The history and antiquities of the abbey church of StPeter, Westminster : including notices and biographical memoirs of the abbots and deans of that foundation . to deliberate on the affairs of the kingdom, which, through Ethelreds pusilla-nimous and tardy conduct, was then nearly overrun by the Danes. Beingdesirous, of appointing a successor who should be approved of by his people,Ethelred requested the opinion of the Council as to whom he should nomi-nate to succeed to the throne. Some recommended Edmund Ironside, on * See Vol. I. p. 36. f This subject has been commonly supposed to have refe
The history and antiquities of the abbey church of StPeter, Westminster : including notices and biographical memoirs of the abbots and deans of that foundation . to deliberate on the affairs of the kingdom, which, through Ethelreds pusilla-nimous and tardy conduct, was then nearly overrun by the Danes. Beingdesirous, of appointing a successor who should be approved of by his people,Ethelred requested the opinion of the Council as to whom he should nomi-nate to succeed to the throne. Some recommended Edmund Ironside, on * See Vol. I. p. 36. f This subject has been commonly supposed to have reference to the Trial, and Condemnation tothe hery Ordeal, of Queen Emma, when accused of adultery with Alwin, Bishop of Winchester. Yetthe whole story of that Accusation and of the Ordeal of the nine red-hot ploughshares, seems to havebeen an invention of later times, and rests only on the suspicious authority of Brompton and historians who lived nearest to the age, as the compiler of the Saxon Chronicle, Florence ofWorcester, Malmsbury, Huntingdon, and Hoveden, make no mention of any circumstance relating tothe presumed miraculous HISTORICAL FRIEZE DESCRIBED. 49 account of his superior bodily strength, whilst others gave the preference toAlfred; yet it having been predicted by one of the assembly that the formeravouM enjoy but a very short life, and that the latter would perish immaturely,the wishes of all concentrated on the child of which the Queen w as thenpregnant; and the King assenting to this election, the nobility took an oathof fealty to the unborn babe*. In the sculpture the Queen is representedstanding in the midst of a large assembly, with her left hand upon her waist:all the figures appear to have the right arm extended upwards, as if in theact of swearing allegiance. 2. The Birth of Edward the Confessor. Edward is supposed to have beenborn ahout the year 1002. His birth-place was Gyslepe, in Oxfordshire, nowIslip, which he afterwards gran
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