The
king, as if the guilt, of the conspirator were now fully ascertained,
confiscated his estate, and made a present of it to the monastery
of Malmesbury,[*] secure that no doubts would ever thenceforth be
entertained concerning the justice of his proceedings.
[* W. Malms. lib. ii. cap. 6. Spel. Concil. p. 407.]
The dominion of Athelstan was no sooner established over his English
subjects, than he endeavored to give security to the government, by
providing against the insurrections of the Danes, which had created so
much disturbance to his predecessors. He marched into Northumberland;
and, finding that the inhabitants bore with impatience the English yoke,
he thought it prudent to confer on Sithric, a Danish nobleman, the title
of king, and to attach him to his interests by giving him his sister
Editha in marriage. But this policy proved by accident the source of
dangerous consequences. Sithric died in a twelvemonth after; and his two
sons by a former marriage, Anlaf and Godfrid, founding pretensions on
their father's elevation, assumed the sovereignty, without waiting
for Athelstan's consent. They were soon expelled by the power of that
monarch; and the former took shelter in Ireland, as the latter did
in Scotland, where he received, during some time, protection from
Constantine, who then enjoyed the crown of that kingdom.
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