Yet Ælfweard was not Edward’s eldest son, that was Æthelstan, and Æthelstan was also my friend. So why was Æthelstan not the ætheling? Because Æthelhelm spread the rumor, a false rumor, that Æthelstan was a bastard, that Edward had never married his mother. So Æthelstan was exiled to Mercia, where I had met him and where I came to admire the boy. He grew into a warrior, a man of justice, and the only fault I could find in him was his passionate adherence to his Christian god.
