EDMOND IRONSIDE
This prince, who received the name of _Ironside_ from his hardy
valor, possessed courage and abilities sufficient to have prevented his
country from sinking into those calamities, but not to raise it from
that abyss of misery into which it had already fallen. Among the other
misfortunes of the English, treachery and disaffection had crept in
among the nobility and prelates; and Edmond found no better expedient
for stopping the further progress of these fatal evils, than to lead
his army instantly into the field, and to employ them against the
common enemy. After meeting with some success at Gillingnam, he prepared
himself to decide, in one general engagement, the fate of his crown:
and at Scoerston, in the county of Glocester, he offered battle to the
enemy, who were commanded by Canute and Edric. Fortune, in the beginning
of the day, declared for him; but Edric, having cut off the head of one
Osmer, whose countenance resembled that of Edmond fixed it on a spear,
carried it through the ranks in triumph, and called aloud to the
English, that it was time to fly; for, behold! the head of their
sovereign. And though Edmond, observing the consternation of the troops,
took off his helmet, and showed himself to them, the utmost he could
gain by his activity and valor was to leave the victory undecided.
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