ns 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. The Scottish prince, however, continually solicited, and
even menaced by Athelstan, at last promised to deliver up his guest;
but secretly detesting this treachery, he gave Godfrid warning to make
his escape [u]; and that fugitive, after subsisting by piracy for some
years, freed the king by his death from any farther anxiety.
Athelstan, resenting Constantine's behaviour, entered Scotland with an
army; and ravaging the country with impunity [w], he reduced the Scots
to such distress, that their king was content to preserve his crown,
by making submissions to the enemy. The English historians assert
[x], that Constantine did homage to Athelstan for his kingdom; and
they add, that the latter prince, being urged by his courtiers to push
the present favourable opportunity, and entirely subdue Scotland,
replied, that it was more glorious to confer than conquer kingdoms
[y]. But those annals, so uncertain and imperfect in themselves, lose
all credit when national prepossessions and animosities have place:
and on that account, the Scotch historians, who, without having any
more knowledge of the matter, strenuously deny the fact, seem more
worthy of belief.
[FN [u] W. Malm. lib. 2. cap. 6. [w] Chron. Sax. p. 111. Hoveden, p.
422. H. Hunting. lib. 5. p. 354. [x] Hoveden, p. 422. [y] Wm.
Malmes. lib. 2. cap. 6. Anglia Sacra, vol. i. p. 212.]

Constantine, whether he owed the retaining of his crown to the
moderation of Athelstan, who was unwilling to employ all his
advantages against him, or to the policy of that prince, who esteemed
the humiliation of an enemy a greate