After Brithric, king of Wessex, and Æthelred of Deira had, with the hands of his daughters Eadburga and Ælfleda, received their kingdoms once again in subjection to themselves, Albert, or Ethelbert, king of the East-Angles, came with a lordly train to sue for the hand of Alfreda, the remaining daughter.[16] Brave, yet pious; elegant, yet modest; exalted in station, yet humble in soul; the amiable and interesting Ethelbert was publicly welcomed to the court of Offa. The festal hall was decked for his reception, the spousal banquet spread, the goblet graced the board. The hospitable meal in seeming friendly confidence passed over; the prince retired to his sumptuous couch to rest; and the morrow brought the accession of a kingdom’s wealth to Mercia clogged by the weight of treacherous and inhospitable murder![17] [Footnote 16: A. D. 791. Eadburga married Brithric king of Wessex.--_M. West. 282. Chr. Mailros, 139; but 787 is the date assigned to this event in Ingr. Sax. Chron._ 792. “This year Offa, king of Mercia, commanded that king Ethelbert should be beheaded; and Osred who had been king of the Northumbrians (Deira), returning home after his exile, was apprehended, and slain on the eighteenth day before the calends of October. His body is deposited at Tinemouth. Ethelred this year, on the third day before the calends of October, took unto himself a new wife, whose name was Elfleda.”--_Ingr. Sax. Chron. p. 79. Chron. Mailr._ The following couplet describes the person and character of the unfortunate Ethelbert. “Albertus juvenis fuerat rex, fortis in armis, Pace pius, pulcher corpore, mente sagax.” _Vita Offæ Secundi._ _For fuller particulars see an interesting chapter in Holinshed’s History, b. 6. ch. 5._]