[54] Alhstan had accompanied Ecgberht on his famous expedition into Cornwall in 825, and we find him with the forces of Somerset and Dorset in 845 to oppose the Danes at the mouth of Pedrida. See Mr. Plummer’s note to Sax. Chron.,
. 823.
[55] But the edges of the ring show (as Franks pointed out) traces of long wear. He goes on to say: ‘The engraving, moreover, scarcely looks like the work of a goldsmith. I would therefore suggest, that the Queen had probably offered this ring at some shrine, and the priests connected with the shrine had engraved her name within the ring, to record the royal giver.’ Proc. Soc. Antiq., 2nd Series, vol. vi, p. 307.
[56] 888. Her lædde Beocca ealdorman West Sea na ælmessan and Ælfredes cyninges to Rome.
Æþelswiþ cuen, sio wæs Ælfredes sweostor cyninges, forþferde,
hire lic liþ æt Pafian.
[57] Professor Stephens of Copenhagen, Runic Monuments, Part II, p. 463, dated it ‘about a.d. 700–800’: but in this estimate he has been guided (I think) not by anything in the artistic design or execution, but simply by the large proportion of Runes in the mixed lettering, a criterion of very doubtful value.