licoRneiiU univeRsiTYis,, MlCGLHRPICCOLLeCKW-a l!ilCHeBCQUGS?;:ORt' IWIbIi?lRP:FISKEfS| Cornell University Library DL 165.L33 Canute the Great995 (circ.)-1035 and the 3 1924 015 584 992 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924015584992 Heroes of the Nations A Series of Biographical Studies presenting the lives and work of certain representative his- torical characters, about whom have gathered the traditions of the nations to which they belong, and who have, in the majority of instances, been accepted as types of the sev- eral national ideals. FOR FULL LIST SEE END OF THIS VOLUME Iberoes of tbe 'Rations edite:d by D. ma. C. S)avis FACTA 0UCI9 VIVENT, OPEHOSAOUC GLORIA RERUM OVID, IN LIV1AM, E56. THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON FAME SHALL LIVE CANUTE THE GREAT •^ m- I' ; ,■ ^/^:^md,-M M ■^■' ^ .-v^- -,ii,i . % WJ-, S. V' \/>7^'"-JLr->:->:; " •tjjHH!lK..t iL'«r...ll THE TULSTOHP STONE ^Runic monument showing viking ship ornamented with beasts' heads.) 1013] The Conquest of England 5' promptly submitted and gave hostages. Win- chester, too, seems to have yielded without a struggle. From the capital Sweyn proceeded eastward to London, where he met the first effec- tive resistance. In London was King Ethelred supported by Thurkil the Tall and his viking bands. It seems that Olaf the Stout had entered the English service with Thurkil the year before, and did valiant service in defence of the city; the story given by Snorre of the destruction of London Bridge apparently belongs to the siege of 1013 rather than to that of 1009. Sweyn approached the city from the south, seized South wark, and tried to enter London by way of the bridge, which the Danes had taken and fortified. It is said that Olaf the Stout undertook to destroy the bridge. He covered his ships with wattle-work of various sorts, willow roots, supple trees, and other things that might be twisted or woven; and thus pro- tected from missiles that might be hurled down from above, the ships passed up the stream to the bridge, the supports of which Olaf and his men proceeded to pull down. The whole structure crashed into the river and with it went a large number of Sweyn's men,' who drowned, says the Chronicler, "because they neglected the bridge." ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 12-13. The story in the saga has the appearance of genuineness and is based on the contempor- ary verses of Ottar the Swart. Snorre's chronology, however, is much confused. 52 Canute the Great nooa- Sweyn soon realised that a continued siege would be useless: the season was advancing; the resistance of the citizens was too stubborn and strong. For the fourth time the heroic men of London had the satisfaction of seeing a Danish force break camp and depart with a defeated purpose: the first time in 991; then again in 994 when Sweyn and Olaf Trygvesson laid siege to it; the third time in 1009, when Thurkil the Tall and Olaf the Stout were the besiegers; now once more in 1013. The feeling that the city was impregnable was doubtless a factor in the stubborn determination with which the townsmen repelled the repeated attacks of the Danish invaders, though at this time the skill and valoiu: of the viking mercenaries were an important part of the resistance. Leaving London unconquered, Sweyn marched up the Thames Valley to Wallingford, where he crossed to the south bank, and continued his progress westward to Bath. Nowhere, it seems, did he meet any mentionable opposition. To Bath came the magnates of the south-western shires led by Ethelmer who was apparently ealdorman of Devon; they took the oaths that the conqueror prescribed and gave the required hostages. From Bath, Sweyn returned to his camp at Gainsborough ; it was time to prepare for winter. Tribute and provisions were demanded and doubtless collected, and the host went into winter quarters on the banks of the Trent. "And all the nation had him 1013] The Conquest of England 53 [Sweyn] for full king; and later the borough-men of London submitted to him and gave hostages; for they feared that he would destroy them. ' ' ' The submission of London probably did not come before Ethelred's cowardly behaviour had ruined the hopes of the patriots: he had fled the land. Earlier in the year (in August, according to one authority)^ Queen Emma, accompanied by the abbot of Peterborough, had crossed the Channel, and sought the court of her brother, the Norman duke. Whether she went to seek mili- tary aid or merely a refuge cannot be determined ; but the early departure and the fact that she was not accompanied by her children would indicate that her purpose was to enlist her brother's inter- est in Ethelred's cause. Assistance, however, was not forthcoming; but Emma remained in Richard's duchy and a Httle later was joined by her two sons, Edward and Alfred, who came accompanied by two English ecclesiastics. Ethelred, meanwhile, continued some weeks longer with Thurkil's fleet; but toward the close of December we find him on the Isle of Wight, where he celebrated Christmas. In January, he joined his family in Normandy. Duke Richard gave him an honourable reception; but as he was having serious trouble with another brother-in-law, Count Odo of Chartres, he was probably unable to give much material assistance to the fugitive from England. ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1013. "William of Malmesbury, Gesla Regum, {., 209. 54 Canute the Great [1003- Ethelred's flight must have left Thurkil and the Jomvikings in a somewhat embarrassing position. They had undertaken to serve the King and defend his country; but now Ethelred had deserted the kingdom, and his subjects had accepted the rule of the invader. In January, however, the sea is an tmpleasant highway, so there was nothing for the tall chief to do but to remain faithful and insist on the terms of the contract. While Sweyn was calling for silver and supplies to be brought to Gainsborough, Thurkil seems to have been issuing similar demands from Greenwich. No doubt his men were also able to eke out their winter supplies by occasional plundering: "they harried the land as often as they wished. " ' Then suddenly an event occurred that created an entirely new situation. On February 3, 1014, scarcely a month after Ethelred's departure from Wight, the Danish conqueror died. As to his manner of death, the Chronicle has nothing to say; but later historians appear to be better informed. The Encomiast, who was indeed Sweyn's contemporary, gives an accotmt of a very edifying death : when Sweyn felt that the end of all things was approaching, he called Canute to his side and impressed upon him the necessity of following and supporting the Christian faith. ^ The Anglo-Norman historians have an even more wonderful story to relate : in the midst of a throng ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1013. ' Encomium Emma, i., c, 5; see also Saxo, Gesta, 342. 