Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/41

Ethelstan 1665, and ed. Mabillon, Paris, 1719, also in ‘App. S. Augustini Opera;’ cf. ‘Patrologia,’ xxxii. col. 1451. 18. ‘De Natura Animæ,’ a dialogue, not printed, in Bodl. MS. 52, and transcribed in British Museum Lansd. MS. 209. 19. ‘Fasciculus frondium,’ lost. 20. ‘Epistolæ,’ lost.

[Vita S. Aelredi, anon. Acta SS. Bolland. Jan. ii. p. 30; Reginaldi Mon. Dunelm. de Virtutibus B. Cuthberti, pp. 176–8, 188, ed. Raine; Vita S. Godrici, pp. 19, 173, 269, ed. Stevenson; Priory of Hexham, pref. ii. 173, ed. Raine (all Surtees Soc.); Simeon of Durham, De Dunelm. Ecclesiæ, col. 31; Richard of Hexham, col. 305; John of Hexham, col. 274 (all in Twysden); John of Peterborough, pp. 77–80, ed. Sparke; Raine's Fasti Ebor. pp. 168–9; Bale's Scriptt. Brit. Cat. cent. 2, script. 99; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. p. 247; Wright's Biog. Lit. (Anglo-Norman), p. 187; Hardy's Cat. of Materials, i. 45, ii. 248, 294.]  ETHELSTAN, ÆTHELSTAN, or ÆLFSTAN (fl. 946), ealdorman of East Anglia, son of Æthelred (, Codex Dipl. 338), possibly grandson of Æthelred I [q. v.], and certainly a member of the royal house of Wessex, had his patrimonial possessions in the province of Devon, and exchanged them for an estate at Hatfield. He was made ealdorman of East Anglia by his kinsman Æthelstan about 929 (Codex Dipl. 348). He married Ælfwen, who became foster-mother to Eadgar, and was probably a sister of Eadnoth, bishop of Dorchester (Historia Rames. p. 53; ). There is some difficulty as to the statement that Æthelstan's wife was a sister-in-law of the ealdorman Brihtnoth, but the families were doubtless allied by marriage (ib.; Hist. Eli. ii. 7, 8). Æthelstan held a high place in the kingdom during the reign of Eadmund; his province was of large extent, and either then or in the next reign he was the chief ealdorman, and was called by the nickname of Half-king (Historia Rames. p. 11; Vita Oswaldi, p. 428). Throughout the reign of Eadred his name stands generally if not invariably before those of the other ealdormen in the teste of charters (the Æthelstan who attests Codex Dipl. 430 was probably another ealdorman). He was a friend of Dunstan [q. v.] for notice of their friendship, and evidently upheld him and the queen-mother in their administration under Eadred. He retained his position under Eadwig, but, finding that it had become insecure, resigned his government, and entered the monastery of Glastonbury, presenting it at the same time with Wrington in Somerset, probably in 956, and before 29 Nov. of that year, when his eldest son appears as ealdorman (ib. 448; Historia Rames. p. 12; Vita Oswaldi, p. 428). It has been asserted that he continued ealdorman until 967 (Norman Conquest, i. 289), but this assertion rests on a confusion between him and another ealdorman of the same name, who attests charters at the same time and for some years after his retirement. He left four sons by Ælfwen: Æthelwold, who succeeded him, married Ælfthryth, daughter of Ordgar, ealdorman of the west provinces, afterwards the wife of King Eadgar, and died in 962 [see for legend of his death]; Ælfwold, who appears to attest as thegn (Codex Dipl. 491, 502) after his elder brother's death, and is said on good authority to have become exceedingly powerful, though he does not appear to have been an ealdorman (Vita Oswaldi, p. 420), married Ælfhild, died before 1005, and was buried at Ramsey [see further under ]; Æthelsige, who also attests as thegn, and Æthelwine. It has been suggested that on Æthelstan's death his ealdormanry was parted among his sons (Conquest of England, p. 309), but there seems no ground for the suggestion.

[Historia Ramesiensis, pp. 11, 53 (Rolls Ser.); Hist. Eliensis, ii. c. 7, 8 (Gale); Kemble's Codex Dipl. ii. 163–322, passim (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Vita Oswaldi, Historians of York, i. 428 (Rolls Ser.); Memorials of Dunstan, p. 44 (Rolls Ser.); Robertson's Historical Essays, pp. 179–81; Green's Conquest of England, pp. 260, 286, 310; Freeman's Norman Conquest, i. 289.]  ETHELWERD or ÆTHELWEARD (d. 998?), chronicler, who, according to his own statement, was great-great-grandson of King Æthelred, elder brother of Alfred, wrote a short Latin chronicle in which he styles himself ‘Patricius Consul Fabius Quæstor,’ the first two titles merely signifying that he was an ealdorman, and the rest being a rhetorical flourish. It is probable that he may be identified with the Æthelweard described in the teste of a charter of 997 as the ealdorman of the western provinces (, Codex Dipl. 698), a title which seems to signify that he ruled over Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, that he was the father of Æthelmær the Great, who succeeded to his office, the founder of Cerne Abbey, and the friend of Ælfric the Grammarian (the date at which he ceases to attest charters seems to make it impossible to identify him with Æthelweard the successor of Æthelmær), that he joined with Archbishop Sigeric and the ealdorman Ælfric in 991 in making the peace by which the Danes were for the first time bought off (, Ancient Laws, i. 284), and that in 994 he accompanied Bishop Ælfheah on an embassy to Olaf of