And before this, King Edmund had gone forth, and he marched into Wessex, and all the people submitted to him, and soon after that, he fought with the Army at Pen, near Gillingham. And he fought another battle after Midsummer, at Sceorstan,[AU] and there many fell on either side, and the armies separated of their own accord.--The Alderman Eadric, and Ælmær the Beloved, were with the Danes against King Edmund.--And then he raised an army for the third time, and marched to London and rescued the inhabitants, and he drove their enemies to the ships. And within two days he crossed the river at Brentford and fought with the Army, and put it to flight, but many of the English were drowned through their own heedlessness, because they had hastened before the main body, being greedy of plunder. And after this the King went into Wessex and assembled troops, and the Army marched to London and encamped round about the town, and they attacked it vigorously by water and by land, but Almighty God delivered it; and they navigated their ships from London into the Arwan (the Arrow), and they landed and went up into Mercia, slaying and plundering all before them as was their wont, and they supplied themselves with provisions and conveyed their ships and cattle to the Medway. Then King Edmund assembled all the English people for the fourth time, and crossed the Thames at Brentford and marched into Kent, and the Danes fled before him with their horses into Sheppey, and the King slew all whom he could overtake; and at Aylesford the Alderman Eadric turned the King from the pursuit: more treacherous advice than this never was given. The Army went up again into Essex, and thence into Mercia, destroying all things wherever they came. And when the King knew that they were on their march, he assembled all the English troops for the fifth time, and followed after them, and he came up with them in Essex, at the place called Assandun,[AV] and there they fought furiously.--But the Alderman Eadric acted as he had often done before; he was the first to take to flight with the Magesætas (men of Radnorshire), and thus he betrayed his natural Lord and all the people. There Cnut gained the victory, though all England fought against him. And Eadnoth[AW] and the Abbot Wulsige were slain there, and the Alderman Ælfric, and the Alderman Godwin, and Ulfcytel of East Anglia, and Æthelward the son of the Alderman Æthelsig, and all the prime of the English nobility. After this battle King Cnut marched his army into Gloucestershire, having heard that King Edmund was in that quarter. Then the Alderman Eadric and those of the Witan who were there, advised that the Kings should make peace between themselves, and the Kings met at Olan-ige (Alney), and there they confirmed their alliance by pledges and oaths; and they agreed upon the tribute for the Army. And when this treaty was concluded they separated; King Edmund going into Wessex, and Cnut into Mercia.