something must be done. Accordingly they in 918 stirred up the jarl of Huntingdon to move his army across the Ouse and entrench himself at Tempsford in the neighbourhood of Holme in the hope of regaining Hendrica. At the same time they organised attacks on two new boroughs which Edward had just erected, one at Towcester in Middle Anglia and the other probably at Wing[1] near Aylesbury. Neither operation was however successful, and even the arrival of the king of East Anglia with considerable reinforcements for the men of Huntingdon failed to make any difference. Guthrun's intervention on the contrary proved his ruin, for Edward made an assault on Tempsford and there slew Guthrum and two of his jarls called Toglos and Mann. This crushing disaster seems to have taken all the fight out of the Danish leaders. We hear of one or two more encounters in Essex in connexion with Colchester and Maldon; and then the Danish resistance collapsed, and the various armies, as it were, tumbled over each other in their haste to make terms with the victorious English. The first chief to come in was Thurferth, the jarl of Northampton, and he was quickly followed by the captains commanding the armies of Huntingdon, Cambridge and East Anglia. All alike agreed to submit without further fighting, and took Edward for their protector and lord on the condition that they and their men should retain their estates and enjoy their national customs. At the same time the army of Leicester without further fighting submitted to Aethelfleda.
Great must have been the rejoicings throughout Wessex and Mercia at the triumphs of 918, but the next year had even greater events in store. It was opened by Edward marching to Stamford and there receiving the submission of the Danes of Kesteven and Holland. There too in June he received the news that Aethelfleda had died at Tamworth. At this juncture a less confident man might have hesitated what step to take. Not so Edward. Without loss of time he marched straight to Tamworth, claiming to be his sister's successor. And thereupon the Mercians also agreed to take him as their lord. This settled, he set out for Nottingham and took possession of it, and a little later he received the submission of the men of Lindsey. Finally embassies arrived from the chief princes of Wales, from Idwal of Gwynedd and Hywel of Deheubarth, the grandsons of Rhodri Mawr, tendering their alliance. Rarely indeed have events moved so quickly. At the beginning of 918 Edward was only one among a great number of princes claiming rule in England; at the close of 919 he was unquestioned superior of all men south of the Humber as well Danish as English.
It is natural to ask why the resistance of the Danes in central and eastern England broke down so rapidly after 911. Many causes may be assigned to account for it, the more obvious being their total lack of cohesion (no jarl helped another until it was too late) and the
- ↑ Wigingamere; cf. Domesday Book, I. 146 a. Witehunge.
