In the ninth year of his reign, King Egfrid fought a great battle near the river Trent against King Ethelred of the Mercians, in which Egfrid’s brother Elfwin was killed. The latter was a young man of about eighteen, who was much loved in both provinces since Ethelred had married his sister Osthryd. This gave every indication of causing fiercer strife and more lasting hatred between the two warlike kings and peoples, until Archbishop Theodore, the beloved of God, enlisting God’s help, smothered the flames of this awful peril by his wholesome advice. As a result, peace was restored between the kings and peoples, and in lieu of further bloodshed the customary compensation1 was paid to King Egfrid for his brother’s death. The peace thus made was maintained between these kings and their peoples for many years.
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Theodore is here shown as a political mediator and also as an ecclesiastic proposing, like others since, the compensation of wergild instead of bloodshed. ↩