For in the year 937 Athelstan was engaged in war against a formidable combination, and won immortal renown. The Danes by this time had formed settlements in Ireland as well as England, and we are told that one of their kings, named Anlaff, whom some think to be identical with Anlaff, the son of Sithric, others a different person, arrived from Ireland with many ships, and was joined by Owen of Cumberland, and Constantine, the king of the Scots. According to a late, and not very trustworthy, account of the campaign, it would appear that it was arranged so secretly that Anlaff entered the Humber with a fleet of six hundred sail, and invaded Northumbria before Athelstan had any intelligence of his landing; and with such forces, and the assistance of the Danes settled there, he easily became master of several small ill-guarded towns. But the fortified places that were well garrisoned by the English stopped his progress, and gave Athelstan time to draw his army together. He used such expedition, that he surprised the two confederate princes upon their march towards Bernicia. It had been agreed that this small kingdom, if conquered, should be apportioned to the King of Scotland; but the prompt measures of Athelstan, by surprising the invaders, totally defeated their plans. [Illustration: ANLAFF ENTERING THE HUMBER. (_See p._ 48.)] This much is certain; that a great battle was fought at Brunanburgh, probably near Beverley in Yorkshire, an account of which is preserved in the famous song of the battle of Brunanburgh, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In this battle Athelstan's brother Edmund distinguished himself, and the slaughter was immense. Of the enemy, five Danish kings, seven earls, and the son of the King of Scots were slain; but Anlaff and Constantine made good their escape. Various stories have gathered round this campaign, in one of which Olaf is represented as going into the English camp in the guise of a minstrel just before the battle, to discover what he could concerning the resources of the enemy, which is evidently a duplicate of the tale told concerning Alfred. Three years afterwards Athelstan died, after a brief but glorious reign. The marriage connections between his sisters and foreign princes had caused his influence throughout western Europe to be very great; for instance, we find that it was through his influence that Louis d'Outremer, the son of Charles the Simple, was restored to the throne of the Franks. He was also a benefactor of religious foundations, particularly of the abbey of Malmesbury. Further, he was a lawgiver of considerable originality, and added a number of excellent statutes to those of his grandfather. His ordinances are particularly directed to the enforcement of the system of mutual assurance and association, which forms a distinctive feature of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. Athelstan was succeeded by his brother, who had covered himself with so much renown at the battle of Brunanburgh.