Having laid siege to Chester, the Britons marched out with
all their forces to engage him; and they were attended by a body of
twelve hundred and fifty monks from the monastery of Bangor, who stood
at a small distance from the field of battle, in order to encourage the
combatants by their presence and exhortations. Adelfrid, inquiring into
the purpose of this unusual appearance, was told that these priests had
come to pray against him: "Then are they as much our enemies," said he,
"as those who intend to fight against us;"[*] and he immediately sent a
detachment, who fell upon them, and did such execution, that only fifty
escaped with their lives.[**] The Britons, astonished at this event,
received a total defeat: Chester was obliged to surrender; and Adelfrid,
pursuing his victory, made himself master of Bangor, and entirely
demolished the monastery, a building so extensive, that there was a
mile's distance from one gate of it to another; and it contained two
thousand one hundred monks, who are said to have been there maintained
by their own labor.[***] Notwithstanding Adelfrid's success in war,
he lived in inquietude on account of young Edwin, whom he had unjustly
dispossessed of the crown of Deiri.
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