1013] The Conquest of England 55 of his henchmen and courtiers, the mighty viking fell, pierced by the dart of Saint Edmund. Sweyn alone saw the saint ; he screamed for help ; at the close of the day he expired. It seems that a dispute was on at the time over a contribution that King Sweyn had levied on the monks who guarded Saint Edmund's shrine. ' The suddenness of the King's death was therefore easily explained: the offended saint slew him. If it is difficult to credit the legend that traces the King's death to an act of impiety, it is also hard to believe that he died in the odour of sanctity. Sweyn was a Christian, but his religion was of the passive type. He is said to have built a few churches, and he also appears to have promoted missionary efforts to some extent''; but the Church evidently regarded him as rather lukewarm in his religious professions. The see of Hamburg- Bremen, which was charged with the conversion of the Northern peoples, did not find him an active friend ; though in this case his hostility may have been due to his dislike for all things that were called German. Sweyn's virtues were of the viking type: he was a lover of action, of conquest, and of the sea. At times he was fierce, cruel, and vindictive; but these passions were tempered by cunning, shrewdness, and a love for diplomatic methods that were not common among the sea-kings. He seems to have ' Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, i., 34 ff. •Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 39. 56 Canute the Great [ioo3- formed alliances readily, and appears even to have attracted his opponents. His career, too, was that of a viking. Twice he was taken by the Jomvikings, but his faithful subjects promptly ransomed him. Once the King of Sweden, Eric the Victorious, conquered his kingdom and sent him into temporary exile. Twice as a king he led incursions into England in which he gained only the sea-king's reward of plunder and tribute. But in time fortune veered about ; his third expedi- tion to Britain was eminently successful, and when Sweyn died, he was king not only of Denmark but also of England, and overlord of the larger part of Norway besides. As to his personality, we have only the slight information implied in his nickname. Forkbeard means the divided beard. But the evident popularity that he enjoyed both in the host and in the nation would indicate that he pos- sessed an attractive personality. That Sweyn appreciated the loyalty of his men is evident from the runic monument that he raised to his housecarle Skartha who had shared in the English warfare. ' By his first wife, the Polish princess who was renamed Gunhild, Sweyn had several children, of whom history makes prominent mention of three: Harold, Canute, and Gytha, who was married to Earl Eric of Norway. In the Hyde Register there is mention of another daughter, ' Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmcerker, I., ii., 117. 10131 The Conquest of England 57 Santslaue, "sister of King Canute,"' who may have been born of the same marriage, as her name is evidently Slavic. His second wife, Sigrid the Haughty, seems to have had daughters only. Of these only one appears prominently in the annals of the time — Estrid, the wife of Ulf the Earl, the mother of a long line of Danish kings. At the time of his death Sweyn is thought to have been about fifty-four years old and had ruled Denmark nearly thirty years. His body was taken to York for interment, but it did not remain there long. The English did not cherish Sweyn's memory, and seemed determined to find and dishonour his remains. Certain women — English women, it appears — rescued the corpse and brought it to Roeskild some time during the following summer (1014)^, where it was interred in the Church of the Holy Trinity, which also sheltered the bones of Sweyn's father whom he had wronged so bitterly thirty years before. ■ Liber VitcE, 58. Steenstrup suggests that the name may be Slavic and calls attention to the Slavic form Svantoslava (Ven- derne og de Danske, 64-65). ^ Encomium EmmcB, ii., c. 3. The rescue and removal of Sweyn's remains by English women is asserted by the contem- porary German chronicler Thietmar {Chronicon, vii., c. 26). CHAPTER III THE ENGLISH REACTION AND THE NORSE REVOLT IOI4-IOI6 THE death of Sweyn was the signal for import- ant movements throughout the entire North. Forces that had been held in rein by his mighty personality were once more free to act. In Denmark, his older son Harold succeeded at once to the full kingship. Three years later a national ruler re-established the Norwegian throne. But in England the results were most immediate and most evident: the national spirit rose with a bound and for three years more the struggle with the invader continued. The host at Gainsborough promptly recognised the leadership of Canute and proclaimed him king. This, however, gave him no valid claim to the Saxon crown; England was, in theory at least, an elective monarchy, and not till the assembly of the magnates had accepted him could he rightfully claim the royal title. The Danish pretender was young and untried — he was probably not yet twenty years old. He must, however, have had 58 0014-16) English Reaction and Norse Revolt 59 some training in matters of government as well as in warfare: that his great father trusted him is evident from the fact that he left him in charge of the camp and fleet at Gainsborough, when Sweyn set out on his march into Wessex. Doubt- less the Danes surmised that the youthful chief possessed abilities of a rare sort; but the English evidently regarded him as a mere boy whose pre- tensions did not deserve serious attention. During the winter months of 1014, the most prominent leader among the English was evidently Thurkil, the master of the mercenary forces. It seems safe to infer that he had much to do with the events of those months, though we have nothing recorded. In some way the English lords were called into session; at this meeting preparations were made to recall the fugitive Ethelred. No lord could be dearer to them than their native ruler, the magnates are reported to have said; but they added significantly, "if he would deal more justly with them than formerly. " ' The lords who attended this gemot were probably the local leaders south of the Thames; that the chiefs of the Danelaw were in attendance is very unlikely. Ethelred, however, was not willing to leave Normandy immediately. He first sent an em- bassy to England under the nominal leadership of his son Edward; these men were to negotiate further, and probably study the sentiment of the ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1014. 