Donʹegild (3 syl.)

The wicked mother of Alla, King of Northumberland. Hating Cunstance because she was a Christian, she put her on a raft with her infant son, and turned her adrift. When Alla returned from Scotland and discovered this cruelty of his mother, he put her to death. (Chaucer: Man of Lawes Tale.)

⁂ The tradition of St. Mungo resembles the Man of Lawes Tale in many respects.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.