of the Wye, as he forced the Cornish Britons to retire to the western side of the Tamar, fortifying Exeter as a post of strength against them. Not long after his consecration at Kingston-on-Thames, in 925, amid the happy plaudits of the nation, Athelstan received from abroad many marks of the esteem in which he was held by foreign princes. Among others, Harald Fairhair sent him as a gift a ship with a golden prow and a purple sail, furnished with a close fence of gilded shields. This splendid present was received by Athelstan in state at York, and the envoys who presented the gift were richly rewarded by him, and sent home with every mark of respect and friendliness. There are two events in Athelstan’s reign that are of great importance to us in connexion with Norse history in these islands, the first being his wars in Northumbria, the second his accepting Hakon, Harald Fairhair’s son, as his foster-child, and bringing him up in England under his own charge and tuition. We will deal with these two events in separate chapters. It was part of Athelstan’s fixed policy, when coming to the throne, to bring into subjection to himself those outlying portions of England which up to that time had stood aloof as determined enemies to the central power and as absolutely independent kingdoms. Nothing would induce the Welsh or Cornishmen to yield, and we have seen that Athelstan was reduced to penning them up, as far as he could, into their own districts, beyond rivers which he endeavoured to make the borders of their respective countries. But in the north he had yet a harder task in his endeavour to reduce the Danish kingdom of Northumbria to submission. At this time the kingdom of Northumbria was ruled by two of the fiercest and most renowned of all the Danish chiefs who at different times made England their home. The names of these chiefs were Sitric Gale, or “The One-eyed,” and his son and successor, Olaf Cuaran, or “Olaf o’ the Sandal,” both men of wild and romantic careers. Some think that the old romance of “Havelok the Dane” really describes the history of Olaf Cuaran, but this I myself do not think to be likely, although Havelok also is called Cuaran in the story. But the name in his legend seems to mean a “kitchen-boy,” because he was at one time so poor and needy that he was forced to act as messenger to an earl’s cook, whereas Olaf’s title is an Irish word, meaning “a sandal.” We do not know exactly why he was so named.