The reassertion of this homage, under
Aethelstan, in 926, which occurs in one MS. of the Chronicle, is open to
the objection that it describes the King of Scots as giving up idolatry,
more than three hundred and fifty years after the conversion of the
country; but as the entry under the year 924 is probably in a
contemporary hand, considerable weight must be attached to the double
statement. In the reign of Edmund the Magnificent, an event occurred
which has given fresh occasion for dispute. A famous passage in the
"Chronicle" (945 A.D.) tells how Edmund and Malcolm I of
Scotland conquered Cumbria, which the English king gave to Malcolm on
condition that Malcolm should be his "midwyrtha" or fellow-worker by sea
and land. Mr. Freeman interpreted this as a feudal grant, reading the
sense of "fealty" into "midwyrtha", and regarded the district described
as "Cumbria" as including the whole of Strathclyde. It is somewhat
difficult to justify this position, especially as we have no reason for
supposing that Edmund did invade Strathclyde, and since, in point of
fact, Strathclyde remained hostile to the kingdom of Scotland long after
this date. In 946 the statement of the Chronicle is reasserted in
connection with the accession of Eadred, and in somewhat stronger
words:--"the Scots gave him oaths, that they would all that he would".
Such are the main facts relating to the first two divisions of the
threefold claim to overlordship, and their value will probably continue
to be estimated in accordance with the personal feelings of the reader.
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