Manuscript: Faustina B. IX

illius die sequenti Lundonie delatum, ab episcopis Elnotho, Lincolniensi, & Alfuno Lundon’
& a ciuibus in ecclesia Sancti Pauli honorifice sepelitur.
A[nno] moxiiiio Sanctus Edmundus Suanum tirannum & blasfemum, in placito apud Gainesburc ipsum
uidentem, & exclamantem armatus occidit, quo mortuo filium eius Cnutum classis
Danorum constituit. Ac maiores natu Angl’ Elredum regem, de Normannia reuo
cauerunt.
A[nno] moxiiiio Leuingus Dorobern’ archiepiscopatum suscepit. Suanus rex Danorum, cum ualida cla
sse Angliam deuectus, ubique fere per Angliam feribundus debaccans, obsidibus acceptis sibi
illam subegit quod uidens rex Eilredus cum uxore & filiis, in Normanniam, ad Ricardum ducem pro
fectus est.
A[nno] moxvo rex Eilredus egrotare cepit. Edmundus Ferreum Latus, filius eius, regni curam habuit
Cnuto uero per multa loca predas agenti multi obsides dederunt, cui & Edricus perfidus se
submisit.
A[nno] moxvio rex Eilredus, episcopi, abbates, & nobiliores Anglie, Cnutum sibi in regem ele
gere. Ciues uero Lundonienses, & pars aliqua nobilium, Edmundum Ferreum Latus in re
gem leuauere. Qui postquam secties cum Cnuto congressus fueret ubi semper fere uic
tor exstiterat pace facta inter ipsum & Cnutum, & Angliam inter eos diuisa. At quidam
proditor sub purgatoria domo Edmundum ad requisita nature nudatum
inter celanda percussit, & mortuus est.




Memorandum quod abbas d1 Dundraynand mutuauit cronica de Melros, in quibus fuerunt xiiii quaterni, folia vxx ⁊ xix.



vio idus Nouembris, copulatus est in matrimonium Alexander filius nobilissmi Alexandri
regis Scott’ Margaretae filie Nicolai comitis Flandre, anno etatis peulle xi an
norum, ⁊ pueri fere xx ⁊ facta est apud Roquebwrk in capella Sancti Iohannis ew2 in oppido.











Notes

1 DB: Read de.
2 DB: The erased ew was for ewangeliste.
was carried to London the following day by Bishops Eadnoth of Lincoln and Ælfhun of London, and he is buried honourably by the citizens in the church of St Paul.
In the 1013 th year St Eadmund slew Svein, the tyrant and blasphemer who saw him in a hearing at Gainsborough and cried out that he was armed. At his death the Danish fleet appointed his son, Knútr. But the greater men of English birth recalled King Æthelred from Normandy.1
In the 1014th year Lefing received the archiepiscopacy of Canterbury. Svein, king of the Danes, was borne away to England with a strong fleet, and, after hostages had been received, he subjected it to himself, raving like a wild animal almost anywhere throughout England. Seeing this, King Æthelred travelled to Normandy with his wife and sons, to Duke Richard.
In the 1015th year King Æthelred took ill, and Eadmund Ironside, his son, had charge of the kingdom. Many, moreover, gave hostages to Knútr, who was taking spoils throughout many places; and the treacherous Eadric submitted to him.
In the 1016th year King Æthelred, the bishops, abbots, and nobles of England, chose Knútr as their king. The citizens of London, however, and another part of the nobility, raised up Eadmund Ironside as king. After he had engaged with Knútr six times, where he evidently almost always had victory, peace was made between him and Knútr, and England was divided between them. But a certain traitor under the cleansing house struck Eadmund—naked for the call of nature—in the privates, and he died.




Let it be remembered that the abbot of Dundrennan borrowed the chronicle of Melrose in which were 14 quires, 119 folios.2



On 8 November, Alexander, son of the most noble Alexander king of Scots, was joined in matrimony to Margaret, daughter of Nicholas3 count of Flanders, in the girl’s 11th year of age, and almost the 20th of the boy’s; and it happened at Roxburgh in the chapel of St John [the Evangelist] in the castle.4











Notes

1 DB: The content of the annals for 1013 and 1014 have been inverted. The erasure of a minim under 1013, and also the darker ink in copying from 1014, may mean that the scribe perceived that there was a problem and took a break before deciding (mistakenly) to alter ‘1014’ to ‘1013’. The erasure could, however, have occurred later.
2 JT: For discussion, see Broun, The Chronicle of Melrose Abbey, pp. 40–3.
3 DB: Margaret’s father was Guy, not Nicholas.
4 JT: Compare with an incomplete (and now erased) note on Alexander III’s marriage on Cotton MS Faustina B IX, f. 40r (attributed to Scribal profile 88).