Edric, the dispossessed prince, had recourse to Edilwach,
king of Sussex, for assistance; and being supported by that prince,
fought a battle with his uncle, who was defeated and slain. Richard fled
into Germany, and afterwards died in Lucca, a city of Tuscany. William
of Malmsbury ascribes Lothaire's bad fortune to two crimes--his
concurrence in the murder of his cousins, and his contempt for
relics.[*]
Lothaire reigned eleven years; Edric, his successor, only two. Upon the
death of the latter, which happened in 686 Widred, his brother, obtained
possession of the crown. But as the succession had been of late so much
disjointed by revolutions and usurpations, faction began to prevail
among the nobility; which invited Cedwalla, king of Wessex, with his
brother Mollo, to attack the kingdom. These invaders committed great
devastations in Kent; but the death of Mollo, who was slain in a
skirmish,[**] gave a short breathing time to that kingdom. Widred
restored the affairs of Kent, and, after a reign of thirty-two
years,[***] left the crown to his posterity. Eadbert, Ethelbert, and
Alric, his descendants, successively mounted the throne.
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