6o Canute the Great [1014- nation. Edward was a mere boy, ten or eleven years old at the highest; but his presence was important as evidence of the King's intentions. The Prince brought friendly greetings and fair promises: Ethelred would be a kind and devoted king; all the requests of the magnates should be granted; the past should be forgiven and forgot- ten. The English on their part pledged absolute loyalty; and, to emphasise the covenant, the as- sembly outlawed all Danish claimants. Swejoi had died in the early part of February; the nego- tiations were probably carried on in March; Ethelred returned to England some time diaring Lent, most likely in April, as the Lenten season closed on the 25th of that month. The moment to strike had surely come. Canute was in England with a good army, but his forces doubtless had decreased in numbers since the landing in the previous August, and further shrinkage was inevitable. On the other hand, recruiting would be found difficult. The inevitable break-up of Sweyn's empire in the North would mean that the invader would be deprived of re- sources that were necessary to the success of the venture. Nor could assistance be expected from the Scandinavian colonies on the western shores of Britain or about the Irish Sea. In the very days when the reaction was being planned in England, Celts and Norsemen were mustering their forces for a great trial of strength on Irish soil. On Good Friday (April 23), the battle of Clontarf 10161 English Reaction and Norse Revolt 6i was fought on the shores of DubHn Bay. ' The Norsemen suffered an overwhelming defeat, the significance of which, for EngHsh history, Hes in the fact that the viking forces of the West had now been put on the defensive. Raids Hke those of the early years of Ethelred's reign were now a thing of the past. Meanwhile, Canute had not been idle. For aggressive movements the winter season was, of coiirse, not favourable; but preparations seem to have been made looking toward offensive opera- tions immediately after Easter. The men of Lindsey, Danish colonists no doubt, had promised horses and were apparently to share in a joint expedition. But before Canute's arrangements had all been made, Ethelred appeared in the north country with a formidable host, and Canute was compelled to retire to his ships. The men of Lincoln were made to suffer for their readiness to join in Canute's plans: Ethelred marched his men into the Lindsey region, and pillage began. It was hardly an English army that Ethelred brought up to the Trent in May, 1014. English- men no doubt served in it; but its chief strength was probably the mercenary contingent under Thurkil's command, which, as we have seen, had wintered at Greenwich. It was fortunate for Ethelred that an organised force was at hand » For a brief account of the Norse colonies in Ireland and the events that culminated in the battle of Clontarf, see Norges Historie, I., ii., 292-310. (Bugge.) 62 Canute the Great tiOH- on his return and ready for warfare. Its service, however, was expensive: that year another Dane- geld of 21,000 pounds was levied to pay Thurkil and his vikings for their assistance in driving Canute out of the land. ' But Thurkil was not the only great chief of the viking type that assisted in expelling the Danes: Olaf the Stout once more appears in Ethelred's service. It will be recalled that, in the siege of London the autumn before, he assisted vigorously in its defence. He seems to have left the English service shortly afterwards to assist in warfare on French soil. Duke Richard of Normandy was engaged in a controversy with his brother-in-law. Count Odo of Chartres, on the matter of his sister's dowry. In the warfare that ensued, Olaf, serving on the Norman side, ravaged the northern coast of Brittany and took the castle of Dol. This must have occurred late in the year 1 013 or during the winter of 1013-1014. When, on the mediation of King Robert, peace was made between the warring brethren, Olaf returned to Rouen, where he was received with signal honours. It was probably on this occasion that the mighty Sea- king, on the urgent request of Archbishop Robert, accepted the Christian faith and received baptism. It is stated that many of his men were baptised at the same time. ^ In Rouen, Olaf evidently met the fugitive ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1014. •William of Jumieges, Historia Normannorum, v., cc. 11-12. 10161 English Reaction and Norse Revolt 63 Ethelred ; for when the King returned to England, Olaf accompanied him. Instead of coming as a returning exile, Ethelred appeared in his kingdom with ships and men. The Norse poets, who later sang in King Olaf's hall, magnified his viking exploits far beyond their real importance. In their view, Olaf was Ethelred 's chief support. Snorre quotes the following lines from Ottar the Swart : Thou broughtst to land and landedst, King Ethelred, O Landward, Strengthened by might! That folk-friend Such wise of thee availed. Hard was the meeting soothly, When Edmund's son thou broughtest Back to his land made peaceful, Which erst that kin-stem ruldd. ' The emergency was too great for Canute. With the generalship of experienced warriors like ThurkU and Olaf, supported by the resources of a roused people, he could not be expected to cope. Presently, he determined to flee the country. His men embarked, and the hostages given to his father (some of them at least) were also brought on board. The fleet sailed down the east coast to Sandwich, where an act of barbarity was commit- ted for which there can be little justification. The hostages were mutilated — their hands, ears, and ' Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 13. (Translation by William Morris.) 