her from meddling with public affairs, won her general favour. She had three children by the king—Cæsar and Alexander, afterwards Dukes of Vendome, and a daughter, Catharine Henrietta, afterwards the wife of the Duke of Elbeuf. Her biography, which appeared some years ago in France, is accompanied by an interesting correspondence between Gabrielle and her royal lover.
ETHELBURGA,
Commonly called "the silent," was the daughter of Ethelbert and his pious Queen Bertha; she was therefore educated in the Christian faith. It was about the year 624, her father and mother being dead, and her brother Eadbald on the throne of Kent, that Edwin, King of Northumberland, sent to demand her hand in marriage, and received it with the condition, he being a pagan, that the princess should be allowed full liberty in matters of religion. She was afterwards the means of inducing her husband to receive the rite of baptism, and of introducing Christianity among his subjects, for which she received the thanks and benedictions of Pope Boniface, whose letter to her is still extant.
The converted Edwin, by his nobleness and intrepidity of character, became renowned as the greatest prince of the Heptarchy; but his career of glory was cut short by death; he perished in the forty-eighth year of his age, in a battle fought against Penda, King of Mercia. His widow, with her two surviving children, sought the protection of her brother Eadbald, who presented her with some land in Kent, where she founded a nunnery, and devoted the rest of her life wholly to acts of charity and benevolence. She was the first widow of high rank who took the veil in England, and her high example was afterwards followed by several of the Anglo-Saxon Queens.
ETHELDREDA, ST.,
Was a daughter of Anna, King of the East Angles, and Hereswitha his queen, and was born about 630, at Ixming, a small village in Suffolk. In 673, she founded the church and convent of Ely. Of this monastery she was constituted abbess. The convent, with its inhabitants, was destroyed by the Danes in 870.
ETHELFLEDA, or ELFLEDA,
Eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, and sister to Edward the First, King of the West-Saxons, was wife to Etheldred, Earl of Mercia. After the birth of her first child, having suffered severely in child-birth, she made a vow of chastity, and devoted herself to the service of her country. She retained a cordial friendship for her husband, with whom she united in acts of munificence and valour. They assisted Alfred in his wars against the Danes, whom they prevented the Welsh from succouring. Not less pious than valiant, they restored cities, founded abbeys, and protected the bones of departed saints.
After the death of her husband, in 912, Ethelfleda assumed the government of Mercia; and, emulating her father and brother, commanded armies, fortified towns, and prevented the Danes from resettling in Mercia. Then carrying her victorious arms into Wales, she compelled the Welsh, after several victories, to become her tributaries. In 918, she took Derby from the Danes; and in 920,
