(good introduction to subject); K. Groos, Der ästhetische Genuss (1902) (Meth., Judg., Play, Senses, Einf. and Ill.); J. Volkelt, System der Ästhetik (1905) (very full and clear) (Meth., Norm., Evol., Senses, Einf.); J. Cohn, Allgemeine Ästhetik (1901) (Val., Play, Einf.); K. Lange, Das Wesen der Kunst (1901) (Meth., Einf., Ill., Play).
(b) Works on History of Aesthetics.— H. Lotze, Geschichte der Ästhetik in Deutschland; M. Schasler, Kritische Geschichte der Ästhetik (full and elaborate, dealing with ancient and modern theories); E. von Hartmann, Die deutsche Ästhetik seit Kant (Ausgewählte Werke, iii.); K. H. von Stein, Die Entstehung der neueren Ästhetik (theories of French critics, &c.); F. Brunetiere, L’Evolution des genres (History of critical discussions in the 17th and 18th centuries); B. Bosanquet, History of Aesthetics (very full, especially on ancient theories and German systems); W. Knight, Philosophy of the Beautiful, pt. i. “History” (Univ. Extension Manuals, a popular résumé with quotations). (J. S.)
AESTIVATION (from Lat. aestivare, to spend the aestas, or summer; the word is sometimes spelled “estivation”), literally “summer residence,” a term used in zoology for the condition of torpor into which certain animals pass during the hottest season in hot and dry countries, contrasted with the similar winter condition known as hibernation (q.v.) In botany the word is used of the praefloration or folded arrangement of the petals in a flower before expansion in the summer, contrasted with “vernation” of leaves which unfold in the spring.
ÆETHELBALD, king of Mercia, succeeded Ceolred A.D. 716. According to Felix, Life of St Guthlac, he visited the saint at Crowland, when exiled by Ceolred and pursued by his emissaries before his accession, and was cheered by predictions of his future greatness. According to Bede, the whole of Britain as far north as the Humber was included within the sphere of his authority. His energy in preserving his influence is shown by several entries in the Chronicle. He made an expedition against Wessex in 733, in which year he took the royal vill of Somerton. In 740 he took advantage of the absence of Eadberht of Northumbria in a campaign against the Picts to invade his kingdom. In 743 he fought with Cuthred, king of Wessex, against the Welsh, but the alliance did not last long, as in 752 Cuthred took up arms against him. In 757 Æthelbald was slain by his guards at Seckington (Warwickshire) and buried at Repton. He seems to have been the most powerful and energetic king of Mercia between Penda and Offa. A letter of St Boniface is preserved, in which he rebukes this king for his immoralities and encroachments on church property, while recognizing his merits as a monarch. By a charter of 749 he freed ecclesiastical lands from all obligations except the trinoda necessitas.
See Bede, Hist. Ecc. (ed. Plummer), v. 23 and Continuatio s.a. 740, 750, 757; Saxon Chronicle (Earle and Plummer), s.a. 716, 733, 737, 740, 741, 743, 755; Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, ii. pp. 264, 275, 276, 279, 283-284; P. Jaffé, Monumenta Moguntiaca, iii. pp. 168-177; W. de G. Birch, Cartul. Saxon. 178 (1885–1893). (F. G. M. B.)
ÆTHELBALD, king of Wessex, was the son of Æthelwulf, with whom he led the West Saxons to victory against the Danes at Aclea, 851. According to Asser he rebelled against his father on the latter’s return from Rome in 856, and deprived him of Wessex, which he ruled until his death in 860. On his father’s death in 858 he married his widow, Judith.
See Asser, Life of Alfred (W. H. Stevenson, 1904), 12; Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 851, 855, 860.
ÆTHELBERHT, king of Kent, son of Eormenric, probably came to the throne in A.D. 560. The first recorded event of his reign was a serious reverse at the hands of Ceawlin of Wessex in the year 568 (Chronicle) at a place called Wibbandune. Æthelberht married Berhta, daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, who brought over Bishop Liudhard as her private confessor. According to Bede, Æthelberht’s supremacy in 597 stretched over all the English kingdoms as far as the Humber. The nature of this supremacy has been much disputed, but it was at any rate sufficient to guarantee the safety of Augustine in his conference with the British bishops. Æthelberht exercised a stricter sway over Essex, where his nephew Saberht was king. In 597 the mission of Augustine landed in Thanet and was received at first with some hesitation by the king. He seems to have acted with prudence and moderation during the conversion of his kingdom and did not countenance compulsory proselytism. Æthelberht gave Augustine a dwelling-place in Canterbury, and Christ Church was consecrated in 603. He also made grants to found the see of Rochester, of which Justus became first bishop in 604, and his influence established Mellitus at London in the same year. A code of laws issued by him which is still extant is probably the oldest document in the English language, and contains a list of money fines for various crimes. Towards the close of his reign his pre-eminence as Bretwalda was disturbed by the increasing power of Rædwald of East Anglia. He died probably in 616, and was succeeded by his son Eadbald.