64 Canute the Great [1014- noses were cut off — and landed. The men were personal pledges given to Sweyn, but not to his son. Canute, however, probably looked at the matter in a different light ; to him they may have seemed a pledge given to the dynasty; terror must be stricken into the hearts of the oath-breakers. After disposing of the hostages, the young King continued his journey to Denmark. What Canute's plans were when he arrived in his native land we do not know. According to the Encomiast, he assured his surprised brother that he had returned, not because of fear, but for love of his brother, whose advice and assistance he bespoke. But he requested more than this: Harold, he thought, ought to share Denmark with him; the two kings should then proceed with the conquest of England; when that was accomplished, there might be a new division of territory on the basis of a kingdom for each. He proposed to spend the succeeding winter in preparation for the joint attack. ' The proposal to share the rule of Denmark evidently did not appeal to King Harold; he is represented as stoutly rejecting it. Denmark was his, given to him by his father before he left for England. He would assist Canute to win a kingdom in Britain, but not a foot should he have of Denmark. Realising the futility of insisting, Canute promised to maintain silence as to his supposed hereditary rights to Danish soil. He put ' Encomium Emm-, 175)- go Canute the Great [loiei and withdrew to his ships. Edmund seems to have come up with his forces to Brentford, just as the Danes were busy crossing to the south bank. The enemy fled; but many of the EngUsh were drowned "because of their own heedlessness, as they rushed ahead of the main force to get at the booty."' Evidently the whole Danish force had not left London, as the fight at Brentford was two days after the city had been relieved. With the relief of London, the English seem to have considered their duty done, and soon Ed- mund found himself once more without an army. " It may, of course, be that the apparent lack of patriotism was due to the necessities of the harvest season, which must have arrived by this time. The tireless Edmund next made a visit to Wessex to raise the militia there. While he was seeldng recruits, the Danes returned to London, resumed the siege, and attacked the city furiously by land and sea, but as usual failed to take it. ' If the skirmishers who were seelcing booty were in advance of the rest and by a rally of the Danes were driven into the Thames, the main force must still have been on the north bank. The ' ' battle ' ' must therefore have been fought on the north bank while a fragment of Canute's army was on the retreat, perhaps on the point of fording the stream. At any rate, we seem hardly justi- fied in calling the engagement at Brentford a "pitched battle." See Oman, England before the Norman Conquest, 579. ^ Oman {ibid.) seems to believe that Edmund retained his forces but went into Wessex to get reinforcements. But unless Edmund's victorious army had to a large extent melted away, it is difficult to account for Canute's prompt return to the siege of London. [10161 The Struggle with Edmtind Ironside 91 The supply of provisions was probably running low in the Danish camp, for we next hear of a pillaging expedition into Mercia. Ordinarily that region was spared; but Eadric's defection had made it hostile territory and, furthermore, it was probably the only neighbotuing section that had not been drained to the limit. Whether the entire army took part in the foray is uncertain; but the probabilities are that it was the raid mentioned by the Encomiast as undertaken by Eric with Canute's permission. Part of the host may have remained on the Isle of Sheppey in the mouth of the Medway, where a camp appears to have been established. The fleet sailed north to the OrweU in Suffolk, and thence the host proceeded westward into Mercia, "slaying and burning whatever they came across, as is their wont."' As the crops had just been garnered, the raiders did not return empty- handed. Laden with plunder they began the return to the Medway, the footmen in the ships, the horsemen by land, driving the plundered flocks before them. '' With the forces of the enemy thus divided, Edmimd's opportunity had come. With his 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1016. On this raid Eric seems to have met and defeated Ulfketel, who "gat ugly blows from the thingmen's weapons," as we are told by Thorrod in the Eric's Praise. Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 105. The raid seems also to be alluded to in the Lithsmen's Song {ibid., 107). "Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, {., 176. 92 Canute the Great [1016] fourth army, collected from " all parts of England," he crossed the Thames at Brentford and dashed after the Danes, who, encumbered with b oty, were hurrying eastward through Kent. At Otford, in the western part of Kent, Edmund came up with the raiders and slew a number of them; but much fighting there could not have been, as the Danes were apparently unwilling to make a stand and hurried on to Sheppey. If Edmund had been free to make use of the advantage that was his, it seems that he might have destroj^ed a consider- able part of the Danish host; but at Aylesford he was evidently detained by a quarrel with Eadric and the raiders escaped.' Canute's position in the autumn of 1016 must have been exceedingly difficult and serious, even critical. After a year of continuous warfare — • marches, battles, sieges — he seemed as far as ever from successful conquest. Edmund had, indeed, won no great victories; still, he had been able to ' The accotint in the Chronicle of what occurred at Aylesford is ambiguous and has been variously interpreted: "and the King slew as many as he could come upon; and Eadric ealdorman turned against [or toward?] the king at Aylesford. Nor was there ever worse counsel adopted than that was. " Some writers have in- terpreted this to mean that Eadric joined Edmund at Aylesford and not after Sherstone, as stated by Florence. But the Saxon gewende ongean has a hostile rather than a favourable colour. The probabilities are that Eadric opposed Edmund's plans at Aylesford and thus rendered further pursuit impossible. Such is Florence of Worcester's version {Chronicon, i., 177). For a different view see Hodgkin (Pol. Hist, of Eng., i., 397) and Oman {England before the Norman Conquest, 580). [1016] The Struggle with Edmund Ironside 93 relieve London, to stay the current of Danish successes, to infuse hope and patriotic fervour into the hearts