A word may be needed with regard to the sources from which thisstory of King Eadmund's armour bearer and weapon thane have beendrawn. For the actual presence of such a close attendant on theking at his martyrdom on Nov. 20, 870 A.D. we have the authority ofSt. Dunstan, who had the story from the lips of the witnesshimself.
But as to the actual progress of events before the death of theking, the records are vague and imperfect. We are told that, afterthe defeat at Thetford, the king had intended to seek safety in thechurch, probably at Framlingham, where the royal household was, butwas forced to hide, and from his hiding place was dragged beforeIngvar the Danish leader, and so slain.
The two local legends of the "king's oak" in Hoxne woods, and ofthe "gold bridge", may fill in what is required to complete thestory.
The former, identifying a certain aged oak as that to which theking was bound, has been in a measure corroborated by the discoveryin 1848 of what may well have been a rough arrow point in itsfallen trunk; while the fact that, until the erection of the newbridge at Hoxne in 1823, no newly-married couple would cross the"gold bridge" on the way to church, for the reasons given in thestory, seems to show that the king's hiding place may indeed havebeen beneath it as the legend states. If so, the flight fromThetford must have been most precipitate, and closely followed.
There are two versions of the story of Lodbrok the Dane andBeorn the falconer. That which is given here is from Roger ofWendover. But in both versions the treachery of one Beorn isalleged to have been the cause of the descent of Ingvar and Hubbaon E