robbery with other great oppressions and importable charges among the commonalty. For he dreaded no man except the two sons of the king, that were then with the emperor, wherefor his council would that he should wed the mother of them named Emma, to make the more alliance between them. And soon after, Alfred came to England for to speak with his mother, and anon as he was come over the sea into this land Earl Godwin came and welcomed him, and anon after slew him by treason, ere he came to the presence of his mother. For whose death S. Edward made great sorrow. And while this holy child S. Edward was in Normandy, he used a full good life, haunting ofttimes holy church, and loved and conversed many times with the company of holy religious men, and especially among holy monks. And used to pray and say in this manner: ’O good Lord, I have none help but thee only, my friends be gone from me, and they become mine adversaries. My father is dead and my brethren be slain, my mother is wedded to my most enemy, and I am left alone, and daily they seek the means to slay me; but to thee. Lord, I am left poor. I beseech thee, Lord, to help me that am a fatherless child, for thou sometime helpedst marvellously Edwin and Oswald, which were exiled and ordained for to die. Thou defendedst them not only from death, but also thou. Lord, restoredst them again to their own kingdoms. O good Lord, I beseech thee and pray thee to keep me safe, and bring me into the kingdom of my father. Thou shalt be my God, and S. Peter the apostle my patron, the relics of whom, by the grace
