EDWARD THE ELDER AND DUNSTAN. Settlement of the Danes--Edward the Elder and his Cousin--Reconquest of the Danelagh--Edward becomes King of all England--Conspiracy of Alfred against Athelstan--Wars in Northumbria--The Death of Edwin--The Battle of Brunanburgh--The Power of Athelstan--Edwin's Wars with the Danes--Their Submission to Edmund--Rebellion and Reconquest--The Conquest of Cumberland--Death of Edmund--Final Conquest of Northumberland--The Rise of Dunstan--His Banishment--Edgar's Rebellion--His Accession to the Throne--Wars with the Welsh--Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury--His Ecclesiastical Policy--The Reign of Edward the Martyr--Dunstan's Struggles with the Opposition--Death of the King. By this time the settlement of the Danes in England was complete, and exhausting though the process had been by which it was accomplished, in the end it strengthened the nation through the infusion of a new and more vigorous element. Practically speaking, they occupied, as we have seen, the whole of the district north of the Thames, but in some parts the new colonists must have been exceedingly few in numbers. The Danish population lay thickest round what were called the "five Danish boroughs," _i.e._ Lincoln, Derby, Leicester, Stamford, and Nottingham. After the first storm of their fury was spent, the Danes mixed readily with the English population, and became converts to Christianity. The fusion was easy, because the language and customs of the two races were very similar. The title, _Earl,_ which at this period is introduced into our language, is of Danish origin; so are the local divisions of Yorkshire, known as _Ridings_ and _Wapentakes_; so also the names of towns ending in "by" and "holm." Both parties were weary of war--of mutually destroying each other--and a brief repose was welcome. To the new settlers the retreat of their piratical countrymen was as acceptable as to the English; for the hordes who invaded the island with no other object than obtaining plunder cared very little whose possessions they ravaged; and the consequence was that the Danes suffered at times as much as the earlier possessors of the soil. Alfred was succeeded by his son, Edward the Elder, who had not long obtained possession of the crown before a civil war broke out, which ultimately strengthened the English as a nation. Alfred's elder brother, Ethelred, left two sons, the eldest of whom, Ethelwald, having arrived at man's estate, claimed the throne, on the plea that his grandfather, Ethelwulf, had no right to make a will leaving the succession to his three sons, according to their seniority, to the exclusion of their issue--a claim which in these days would undoubtedly be looked upon as valid, but was worthless when the monarchy was elective. A numerous party supported his pretensions, and Edward was compelled to draw the sword to maintain himself in his inheritance.