§ 9. “Not long after the same period was written a Metrical _Chronicle of England_, printed by Ritson, Metr. Rom. V. ii. p. 270. Two copies are known to exist,[8] the first concluding with the death of Piers Gavestone, in 1313 (MS. Reg. 12. C. xii.), and the other continued to the time of Edw. III. (Auchinleck MS.). The period of Havelok’s descent into England is there ascribed to the reign of King Ethelred (978-1016), which will very nearly coincide with the period assigned by Rauf de Boun, viz. A.D. 963-1004.” ‘_Haueloc_ com tho to this lond, With gret host & eke strong, Ant sloh the Kyng Achelred, At Westmustre he was ded, Ah he heuede reigned her Seuene an tuenti fulle ȝer.’ MS. Reg. 12. C. xii. “This date differs from most of the others, and appears founded on the general notion of the Danish invasions during that period.” [Footnote 8: The poems in MSS. Camb. Univ. Lib. Ff. 5. 48 and Dd. 14. 2 resemble this Chronicle, but do not mention Havelok’s name.] § 10. Before proceeding to consider the _prose_ Chronicle of the Brute, it is better to speak first of the translation of Peter de Langtoft’s Chronicle by Robert of Brunne, a translation which was completed A.D. 1338. At p. 25 of Hearne’s edition is the following passage: ‘Ȝit a nother Danes Kyng in the North gan aryue. Alfrid it herd, thidere gan he dryue. _Hauelok_[9] fader he was, _Gunter_ was his name. He brent citees & tounes, ouer alle did he schame. Saynt Cutbertes clerkes tho Danes thei dred. The toke the holy bones, about thei tham led. Seuen ȝere thorgh the land wer thei born aboute, It comforted the kyng mykelle, whan he was in doute ¶ Whan Alfrid & Gunter had werred long in ille, Thorgh the grace of God, Gunter turned his wille. Cristend wild he be, the kyng of fonte him lift, & thritty of his knyghtes turnes, thorgh Godes gift. Tho that first were foos, and com of paien lay, Of Cristen men haf los, & so thei wend away.’ “This is the whole that appears in the original, but after the above lines immediately follows, in the language of Robert of Brunne himself (as noted also by Hearne, Pref. p. lxvii.), the following curious, and to our inquiry, very important passage:”