of the discouraged English. But too much must not be inferred from the fact that Canute, too, had been only moderately successful on the battle-field ; he was one of those commanders, who are not attracted by great battles. In two respects he possessed a decided advantage: he had a splendid army that did not desert ; he had a great fleet to which he could retire when too hotly pursued. In the autumn of 1016, Edmund had come with a strong force to the lower Thames; the enemy, however, was out of reach on the Isle of Sheppey. It was not to be expected that Canute would long lie idle; but operations in the direction of London were impossible in the presence of Edmund's army. Canute accord- ingly embarked his men, crossed the estuary once more, and proceeded to devastate East Anglia. Edmund started in pursuit, and on the i8th (or 19th) of October he came upon the Danes at Ashington in Essex, as they were on their way back to their ships. There seem to have been divided counsels among the English as to the advisability of making an attack, Eadric in particular advis- ing against it. ' But Edmund was determined to strike, and about the middle of the afternoon the battle began. The English had the advantage of numbers; but there was a traitor in camp: ' Encomium Emma, ii., c. 12. 94 Canute the Great [1016] Eadric stdked and refused to order his forces of men from Hereford into battle. The fight con- tinued tni nightfall, and did not cease entirely even then. Darkness finally put an end to the carnage, and the Angles fled from the field. It is said that Canute was not eager to fight; but the feeling in his army must have been differ- ent. The banner of the invaders was the ancient Raven Banner, the raven being Woden's own bird. It is said of this banner that it was made of plain white silk and bore no image of any sort ; but, when battle began, Woden's bird appeared upon its folds, its behaviour indicating the outcome. In the presence of victory it showed great activity in bill and wings and feet ; when defeat was immin- ent, it hung its head and did not move. We are told that it was reported in Canute's army that the raven had appeared and showed unusual excite- ment. ^ Perhaps of even greater importance was military skill and experienced generalship. The tactics employed seem to have been such as the Northmen frequently used: at the critical moment, the Danes pretended to retreat ; but when the lines of the pursuing English were broken, they closed up the ranks and cut the Saxon advance in pieces. During the night, the Danes encamped on the battle-field; the next day they buried their fallen comrades and removed all articles of value from ' The Encomiast admits that the tale is hard to believe, but avers that it is true (ii., c. 9). The story of the raven is old and occurs earlier in the English sources. ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS (From a manuscript in the British Museum, reproduced in Norges Historie, i,, ii.) THE RAVEN BANNER (From the Bayeux Tapestry.) [10161 The Struggle with Edmund Ironside 95 the bodies of their Saxon adversaries, the corpses being left to the wolf and the raven. The English aristocracy suffered heavily at Ashington. The sources mention six magnates among the slain: Godwin the ealdorman of Lindsey; an ealdorman Alfric whose locality is unknown; Ulfketel, ealdorman of East Anglia; Ethelward, son of an earlier East Anglian ealdor- man; also the bishop of Dorchester and the abbot of Ramsey. ' It is a noteworthy fact that nearly all these are from Eastern England ; so far as we know not one of them came from below the Thames. It may be true that all England was represented in Edmund's host at Ashington ; but we are tempted to conclude that perhaps the army was chiefly com- posed of East Anglians summoned by the doughty Earl Ulfketel. By far the most prominent of all the slain was this same Earl, the ruler of Saint Edmund's king- dom. Ulfketel is said to have been Edmund's brother-in-law. As his name is unmistakably Norse, it is more than likely that his ancestry was Scandinavian. In his earldom he appears to have been practically sovereign. So impressed were the Norse scalds with the power and import- ance of the Earl that they spoke of East Anglia as Ulfkelsland. ^ The sagas accuse him of having instigated the slaughter of the thingmen, especially 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1016. Florence of Worcester, Chron- icon, i., 178. ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 14. 96 Canute the Great [1016] of having destroyed Heming's corps at Slesswick. Thurkil is naturally mentioned as his banesman.' Eadric's behaviour at Ashington furnishes an interesting but difficult problem. To the Saxon and Norman historians it was the basest treachery, premeditated flight at the critical moment. Still, after the battle he appears in the councils of the English in apparently good standing, even as a leader. From the guarded statements of the Encomiast, we should infer that Eadric had ad- vised against the battle, that his counsel had been rejected, that he therefore had remained neutral and that he had withdrawn his forces before the battle was joined. ^ From Ashington Edmund fled westward to the Severn Valley; Canute returned to the siege of London. Once more Edmund tried to gather an army, this time, however, with small success; England was exhausted; her leaders lay on the field of Ashington. Soon the Danes, too, appeared in Gloucestershire. Some sort of a council must have been called to deliberate on the state of the country, and the decision was reached to seek peace on the basis of a divided kingdom. Eadric seems particularly to have urged this solution. Edmund reluctantly consented, and ambassadors were sent to Canute's camp to offer terms of peace. It seems at first sight rather surprising that Canute should at this time be willing even to negotiate; apparently he had Edmund in his ' J(5msvikingasaga, c. 52. " Encomium Emmce, ii., c. 12. 