of the poor, and his death gave England an ally who, during the remainder of AEthelred's reign, defended her to the utmost of his power against the attacks of his own countrymen. [Sidenote: End of the Danish war.] At last AEthelred was forced to flee from his kingdom, and Swend was chosen king. His reign was short. He had a special hatred for the memory of Eadmund, the martyred king of East Anglia, and threatened to destroy his church and put its priests to death by torture. As he was on his way thither he was struck by death, and men said that he cried out that the armed figure of the martyred king appeared to him and smote him with his weapon. AEthelred returned to his kingdom after Swend's death, and soon after his return held a witenagemot, by the advice of Archbishop Lyfing. In the decrees of this assembly the influence of the Church is again strongly marked; they are mainly expressions of desires for national repentance, reformation, and unity. One resolution is especially noteworthy. It seems as if some assemblies had been held which had treated of secular, or perhaps of ecclesiastical, matters exclusively. This was declared to be wrong; Christ's law and the king's law were to be declared together, as in old time. In the struggle between Eadmund and Cnut, which soon followed, churchmen gave their lives for the national cause; for after Eadmund's last battle at Assandun the bishop of Dorchester and other clergy were found among the slain. Some late writers say that they came to pray, and not to fight. [Sidenote: Cnut and the Church, 1017-1035.]