Old English literature There are five shorter poems: capture of the Five Boroughs (942); coronation of King Edgar (973); death of King Edgar (975); death of Alfred the son of King Æthelred (1036); and death of King Edward the Confessor (1065). The 325 line poem "The Battle of Maldon" celebrates Earl Byrhtnoth and his men who fell in battle against the Vikings in 991. It is considered one of the finest, but both the beginning and end are missing and the only manuscript was destroyed in a fire in 1731. A well-known speech is near the end of the poem: Old English heroic
Iste confessor St Martin which was an extremely popular pilgrimage site for the sick. Although St Martin was a bishop and confessor, the hymn was gradually extended and came to be used for all confessors, including non-bishops in the Roman Breviary and other Latin liturgical rites. In the reforms following the Second Vatican Council, the 1974 Liturgy of the Hours has attempted to restore the hymn for primary use with bishop confessors, however it retains its more general usage where the pre-1974 Liturgies (such as the Roman Breviary) are used. Iste confessor Domini colentes <poem> 1 Iste confessor Domini colentes 2 Qui