110161 The Struggle with Edmund Ironside 97 power, and England showed no disposition to continue the war. Still, the situation in his own host was doubtless an argument for peace. After more than a year of continued warfare, his forces must have decreased appreciably in numbers. Recruiting was difficult, especially must it have been so on the eve of winter. Without a strong force he could do little in a hostile country. The campaign had been strenuous even for the vikings, and the Danes are represented as thoroughly tired of the war.' Canute therefore accepted the offer of the English, with the added condition that Danegeld should be levied for the support of his army in Edmund's kingdom as well as in his own. On some little island near Deerhurst in Glouces- tershire, ^ the two chiefs met and reached an agree- ment which put an end to the devastating war and pillage that had cursed England for more than a generation. It was agreed that Edmund should have Wessex and Canute Mercia and Northum- bria ; or, in a general way, that the Thames should be the dividing line between the two kingdoms. As to the disposition of East Anglia and Essex there is some doubt: Florence holds that these territories with the city of London were assigned to Edmund. So far as London is conceited, this seems to be erroneous: Canute took immediate ' Encomium EmmtB, ii., c. 13. ' Probably not the isle of Olney, but some other islet that has since disappeared. See Oman, England before the Norman Con- quest, 581. 7 98 Canute the Great [1016] possession of the city and made preparations to spend the winter there, which seems a strange proceeding if the place was not to be his. The kingdom of England was thus dissolved. There is no good evidence that Canute understood his position to be that of a vassal king ; he had without doubt complete sovereignty in his own domains. On the other hand, the fact that Edmund agreed to levy Danegeld in his own kingdom of Wessex looks suspiciously like the recognition of Canute as overlord of the southern kingdom. The compact of Olney, says Florence of Worces- ter, was one of "peace, friendship, and brother- hood." Other writers state that the two kings agreed to become sworn brothers and that the survivor should inherit the realm of the other brother. ^ We cannot affirm that such a covenant was actually made, as the authority is not of the best. There is, however, nothing improbable in the statement; the custom was not unusual in the North. Twenty years later, Canute's son, Harthacanute, entered into a similar relationship with his rival, King Magnus of Norway, who had been making war on Denmark. In Snorre's language, it was agreed that the kings should take the oath of brotherhood and should maintain peace as long as ' Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, 185; Knytlingasaga, c. 16. The saga says distinctly that there was to be inheritance only if either died without children. [10161 The Struggle with Edmund Ironside 99 both were on earth ; and that if one of them died son- less, the survivor should inherit his realm and subjects. Twelve men, the most eminent of each kingdom, took the oath with the kings that this agreement should be kept as long as any of them lived. ' It is possible that some such qualification in favour of male heirs was also inserted in the Severn covenant; still, the whole matter would have been of slight importance had the magnates on Ed- mund's death been in position to insist on the ancient principle and practice of election. Wit- nesses similar to those mentioned in the later instance there seem to have been at Deerhurst; for, after the death of Edmund, Canute summoned those to testify before the assembly, "who had been witnesses between him and Edmund" when the agreement was made, as to the details of the treaty. ^ The reign of Edmund as king of Wessex was destined to be brief. The covenant of Deerhurst was probably made in the early days of November (it could scarcely have been earlier, as the battle of Ashington was fought on October 18) and by the close of the month (November 30) he was dead. Florence of Worcester tells us that he died in London, which is improbable, as it seems strange that he should have ventured into the stronghold of his late enemy. Other writers give ' Saga of Magntis the Good, c. 6. ' Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 179. lOO Canute the Great [1016] Oxford as the place, which also seems unlikely, if Eadric, who apparently resided at Oxford,' had played the traitor's part at Ashington. It seems clear that these writers have placed Edmund's death at Oxford because they believed that Eadric was in some way the author of it.^ For so opportunely did the end come, that the suggestion of foul play was inevitable, and coarse tales were invented to account for the manner of death. There is, however, not the least hint in any contemporary source that Canute was in any way guilty of his rival's untimely decease. The simple-minded Encomiast again sees an illustration of Providential mercy: But God, remembering his teaching of olden time, that a kingdom divided against itself cannot long endure, very soon afterwards led Edmund's spirit forth from the body, having compassion on the realm of the English, lest if, perchance, both should con- tinue among the Uving, neither should reign securely, and the kingdom be daily annihilated by renewed contention, s It is difficult to form a just estimate of Edmund Ironside, as our information is neither extensive nor varied. It is possible that he was bom of a connection that the Church had not blessed; ' Sigeferth and Morcar were slain in Eadric 's house at the Oxford gemot. {Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1015.) " See Freeman {Norman Conquest, i.. Note xx) whose argument seems conclusive. 3 Encomium Emmcs, ii., c. 14. [1016] The Struggle with Edmund Ironside loi at least such seems to have been the belief when William of Malmesbury wrote.' A late writer tells us that his mother was the daughter of Earl Thoretus^; an earl by such a name actually did flourish in the closing decade of the tenth century ; he was one of the chiefs to whom Ethelred en- trusted his fleet in 992. From his name we should judge that he was of Norse ancestry. There can be no doubt as to Edmund's bravery on the battle-field; perhaps he was also in possession of some talent in the way of generalship. But on the whole, his military exploits have been exag- gerated : we know them chiefly from an ecclesiastic who was doubtless honest, but warmly patriotic and strongly partisan; it was natural for him to magnify skirmishes into battles. Edmund was the victor in several important engagements, but in no great battle. There was no heavy fighting at Penselwood; Sherstone was at best a drawn battle; Brentford and Otford seem to have been partly successful attacks on the rear of a retreating foe; Ashington was a decisive defeat. We cannot tell what sort of a king he might have become but the glimpses that