Edgar and the Ship of Kings
Following a very grand coronation at Bath in 973, King Edgar travelled to Chester and showed his people that he had become a mighty lord indeed.
973
King Edgar 959-975
Following a very grand coronation at Bath in 973, King Edgar travelled to Chester and showed his people that he had become a mighty lord indeed.
973
King Edgar 959-975
King Edgar (r. 959-975) was crowned at Bath in 973 after a frustrating delay while St Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, satisfied himself that Edgar, a tearaway in his youth, had acquired sufficient maturity. That Edgar had now grown to be a king of great power and glory would have been acknowledged even by Kenneth II, King of Scots — through gritted teeth.
SHORTLY afterwards, he sailed round the north coast of Britain with a large fleet and landed at Chester. He was met, as he had given orders, by eight tributary kings,* - namely, Kenneth, king of the Scots, Malcolm, king of the Cumbrians, Maccus, king of several isles, and five others, named Dufnal, Siferth, Huwal, Jacob, and Juchil, who swore fealty and bound themselves to military service by land and sea. Attended by them, king Edgar one day went on board a boat, and while they plied the oars, he took the helm, and steered skilfully down the course of the river Dee, and followed by his whole retinue of earls and nobles pursued the voyage from the palace to the monastery of St John the Baptist. Having paid his devotions there, he returned to the palace with the same pomp. He is reported to have said to his nobles as he entered the gates, that any successor of his might truly boast of being king of England when he should receive such honours, with so many kings doing him homage.
* Earlier authorities, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, give the number as six and do not name them. The names are, however, historically plausible.
* In more modern terms, the eight princes were: Kenneth II, King of Scots; Malcolm, King of Strathclyde; Maccus mac Arailt, King of the Isles; Malcolm’s father, Dyfnwal; Siferth or Giferth, possibly Maccus’s brother Gofraid; Howel and Jacob (Iago), whom Edgar had compelled to share the government of Gwynedd; and Juchil (Jekyll), whom Roger of Wendover (?-1236) gives as a ruler of Westmorland.
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Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Edgar was crowned King of England in 973. He also ruled Scotland and Wales. He summoned Welsh and Scottish princes to a council at Chester.