ing his decease. The
robber was shortly torn limb from limb by the attendants who rushed in,
though he wounded some of them ere they could accomplish their purpose.
St. Dunstan, at that time Abbot of Glastonbury, had foreseen his ignoble
end, being fully persuaded of it from the gesticulations and insolent
mockery of a devil dancing before him. Wherefore, hastening to court at
full speed, he received intelligence of the transaction on the road. By
common consent, then, it was determined that his body should be brought
to Glastonbury, and there magnificently buried in the northern part of
the tower. That such had been his intention, through his singular regard
for the abbot, was evident from particular circumstances. The village,
also, where he was murdered, was made a offering for the dead, that the
spot, which had witnessed his fall, might ever after minister aid to his
soul,--William of Malmesbury, B, ii. e. 7, Bohn's Edition.

vi A. D. 556--Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

vii Wulfstan, and the See of Dorchester.

When Athelstane was dead, the Danes, both in Northumberland and Mercia,
revolted against the English rule, and made Anlaf their king. Archbishop
Wulfstan, then of York, sided with them, perhaps being himself of Danish
blood. The kingdom was eventually divided between Edmund and Aulaf,
until the death of the latter. When Edred ascended the throne--after
the murder of Edmund, who had, before his death, repossessed himself of
the whole sovereignty--the wise men of Northumberland, with Wulfstan
at their head, swore submission to him, but in 948 rebelled and chose
for their king Eric of Denmark. Edred marched at once against them, and
subdued the rebellion with great vigour, not to say riqour. He threw the
archbishop into prison at Jedburgh in Bernicia. After a time he was
released, but only upon the condition of banishment from Northumbria,
and he was made Bishop of Dorchester, a place familiar to the tourist on
the Thames, famed for the noble abbey church which still exists, and has
been grandly restored.

Although Dorchester is now only a village, it derives its origin from a
period so remote that it is lost in the mist of ages. It was probably a
British village under the name Cair Dauri, the camp on the waters; and
coins of Cunobelin, or Cassivellaunus, have been found in good
preservation. Bede mentions it as a Roman station, and Richard of
Cirencester marks it as such in the xviii. Iter, under the name Durocina.