we get of his character are not reassuring. We get sight of him first about 1006 when he sought to come into possession of I Gesta Regum, i., 213-214. The author merely tells us that Edmund's mother was of ignoble birth ; but a woman of low degree would scarcely be made queen of England. •Ethelred of Rievaux. See Freeman, Norman Conquest, i., Note ss. 102 Canute the Great [1016] an estate in Somerset: "and the monastic house- hold dared not refuse him."' His rebeUious behaviour in the Danelaw, his raid into English Mercia, give little promise of future statesman- ship. Edmund Ironside was an English viking, passionate, brave, impulsive, but unruly and uncontrollable. When the year closed there was no question who should be the future ruler of England. Fate had been kind to Canute; stiU, the outcome must be ascribed chiefly to the persistent activity of the invader. But while the name of the young King is necessarily made prominent in the narra- tive, we should not forget that he was surrounded and assisted by a group of captains who probably had no superiors in Etirope at the time. There was the taU and stately Thurkil with the experi- ence of morel than thirty years as a viking chief; the resourceful Eric with a brilliant record as a successful general; the impetuous and volcanic Ulf; doubtless also Ulf's brother, Eglaf the Jom- viking. These were the men who helped most to win the land for the Danish dynasty; they also formed Canute's chief reliance in the critical years following the conquest. The gain in Britain was, however, in a measure counterbalanced by the loss of Norway in the same year, though in this Canute was not directly interested at the time. After the battle of the Nesses, King Olaf sailed north to Nidaros (Thrond- ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 1302. VIKING RAIDS IN ENGLAND 980-1016 Territory raided.. SCALE OF MILES noi6] The Struggle with Edmund Ironside 103 hjem) where he now received unquestioned allegiance. He rebuilt the city and made it the capital of his kingdom. The ruined Church of Saint Clemens, the patron saint of all seafaring men, was raised again and became in a sense the mother church of Norse Christianity. Without delay he began his great work as legislator, or- ganiser, and missionary, a work of enduring quali- ties. But Canute did not forget that in this way his dynasty was robbed of one of its earliest posses- sions outside the Dane-lands. A clash between the great rivals was inevitable. For the present, however, Olaf's throne was safe; there was much to do before Canute could seriously think of proceeding against his virile opponent, and more than a decade passed before the young King of England could summon his chiefs and magnates into solemn imperial councils in the new capital of Nidaros. CHAPTER V THE RULE OF THE DANES IN ENGLAND loi 7-1020 FOR eight months after the death of Ethelred there was no king of England. Neither Edmund nor Canute had an incontestable claim to the royal title, as neither had been chosen by a properly constituted national assembly. There is some evidence that Edmund was crowned, perhaps in May, 1016'; but even consecration could hardly remove the defect in the elective title. And after the agreement of Olney, there was, for a few weeks, no English kingdom. But, in December, it was possible once more to reunite the distracted land. In the North of England there was no vacant kingship; only Wessex and East Anglia needed a ruler. As the latter region possessed a strong Scandinavian element that might be depended upon to declare for Canute, the only doubtful factor in the situation was the ' The evidence is late and not of the best; the earliest authority to mention it is Ralph de Diceto who lived a century and a half later. But see Freeman, Norman Conquest, i.. Note tt. 104 [1017-1020] Rule of the Danes in England 105 attitude of the nobility south of the Thames. Wessex, however, had more than once showed a desire to give up the struggle: the old spirit of independence was apparently crushed. London, the great rallying point of the national party, was in Canute's hands. Beyond the Thames were the camps of the dreaded host that had come from the North the year before. The Danish fleet still sailed the British seas. No trusted leader ap- peared to take up the fight for the house of Alfred ; Ethelred's many sons seem nearly all to have perished, and only children or princes of doubtful ability remained as possible candidates for the kingship. In addition there was no doubt a feeling that England should be one realm. The accession of Canute was therefore inevitable. The Dane evidently realised the strength of his position. There was consequently little need of hasty action; it was clearly best to observe con- stitutional forms and to give the representatives of the nation ample time to act. It was a North- ern as well as a Saxon custom to celebrate the Yule-tide with elaborate and extended festivities; and there was every reason why Canute and his warriors in London should plan to make this year's celebration a memorable event. To these festivi- ties, Canute evidently invited the magnates of England ; for we learn that a midwinter gemot was held in London, at which the Danish pretender re- ceived universal recognition as king of all England. ' 'Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 179. io6 Canute the Great [1017- To say that this assembly elected a king would be incorrect ; Canute gave the lords no opportunity to make an election. In a shrewd fashion he brought out the real or pretended fact that in the agreement of Deerhurst it was stipulated that the survivor should possess both crowns. Those who had witnessed the treaty were called on to state what had been said in the conference concerning Edmvmd's sons and brothers; whether any of them might be permitted to rule in England if Edmund should die first. They testified that they had sure knowledge that no authority was left to Edmund's brothers, and that Canute was to have the guardianship of Edmund's young sons until they were of sufficient age to claim the king- ship. Florence of Worcester believes that the witnesses were bribed by Canute and perjured themselves grossly ; but the probabilities are ,that their statement was accurate. Canute's object in submitting the problem of the succession in the South to the witan seems to have been, not exactly to sec\are his own election, but rather to obtain the highest possible sanction for the agreement with