474 A.D. 946. MATTHEW OF WE8TMTNBTEB. land, to be held of himself, in order that Malcolm might defend the northern districts of England by land and sea from the incursions of enemies who might from foreign countries. The same year, Edmnnd, that most pions king of England, when, on the festival of Saint Augustine, the apostle of the English, he had invited all the nobles of the kingdom to a great banquet in the royal town which is called fBitfytlt&mify, as it was the fashion among the English to do every year, on account of the veneration in which they held the blessed Augustine, by whose means the English received the light of the faith ; when they were all assembled, and were sitting down at the king's dinner, they began to feast and to rejoice, the king himself doing his best to promote their entertainment. At length, when the king raised his head in order to see the guests eitting at table, he beheld, standing, among others in the hall, a robber of the name of Leof, whom a few years before he had banished for robbery. And the king being exceedingly indignant at this, made a sign to his cupbearer to remove that robber from the palace immediately. But when that wicked man refused to go for the word of the cupbearer, the king, being provoked and exceedingly angry, leaped np suddenly from the table, and, seizing the robber by the hair, threw him down on the floor. But that traitor, when he felt that he was hurt, and found the king lying on him, quickly drew a knife, which he wore secretly, and, alas ! alas ! he slew the king. Then the soldiers and servants of the king, when they saw their master slain and wallowing in his gore, all rushed upon that robber and cut all his body and bones into the smallest pieces, and thus the splendid beginning of the king's banquet was terminated by a very cloudy ending of circumstances. When, therefore, Edmund was dead and buried at Glastonbury, Edred, his brother, received the crown of the kingdom, at Kingston, a royal town, from the blessed Otho, archbishop of Canterbury, on the fifteenth of August. Edmund, also, left behind him two sons as his legitimate heirs, by name Edwin and Edgar, who, because of the obstacle of their tender age, could not succeed their father in his kingdom. He, as hie brother king Edmund had formerly done, reduced the whole of Northumberland under bis dominion, received an oath of fealty from the king of Scotland, and with great devotion gave to the metropolitan church of York two statues of great size. Afterwards, when he had received the oath of fealty from the