As she was considered the
"flower of all these parts," we could not understand why this was
necessary, especially as she was sought in marriage by Algar, King of
Leicester, described as "a young and spritely prince," and who was so
persistent that he would not accept her refusal, actually sending
"ambassadors" to carry her away. These men, however, when they
approached her were smitten with blindness; and when Frideswyde saw that
she would not be safe in "her own church" nor able to remain in peace
there, she fled into the woods and hid herself in a place that had been
made as a shelter for the swine. King Algar was greatly enraged, and,
breathing out fire and sword, set out for Oxford. As he still pursued
her, he too was smitten with blindness; and she then returned, but did
not live long, as she died in 739. St. Frideswide's Chapel was said to
have been built over her shrine, around which Oxford, the "City of the
Spires," had extended to its present proportions.
Oxford is also mentioned in A.D. 912 in the _Saxon Chronicle_, and
Richard Coeur de Lion, the great Crusader, was born there in 1156, and
often made it his home. The city was besieged on three different
occasions--by Sweyne, the King of Denmark, in 1013, by William the
Conqueror in 1067, and by Fairfax in 1646--for it was one of the King's
great strongholds.
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