§6

HISTORY OF ENGLAND.

chap. borne him by his servants. Cuichelme, king ofWessex , was his enemy ; but finding himselfpnable to maintain open war against so gallantand powerful a prince , he determined to usetreachery against him, and he employed oneEumer for that criminal purpose. r l he assassin ,having obtained admittance, by pretending todeliver a message from Cuichelme, drew his dag-ger, and rustled upon the King. Lilla, an officerof his army , feeing his master’s danger, and hav-ing no other means of delence, interposed withhis own body between the King and Eumer’s dag-ger , which was pushed with such violence, that,after piercing Lilla, it even wounded Edwin: Butbefore the assassin could renew his blow, he wasdispatched by the King's attendants.

The East-Angles conspired against Redwald,their King; and having put him to death, theyoffered their crown to Edwin, of whose valourand capacity they had experience, while he re-sided among them. But Edwin, from a sense ofgratitude towards his benefactor, obliged them tosubmit to Earpwold, the son of Redwald; andthat prince preserved his authority, though on aprecarious tooting, under the protection of theNorthumbrian monarch ".

Edwix, after his accession to the crown, mar-ried hthelburga, the daughter of Ethelbert, Kingof Kent. This princess, emulating the glory of

her mother Bertha, who had been, the instrument

£

' Cul. Malmes. lib. i. cap, Z.