Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/417

 EDMUNDS accession he was recognized as the champion of the English cause against the Danes under Canute, but his abilities and hardy valor were unable to prevent the subjugation of the king- dom. Canute was proclaimed at Southamp- ton at the same time that Edmund was recog- nized by the burgesses of London, which was immediately besieged by the Danes. Edmund tied, raised an army in Wessex, and at Scoer- ston in Gloucestershire gave battle to Canute, who was assisted by many disaffected English nobles and prelates under Edric. The battle raged for two days, and fortune seemed to have declared for Edmund, when a stratagem of Edric made the victory undecided. He again met his enemies at Brentford and at Ot- ford; but by the perfidy of Edric, who had joined Edmund, and fled with his division at the onset, he sustained a decisive discomfiture at Assington. Edmund was prepared to meet Canute with a new army, when both the Da- nish and English troops, wearied of the strife, obliged their kings to compromise by dividing the kingdom. Mercia and Northumbria were the portion of Canute, and the southern parts were left to Edmund, with the provision that on the death of either the survivor should suc- ceed to the entire kingdom. He is believed to have been murdered at Oxford, thus making way for the accession of Canute. EDMUNDS, a S. E. central county of Dakota, recently formed, and not included in the census of 1870 ; area, about 900 sq. m. The E. por- tion is drained by branches of the Dakota or James river. The surface is mostly table land. The greater part of the county is occupied by the Plateau du Coteau du Missouri. EDOM, or Idunura, the ancient name of a re- gion intervening between Palestine and Egypt. The book of Genesis describes it as the field or land of Edom. The word signifies red, and probably refers to the color of the mountain range. It was previously called Mount Seir, signifying rugged. Most of the tract is a rocky desert ; but there is a considerable amount of soil that admits of cultivation, and vegetation enough for the maintenance of numbers of camels, goats, and sheep. The plain rises gen- tly from the Dead sea to an imperceptible water- shed, about 14 m. from the wady Ghurundel. Adjoining the Arabah are low calcareous hills, which are succeeded by a range of igneous rocks, chiefly porphyry, overlaid with red sand- stone, reaching the height of 2,000 ft. Further E. is a range of limestone, 1,000 ft. higher, which sinks down into the plateau of the Ara- bian desert. The principal part of the country was that situated between the .Dead sea and the gulf of Akabah ; the limits and extent of the whole, however, are not precisely ascer- tained. According to the Biblical narrative, Esau took possession of this land immediately after the death of Isaac; and when his descen- dants increased they extirpated the Horites, the original inhabitants. (See HORITES.) Eli- phaz, Esau's oldest son, was the father of Am- EDOM 409 alek, whose descendants took possession of the desert et-Tih, which was afterward absorbed by the Edornites. The Edomites were at first divided into ten tribes, and some of these adopted subsequently an elective monarchy, while those of Mount Seir preserved their pa- triarchal organization. The list of the kings given in Genesis contains but eight names, and therefore does not carry us back more than two centuries before the exodus. The king of Edom refused the Hebrews permission to pass through his territory, and forced Moses to march round the edge of the desert, and turn the kingdom of Moab, to arrive at the Jordan. The power of the kings was subsequently ex- tended over all divisions of the Edomites, and after the time of Gideon even over the rem- nant of the Midianites. After the settlement of the Hebrews the Edomites were constantly at war with them. Saul fought against them suc- cessfully, and David defeated them completely, and placed garrisons in their towns. Hadad, an Edomite prince, excited a rebellion against Solomon, which was suppressed. The Edom- ites remained thereafter a dependency of Judah, and revolting with the Moabites under Jehoshaphat, they sustained great losses with- out gaining their object. They were more suc- cessful in the time of Joram, and were once more ruled by their own kings. Amaziah de- feated them in the Salt valley and took the city of Sela (afterward called Petra by the Greeks), the capital of the new Edomite mon- archy. The Edomites regained their indepen- dence during the reign of Ahaz by the help of Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, king of Israel, and laid waste the southern portion of Judah. The first king of the new monarchy is supposed to be the Kadumalka mentioned by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser II. as one of his tributa- ries. The Edomites continued dependent upon Assyria until the time of Nabopolassar, when Necho, king of Egypt, overran the whole of Syria, and took his share of the spoils of the Assyrian empire. After the defeat of the Egyptians by Nebuchadnezzar the Edomites were incorporated in the Chaldean empire. About this time the name Edomite begins gradually to disappear, and in its stead is found the hitherto unknown word Nabathean. This is ascribed by some to an internal revolution, a change of the royal race and of the domi- nant tribe, of which we have no record. The monuments of Asshur-bani-pal (about 660) are the first that speak of the "country of the Nabatheans." In 590 these Nabatheans, or Edomites, joined with the Moabites ; Ammon- ites, and Tyrians in the revolt of Zedekiah, king of Judah, against Nebuchadnezzar, which proved fatal, and drew upon them a complete devastation of their country and their capital Sela or Petra. They soon recovered from its effects, and their trade regained even a greater activity, for the complete ruin of Tyre rendered Petra the chief station for caravans from south- ern Arabia and the great market of the produce