A.D. 948. ] NORTHUMBERLAND SUBMITS TO EDRED. Miracles of the holy bishop Elfege. A.D. 947. St. Elfey, bishop of Winchester, was succeeded by Elfsy. We read of the blessed Elfey, that as he was removing the penitents to the church-doors on Ash Wednesday, he exhorted them to give themselves to fasting and chastity during the forty days, abstaining even from the enjoyment of their wives ; on which, while the rest acquiesced with reverence in the bishop's admonitions, one of them jocosely remarked that he could not abstain at the same time from his wife and from food. Whereupon the bishop replied, " You grieve me very much, wretched man, and know not what the coming day will bring forth to you ;" and so the man departed and experienced the weight of the blessed Elfey's prophecy, being found the next morning dead in his bed, strangled perhaps by the devil. At another time, while conferring holy orders, he advanced three monks to the order of priesthood ; and when the ordination was over, the holy bishop, gathering in his thoughts, addressed the bystanders and said, " I have this day laid my hands on three monks, of whom two shall obtain the grace of the episcopal office, the one in the city of Worcester and afterwards in Canterbury, and the other shall fill my seat ; the third, abandoned to wanton pleasures, shall meet with a miserable end." Which prophecy of the holy prelate was confirmed by the event. In the same year the Northumbrian nation, breaking faith with king Eadred, set up as their king a certain Eilric, of Danish extraction. How king Eadred vigorously subdued his enemies. A.D. 948. To punish the breach of faith of the Northumbrians, king Eadred ravaged their country, and burnt the monastery at Ripon, which was built by St. Wilfred ; but on the king's retiring, their army sallied forth from York and inflicted a great slaughter on his rear. Whereupon the king determined to return and exterminate all his enemies to a man ; but the Northumbrians, much terrified, abjured Eilric whom they had set up as their king, and atoned by honours and presents for the damage and loss they had inflicted on king Eadred.