A.D. 861.] TRANSLATION OP POPE INNOCENT. 187 more for the like purpose in honour of St..Paul; and β hundred he directed to be given to the universal pope for the increase of his almsgiving. Now this king had been devoted to God before the death of his father king Egbert, and had been ordained bishop of Winchester, but on his father's death, though much against his will, he was made king, there being no other of the royal race entitled to reign. At length, after governing the kingdom of the West-Saxons with the greatest assiduity for seventeen years, king Athelwulf went the way of all flesh, giving to his second son Ethelbert the kingdom of Kent and Sussex, while his eldest son' Athelwulf reigned in Wessex in the room of his father. King Athelwulf was interred in the cathedral church at Winchester with the honour due to a king. Athelbald was no sooner advanced to the kingdom than in violation of God's law, the dignity of the Christian name, and the custom even of all the heathen, he ascended his father's bed, and married Judith, daughter of Charles king of the Franks, and reigned with unrestrained cruelty over the West-Saxons two years and a half after his father's death. In the same year died Cedda, bishop of Hereford, and was succeeded by Albert. In the year of our Lord 858, on the death of pope Benedict, Nicholas sat in the Roman chair nine years, two months, and twenty days. In the same year died Athelwold, bishop of Lichfield, and was succeeded by Humbert. Penitence of king Athelbald. In the year of our Lord 859, Athelbald, king of the West-Saxons, repented of his aforesaid error, and did penance for the same, putting away his step-mother Judith, whose bed he had defiled, and ruling his kingdom for the remainder of his life in peace and righteousness. The body of pope Innocent translated into Saxony. In the year our Lord 860, Lenculf, duke of the Saxons, conveyed the body of the blessed pope Innocent from Rome into Saxony. Death of Athelbald. In the year of our Lord 861, Athelbald, king of the West-Saxons, was taken off by a premature death in the fifth year