mund collected a larger army than he had before, and determined to fight gallantly with Canute ; and encountering him in the county of Worcester, in the place which is called Sterneetan, he arranged his army with great skill, and exhorted them all to remember that they were fighting for their country and their children, their wives and their inheritances : and thus he inflamed the minds of all with admirable and warlike speeches. Then he commanded the trumpets to sound, and the battalions to advance steadily. At last, the two armies met, with a great shout, and fought first of all with their lances, and afterwards with their swords. In the meantime, king Edmund, standing in the front line, overthrew all that was opposed to him, and smote the enemy unceasingly, doing the duty of a valiant soldier and a good king, in a most gallant manner. But, because the wicked duke Eadric, and the counts Almar and Algar, who ought to have been his guards, deserted to the side of the Danes, with a very numerous body of their people, his army was exceedingly weakened. Nevertheless, on the first day of the battle, that is to say, on the twenty-fifth of June, the battle was so fierce and bloody that both armies were forced to give over fighting, out of pure weariness, while the sun was still in the west, and so separated from one another by mutual consent. But the next day, king Edmund would have utterly routed the whole Danish army, if it had not been for the treachery of the wicked duke Eadric. For while both armies werefighting vigorously, and when Eadric saw that the English were the braver, he raised up the head of a man very like king Edmund, which had been cut off, and holding it up on high, he cried out and said : " Ye English are fighting in vain, since you have lost your head ; flee with all speed : behold, I have here in my hands the head of Edmund, your king ; flee, flee, with ail speed." And when the English heard this, they began to lose some of their resolution in battle ; but as immediately afterwards it was ascertained that the king was still alive, die English recovered their spirits, and attacked the Danes with impetuosity, slaying many of them, and fighting with all their energy, and persisting obstinately in the battle till the dusk of evening ; but when that time arrived they separated, as in the preceding day, by mutual consent. But, when the night was far advanced, Canute ordered his army to abandon their camp VOL. I. L L