EST’MERE (2 syl.), king of England.  He went with his younger brother Adler to the court of King Adlands, to crave his daughter in marriage; but King Adlands replied that Bremor, the sowdan, or sultan of Spain, had forestalled him.  However, the lady, being consulted, gave her voice in favor of the king of England.  While Estmere and his brother went to make preparations for the wedding, the “sowdan” arrived, and demanded the lady to wife.  A messenger was immediately despatched to inform Estmere, and the two brothers returned, disguised as a harper and his boy.  They gained entrance into the palace, and Adler sang, saying, “O ladye, this is thy owne true love; no harper, but a king;” and then drawing his sword he slew the “sowdan,” Estmere at the same time chasing from the hall the “kempery men.”  Being now master of the position, Estmere took “the ladye faire,” made her his wife, and brought her home to England.—­Percy, Reliques, 1. i. 5.

ESTRILDIS OR ELSTRED, daughter of the Emperor of Germany.  She was taken captive in war by Locrin (king of Britain), by whom she became the mother of Sabrin or Sabre.  Gwendolen, the wife of Locrin, feeling insulted by this liaison, slew her husband, and had Estrildis and her daughter thrown into a river, since called the Sabri’na or Severn.—­Geoffrey, British History, ii. 2, etc.

ESTWICKE (John), hero of Charles Egbert Craddock’s book, Where the Battle was Fought (1884).  His real name was John Fortescue.

ETE’OCLES AND POLYNI’CES, the two sons Oe’dipos.  After the expulsion of their father, these two young princes agreed to reign alternate years in Thebes.  Eteocles, being the elder, took the first turn, but at the close of the year refused to resign the sceptre to his brother; whereupon Polynices, aided by six other chiefs, laid seige to the city.  The two brothers met in combat, and each was slain by the other’s hand.

[Illustration] A similar fratricidal struggle is told of Don Pedro of Castile and his half-brother Don Henry.  When Don Pedro had estranged the Castilians by his cruelty, Don Henry invaded Castile with a body of French auxiliaries, and took his brother prisoner.  Don Henry visited him in prison, and the two brothers fell on each other like lions.  Henry wounded Pedro in the face, but fell over a bench, when Pedro seized him.  At that moment a Frenchman seized Pedro by the leg, tossed him over, and Henry slew him.—­Menard, History of Du Gueselin.

ETHAN (Allen).  He gives under his own hand the history of the capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, and corroborates the popular story that he demanded the surrender of the fortress, “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!” Allen’s Narrative of Captivity (1779).

ETH’ELBERT, king of Kent, and the first of the Anglo-Saxon kings who was a Christian.  He persuaded Gregory to send over Augustine to convert the English to “the true faith” (596), and built St. Paul’s, London.—­Ethelwerd’s Chronicle, ii.