anglia became vacant , who was so likely to be appointed to it as Athelward ? — and to him , in the course of nature , succeeded his son Eadmund . Now , there are proofs of all these changes in the coins struck by these princes ; and Ave shall next look at a curious
MS ., preserved in the library of Caius College , Cambridge , Avhere the history of Athelstan is given as a legend * . — " Four persons , not related , ancl of different counties , met by chance in a forest , and there SAVore to be brethren in arms . Their
names were Athelstan , Ethelward , Vigmund , ancl Alric . The first , Ai'ho Avas of royal blood , afterwards became king . As soon as he Avas seated on the throne , he sent for his brothers in arms , and made Vigmund Earl of Dover , on Ethehvard he conferred the earldom of Stane , with the hand of his sister Edyre ; while to Alric , the archbishopric of Canterbury , then falling vacant , Avas
giA'en . Soon after , Vigmund accused Athelward and his AA'ife of plotting against the life of Athelstan , but they cleared themselves by the fiery ordeal , and Edyre gaA'e birth to a son , whom they called Edemund . " The names in the French chronicle are spelt variously Wymound , Vimound , and Vignund , Athelard and EgelandOdyre and Odyth . But we must remember that a
, Norman chronicler Avould take great liberties Avith Saxon names ; nor are AA e to look for any very great accuracy even in the facts ; still the story ancl the numismatic evidence do singularly bear out one another . It would be difficult to find a chain of circumstantial evidence more satisfactory than this . All the conditions of the theory are provided for by the facts of the case .
We see Avhy there should be coins of Eachvald , though exhibiting one class only of type . Why there should be a long series of coins struck by Athelstan , displaying both by their types and the places Avhere they Avere found , that some had a Kentish , and some an East-Anglian origin . We see why there should be