Pictures of the crown worn by Edgar will convince the reader that its redemption was no slight task, while the mortgage on the throne was a mere bagatelle.

[Illustration:  Edgar surmounted by his crown.]

[Illustration:  Edgar causes his Barge to be rowed by eight kings.]

A bright idea of Edgar’s was to ride in a row-boat pulled by eight kings under the old regime.

Personally, Edgar was reputed to be exceedingly licentious; but the historian wisely says these stories may have been the invention of his enemies.  Greatness is certain to make of itself a target for the mud of its own generation, and no one who rose above the level of his surroundings ever failed to receive the fragrant attentions of those who had not succeeded in rising.  All history is fraught also with the bitterness and jealousy of the historian except this one.  No bitterness can creep into this history.

Edgar, it is said, assassinated the husband of Elfrida in order that he might marry her.  It is also said that he broke into a convent and carried off a nun; but doubtless if these stories were traced to their very foundations, politics would account for them both.

He did not favor the secular clergy, and they, of course, disliked him accordingly.  He suffered also at the hands of those who sought to operate the reigning apparatus whilst his attention was turned towards other matters.

He was the author of the scheme whereby he utilized his enemies, the Welsh princes, by demanding three hundred wolf heads per annum as tribute instead of money.  This wiped out the wolves and used up the surplus animosity of the Welsh.

As the Welsh princes had no money, the scheme was a good one.  Edgar died at the age of thirty-two, and was succeeded by Edward, his son, in 975.

The death of the king at this early age has given to many historians the idea that he was a sad dog, and that he sat up late of nights and cut up like everything, but this may not be true.  Death often takes the good, the true, and the beautiful whilst young.

However, Edgar’s reign was a brilliant one for an Anglo-Saxon, and his coon-skin cap is said to have cost over a pound sterling.

[Illustration:  Edgar the Pacific.]

CHAPTER VI.

THE DANISH OLIGARCHY:  DISAFFECTIONS ATTENDING CHRONIC USURPATION PROCLIVITIES.

Edgar was succeeded by his son Edward, called “the Martyr,” who ascended the throne at the age of fifteen years.  His step-mother, Elfrida, opposed him, and favored her own son, Ethelred.  Edward was assassinated in 978, at the instigation of his step-mother, and that’s what’s the martyr with him.

During his reign there was a good deal of ill feeling, and Edward would no doubt have been deposed but for the influence of the church under Dunstan.