268 KOGEK OP WENDOVER. [A . D. 983. rage against thee all the days of thy life, and shall slay thy seed, until thy kingdom be given to another people, whose manners and language thy people know not ; nor shall thy sin be expiated but by ample vengeance, the sin of thyself, and the sin of thy mother, and the sin of her accomplices in wickedness.' " After this prophecy of the blessed Dunstan the man of God, a cloud was seen throughout the whole of England, at one time of a bloody, and then of a fiery appearance, assuming different forms and colours, and disappeared about dawn. In the same year Elfery, earl of the Mercians, came to Wareham with a multitude of people, as has been said before, and caused the body of Eadward, the precious king and martyr, to be disinterred. On being stripped it was found whole and uncorrupted : it was then washed and wrapped in new garments, and honourably buried at Shaftesbury. Danish persecution. A.D. 980. Southampton was ravaged by pirates, and almost all its inhabitants were either slain or carried away captives. The pirates then retired and devastated the isle of Thanet, after which they grievously infested the city of Chester. Birth of Eadmund Ironside. A.D. 981. King Ethelred took to wife the daugnter of a certain duke, and had by her a son whom he namedEadmund.* In the same year the monastery of St. Petroc in Cornwall was devastated by Danish pirates, who committed frequent ravages in Devon as well as in Cornwall. Danish persecution. A.D. 982. The pirates landed in Dorset from three vessels, and after ravaging the whole of Portland, they took refuge in their vessels. Rapacity of king Ethelred. A.D. 983. There arose a strife between king Ethelred and the bishop of Rochester, the cause of which is uncertain; * It is doubtful who was the mother of Eadmund Ironside. Florence of Worcester Bays she was Elfgiva. Malmesbury calls his mother "an obscure person."