previously associated with his father in the government. The queen,
however, became more and more wearied of the glories of her royal
position, and tired out her husband with persistent entreaties that she
might be permitted to withdraw herself altogether from his Court and
devote herself entirely to the religious life. At last she obtained his
reluctant consent, and betook herself to Coldingham, where Ebba, the
king's aunt, was abbess, and was there admitted into the order of nuns
at the hands of Wilfrid, Archbishop of York. This Ebba was afterwards
canonised, and her name is preserved in the name of the promontory on
the coast of Berwickshire known as S. Abb's Head.

After remaining about a year at Coldingham, the queen found it necessary
to move away. The king began to regret the permission he had given her,
and, following the advice of some of his courtiers, made his way to the
religious house where Etheldreda was settled, with the intention of
forcibly compelling her return to his Court. His intention having become
known to the abbess, she recommended the queen to escape at once to her
own territory, the Isle of Ely. The queen immediately followed this
advice. Egfrid arrived at Coldingham very soon after her departure, and
set off in pursuit. No reason for her leaving Coldingham is given by
Bede; but a lengthy account of the journey and its occasion is given in
the "Liber Eliensis." In the remarkable sculptures on the corbels in the
octagon are representations of two scenes that are unintelligible
without this account; it is necessary, therefore, to summarise it here.
Directly after setting out from Coldingham, which is some ten miles
north of the Tweed, not far from the sea, the queen, with two lady
companions, Sewenna and Sewara, reached a rocky eminence on the coast,
where the king in pursuit came up with them; but he was "prevented from
coming near them by a sudden and unusual inundation of water from the
sea, which surrounded the hill, and continued in that state several
days, without retiring into its former channel. Amazed at the
strangeness of this appearance, the king presently interpreted it as the
interposition of Heaven in her favour, and concluded that it was not the
will of God that he should have her again; and this occasioned his
retiring to _York_ again, leaving the queen quietly to pursue her
journey."[3] After the king had abandoned his intention of reclaiming
his wife, the three ladies proceeded