See Bede, Hist. Ecc. (Plummer) i. 25, 26, ii. 3, 5; Saxon Chronicle (Earle and Plummer), s.a. 568. (F. G. M. B.)
ÆTHELBERHT, king of the West Saxons, succeeded to the sub-kingdom of Kent during the lifetime of his father Æthelwulf, and retained it until the death of his elder brother Æthelbald in 860, when he became sole king of Wessex and Kent, the younger brothers Æthelred and Alfred renouncing their claim. He ruled these kingdoms for five years and died in 865. His reign was marked by two serious attacks on the part of the Danes, who destroyed Winchester in 860, in spite of the resistance of the ealdormen Osric and Æthelwulf with the levies of Hampshire and Berkshire, while in 865 they treacherously ravaged Kent.
See Saxon Chronicle (Earle and Plummer), s.a. 860, 865; King Alfred’s Will; W. de G. Birch, Cartul. Saxon. 553.
ÆTHELFLAED (Ethelfleda), the “Lady of the Mercians,” the eldest child of Alfred the Great, was educated with her brother Edward at her father’s court. As soon as she was of marriageable age (probably about A.D. 886), she was married to Æthelred, earl of Mercia to whom Alfred entrusted the control of Mercia. On the accession of her brother Edward, Æthelflaed and her husband continued to hold Mercia. In 907 they fortified Chester, and in 909 and 910 either Æthelflaed or her husband must have led the Mercian host at the battles of Tettenhall and Wednesfield (or Tettenhall-Wednesfield, if these battles are one and the same). It was probably about this time that Æthelred fell ill, and the Norwegians and Danes from Ireland unsuccessfully besieged Chester. Æthelflaed won the support of the Danes against the Norwegians, and seems also to have entered into an alliance with the Scots and the Welsh against the pagans. In 911 Æthelred died and Edward took over Middlesex and Oxfordshire. Except for this Æthelflaed’s authority remained unimpaired. In 912 she fortified “Scergeat” and Bridgenorth, Tamworth and Stafford in 913, Eddisbury and Warwick in 914, Cherbury, “Weardbyrig” and Runcorn in 915. In 916 she sent an expedition against the Welsh, which advanced as far as Brecknock. In 917 Derby was captured from the Danes, and in the next year Leicester and York both submitted to her. She died in the same year at Tamworth (June 12), and was buried in St Peter’s church at Gloucester. This noble queen, whose career was as distinguished as that of her father and brother, left one daughter, Ælfwyn. For some eighteen months Ælfwyn seems to have wielded her mother’s authority, and then, just before the Christmas of 919, Edward took Mercia into his own hands, and Ælfwyn was “led away” into Wessex.
Æthelflaed and her husband wielded almost kingly authority, and the royal title is often given them by the chroniclers.
See The Saxon Chronicle, sub ann. (especially the Mercian register in MSS. B, C and D); Florence of Worcester; Fragments of Irish Annals (ed. O’Conor), pp. 227-237; D.N.B., s.v. (A. Mw.)
ÆTHELFRITH, king of Northumbria, is said to have come to the throne in A.D. 593, being the son of Æthelric (probably reigned 568–572). He married Acha, daughter of Ella (Ælle), king of Deira, whom he succeeded probably in 605, expelling his son Edwin. In 603 he repelled the attack of Aidan, king of the Dalriad Scots, at Daegsastan, defeating him with great loss. The appearance of Hering, son of Hussa, Æthelfrith’s predecessor, On the side of the invaders seems to indicate family quarrels in the royal house of Bernicia. Later in his reign, probably in 614, he defeated the Welsh in a great battle at Chester and massacred the monks of Bangor who were assembled to aid them by their prayers. This war may have been due partly to Æthelfrith’s persecution of Edwin, but it had a strategic importance in the separation of the North Welsh from the Strathclyde Britons. In 617 Æthelfrith was defeated and slain
