[11] Ethelflaed, Lady or Queen of the Mercians (under her brother Edward, son of Alfred), threw up certain huge mounds and certain stone castles, to defend her realm and serve as refuges in troublous times. One site was Oxford, and it is the first authentic event recorded in the history of the city--the foundation of the university by Alfred being abandoned by scholars, as an interpolation in Asser, the king’s biographer. [12] The Rival Heirs, or the Third Chronicle of Aescendune. [13] Because in later times some poor Jews were burnt there. [14] Like those still seen at Tewkesbury Abbey, of similar proportions. [15] The date of the surrender was November 16, 1537. It was granted to Thomas Cromwell, February 16, 1538. It was at once destroyed by skilled agents of destruction, and the materials sold. Cromwell did not enjoy it long; he perished at Tower Hill by the axe, July 28, 1540. [16] The old hymn for Wednesday morning, according to Sarum use. I am indebted to the Hymnary for the translation. [17] The supposed name of the penitent thief. The author is not answerable for the non-elision of the vowel--the name is authentic; it stood on the site of the present Oriel College. See preface. [18] See Alfgar the Dane, chapter 24. [19] It was the Gospel for the day in Italy--not in England. [20] The Viaticum was the _Last_ Communion, given in preparation for death, as the provision for the way. [21] Such an arrangement was made in the Egyptian Temple at On; at one particular moment on one day in the year, the rays admitted through a concealed aperture gilded the shrine, and the crowd thought it miraculous. [22] Adapted from a translation of a chorus in the Agamemnon by my lamented friend, the late Reverend Gerard Moultrie. [23] A mere tradition of the time, not historical. [24] See the Andredsweald, by the same author. [25] This is the same spot mentioned in the Andredsweald, chapter 9 part 2, as a retreat of the English after Senlac. [26] A proclamation had just been put forth by the barons, that all foreigners should be expelled and lose their property; and much violence ensued throughout England, the victims being often detected by their pronunciation, as in our story. [27] How good to those who seek Thou art, But what to those who find! --Saint Bernard. [28] It was one of them who first stabbed Edward the First, when his queen saved him by sucking the poison from the wound, according to a Spanish historian. [29] Sixty-six pounds, 13 shillings, four pence; a large sum in those days. [30] It was afterwards ascertained that on the very night, the father, Roger, dreamt that he saw his son in a gloomy cell, a slave condemned to apparently hopeless toil or death, and addressed him as in the text. [31] Acre was stormed by the Moslems, AD 1291, and the Holy Land was lost with it. [32] How unlike the ceremonial of Hubert’s knighthood! But the approach of a battle justified the omission of the usual rites in the opinion of the many.