A.D. 679. THE HOLY VIRGO ETHELBEDA DIES. 321 shouted for joy, but was checked by the bishop, and enjoined to hold her peace. A.D. 679. Egfrid, king of Northumberland, and Ethelred, king of Mercia, fought a terrible battle near the river Trent, in which Escwin, brother of king Egrrid, a youth much beloved in both these provinces, was shun. For Ethelred, king of Mercia, had married his sister, by name Ostrica. And when the war between the kings was supported on each side with great animosity, Theodoras, the pontiff, supported by divine assistance, put a complete end to it, making an arrangement, according to which, a large sum of money was to be given to king Egrrid, for the death of his brother. At the same time, the holy virgin Ethelreda departed from this world, and exchanged this temporal life for an eternal one. She was the daughter of Annas, king of the East Angles, and a child worthy of such a father, and she had been formerly married to Tonbert, prince of die South Girviane. But after hie death she remained a pure virgin. Afterwards she was yoked, by the compulsion of her parents, to Egrrid, king of Northumberland ; but, though married to two husbands, she persevered in retaining a most immaculate virginity. And the man of God, Wilfrid, was a witness of her virginity ; for when the venerable Bede asked him questions on the subject, he said that Egfrid had promised him an estate, and a large sum of money, if he could persuade Ethelreda to consent to thè consummation of their marriage. And a divinely miraculous sign, namely, the fact that the flesh of this same virgin, after it was buried, and the clothes in which her chaste flesh was wrapped, could not be corrupted, was a proof that she died wholly unpolluted by the touch of a man. For she lived twelve years with the before-mentioned king, but never could be softened so as to consent to his wishes; and at last this most holy virgin prevailed upon him to allow her to become a nun at Coludesburch, (ana she received the blessings of the holy Wilfrid,) where Ebba, the aunt of her husband Egfrid, was abbess. And after a year, the virgin was made abbess in the isle of Ely, dischargmg the duties of a mother to the virgins there, by her advice and example ; and having lived there seven years, serving God in an exemplary manner, she changed this fleeting life for an eternal one. And in that place frequent miracles are even now wrought by the glory of God and praise of that virgin. ΤΠΤ.. T. ir