[Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub ann. 1067; Florence of Worcester, ii. 3 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ii. 429 (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Kemble's Codex Dipl. 845; Freeman's Norman Conquest, ii. 548, iv. 227, and Note S. 757–61, which contains all that can be made out on the subject of Eadnoth's lands.]
EADRIC. [See Edric.]
EADSIGE, EADSINE, EDSIE, or ELSI (d. 1050), archbishop of Canterbury, one of the chaplains of Cnut, who granted Folkestone to the convent of Christ Church in order to obtain his admission into the house, stipulating that Eadsige should have the land for his life, was suffragan bishop in Kent in 1035, and is said to have had his see at the church of St. Martin, outside Canterbury. He succeeded Archbishop Æthelnoth in 1038, and in 1040 fetched his pall from Rome. He crowned Harthacnut, and at the coronation of Eadward the Confessor on 3 April 1043 delivered an exhortation to the king and the people (A.-S. Chron.) Eadsige belonged to the party of Godwine and opposed the policy of the great men of the northern part of the country. Soon after the accession of Eadward he fell into bad health and was unable to perform the duties of his office. Fearing lest some man whom he did not approve might beg or buy his archbishopric, he secretly took counsel with the king and Earl Godwine, and through the earl's influence obtained the appointment of Siward, abbot of Abingdon, as his coadjutor. Siward was consecrated in 1044, taking his title from Upsala (Stubbs) or from Rochester (Historia de Abingdon, i. 451), and attests charters as archbishop, his name appearing before that of Ælfric of York (Kemble, Codex Dipl. 780 sq.) William of Malmesbury says that he was ungrateful and kept Eadsige short of food during his illness, that he was consequently deprived of the succession, and that he had to console himself with the bishopric of Rochester. This story evidently arose from a confusion between him and another Siward, bishop of Rochester 1058–75; it was a satisfactory mode of explaining the reason of what was held to have been the failure of the expectation of the suffragan. His retirement was really caused by ill-health; he went back to Abingdon and died there on 23 Oct. 1048. It seems probable that Eadsige recovered from his sickness in 1046, when he again attests a charter as archbishop, Siward using the title of bishop, and that he resumed the government of his entire see on the retirement of Siward, about eight weeks before his death. Eadsige died on 29 Oct. 1050. It is possible that some dispute arose with the convent of Christ Church with reference to the allowance to be made to him during his illness, which may account for part of the story told by William of Malmesbury, for he left lands to the rival house of St. Augustine's (Thorn). He is said, moreover, to have helped Earl Godwine to get possession of Folkestone in defiance of the right of the convent of Christ Church (Freeman, Norman Conquest, ii. 559).
[Kemble's Codex Dipl. 754–84 passim, 1323–1325; Historia de Abingdon, i. 451, 461 (Rolls Ser.); Anglo-Saxon Chron. sub ann. 1038, 1046, 1048; William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum, i. 333 (Engl. Hist. Soc.), Gesta Pontiff. p. 34 (Rolls Ser.); Anglia Sacra, i. 106; Thorn's Twysden, col. 1784; Stubbs's Reg. Sacrum Anglic. p. 20; Hook's Archbishops, i. 487 sq.]
EAGER, JOHN (1782–1853?), organist, was born in 1782 in Norwich, where his father was a manufacturer of musical instruments. He learnt the rudiments of music from his father, and made such progress that at the age of twelve he attracted the notice of the Duke of Dorset, who took him to Knowle as a page. Here he improved his education in the fine library, and probably acquired skill upon the violin, of which the duke was an amateur. Towards the end of the century his patron became insane, and Eager, for whose support no provision had been made, ran away to Yarmouth, where he proceeded to set up as a teacher of music. Soon afterwards he married Miss Barnby, a lady of good fortune, and in October 1803 was appointed organist to the corporation of Yarmouth on the death of John Roope. In 1814 J. B. Logier patented his ‘chiroplast,’ an invention for holding the hands in a proper position while playing the pianoforte, and his system of teaching was ardently taken up by Eager. The adherents of the new method were of course vehemently attacked by conservative musicians, and Eager came in for a full share of abuse in the Norfolk papers and elsewhere. He gradually convinced a considerable number of persons of the excellence of the system, which, in addition to the use of the chiroplast, professed to teach the ground work of harmony, &c., much more rapidly and thoroughly than any other method. Another of its peculiarities was that twelve or more of the pupils were required to play simultaneously on as many pianos. He opened a ‘musical academy for music and dancing,’ in the conduct of which he was assisted by his daughters, at the Assembly Rooms, Norwich, and public examinations were in due course held for the purpose of convincing the audience of the genuineness of the method. After the second of these Eager published ‘A Brief Account, with accompanying examples, of what was
