EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 2,;

king’s severity also towards his mother , the cqueen-dowager, though exposed to some morecensure, met not with very general disapprobation.He had hitherto lived on indifferent terms withthat princess : He accused her os neglecting himand his brother during their adverse fortune ":He remarked, that, as the superior qualities ofCanute, and his better treatment of her, hadmade her entirely indifferent to the memory ofEthelred , Ihe also gave the preference to herchildren of the second bed, and always regardedHardicanute as her favourite. The fame reasonshad probably made her unpopular in England jand though her benefactions to the monksobtained her the favour of that order, the nationwas not, in general, displeased to see her strippedby Edward of immense treasures which she hadamassed. He confined her , during the remainderof her life, in a monastery at Winchester; butcarried his rigour against her no farther. Thestories of his accusing her of a participation inher son Alfred’s murder , and of a criminal cor-respondence with the bishop of Winchester, andalso of her justifying herself by treading barefoot,without receiving any hurt, over nine burningplough - shares , were the inventions of the monk-ish historians, and were propagated and believedfrom the silly wonder os posterity ".

The English flattered themselves, that, by the

*’ Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 237.

" Higden, p. 277.

P 3

h a r.ni.