Edmund. To the Northern mind the expedient adopted was both legal and proper. We know very little about the constitutional framework and principles of the Scandinavian monarchies at this period; but, so far as we can discern, the elective principle played an incidental part only ; the succession was in fact hereditary. To the Anglo-Saxons the 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 107 whole must have resolved itself into finding some legal form for surrender and submission. Oaths were taken and loyalty was pledged. Once more the Saxon began to enjoy real peace and security. At the same time, all the rejoicing can scarcely have been genuine; for English pride had received a wound that for some years refused to heal. It must also be said that the opening years of the new reign were not of such a character as to win the affections of unwilling subjects. The task that the young monarch undertook in the early months of 1017 was one of peculiar difficulty. It must be remembered that his only right was that of the sword. Important, too, is the fact that at the time England was his only kingdom. As a landless prince, he had crossed the sea, landless except for possible rights in Norway; had led with him a host of adventurers most of whom were probably heathen; had wrested large areas from the native line of English Kings; and now he was in possession of the entire kingdom. Something of a like nature occurred in 1066, when William of Normandy conquered England; but there are also notable differences. William was the lord of a vigorous duchy across the narrow Channel, in which he had a storehouse of energy that was always at his disposal. Young Canute had no such advantages. Before he was definitely recognised as king in the Danelaw, he had no territorial possessions from which to recruit and io8 Canute the Great [ioi7- provision his armies. Not till 1019 did he unite the crowns of England and Denmark. Historians generally have appeared to believe that in governing his English kingdom, Canute pursued a conscious and well-defined course of action, a line of political purposes originating early in his reign. He is credited with the purpose of making England the central kingdom of an Anglo-Scandinavian empire, of governing this kingdom with the aid of Englishmen in preference to that of his own countrymen, of aiming to rule England as a king of the Saxon type. It is true that before the close of his reign Canute made large use of native chiefs in the administration of the monarchy; but such was not the case in the earlier years. There were no prospects of empire in 1017 and 1018: his brother Harold still ruled in Denmark; the Norsemen were still loyal to the vigorous Olaf. And at no time did the kingdoms that he added later consider themselves as stand- ing in a vassal relation to the English state. In Canute's initial years, we find no striving after good government, no dreams of imperial power. During these years his chief purpose was to secure the permanence and the stability of his new title and throne. Nor should we expect any clear and definite policy in the rule of a king who was still inexperi- enced in dealing with the English constitution. At the time of his accession, Canute is thought to have been twenty-one or twenty-two years 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 109 old. ' Younger he could scarcely have been, nor is it likely that he was very much older. Ottar the Swart in the Canute's Praise is emphatic on the point that Canute was unusually young for a successful conqueror: "Thou wast of no great age when thou didst put forth in thy ship; never younger king set out from home."'' As Ottar 's other patron, Olaf the Stout, was only twelve when he began his career as a viking, we should hardly expect the poet to call attention to Canute's youth if he had already reached manhood when he accompanied his father to England. The probabilities favour 995 as the year of his birth; if the date be correct he would be about seventeen in 1012, when the invasion was being planned, nineteen at the death of his father in 10 14; and twenty-one (or twenty-two, as it was late in the year) when he became king of all England. But whatever his age, he was young in training for government. So far as we know, he could have had but little experience as a ruler before the autumn of 1016, when the battle of Ashington secured his position in England. His training had been for the career of a viking, a training that promised little for the future. It seems, therefore, a safe assumption that in shaping his poUcy the King's decision would be ' Steenstrup places his age at twenty-two {Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 385). Munch thinks that he was several years older. {Del norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 126-127). " Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 155. (Vigfusson's translation.) no Canute the Great 11017- influenced to a large degree by the advice of trusted counsellors. In the first year of Canute's reign, there stood about the throne three prom- inent leaders, three military chiefs, to whom in great measure the King owed his crown. There was the sly and jealous Eadric the Mercian, a rfian with varied experience in many fields, but for obvious reasons he did not enjoy the royal confid- ence. Closer to the King stood Eric, for fifteen years earl and viceroy in Norway, now the ruler of Northumbria. Eric was a man of a nobler character than was common among men of the viking type; but he can have known very little of English affairs, and for this reason, perhaps, Canute passed his kinsman by and gave his confid- ence to the lordly viking, Thurkil the Tall. For a stay of nearly ten years in England as viking invader, as chief of Ethelred's mercenaries, and as Canute's chief assistant in his campaign against the English, had surely given Thurkil a wide acquaint- ance among the magnates of the land and consider- able insight into English affairs. Whatever the reason for the King's choice, we seem to have evidence stifficient to allow the conclusion that for some years Thurkil held a position in the kingdom second only to that of the King himself. Wherever his name appears in Canute's charters among the earls who witness royal grants, it holds first place. In a royal proclamation that was issued in 1020, he seems to act on the King's behalf in the general administra- 1020] Rule of the Danes in England lii tion of justice, whenever royal interference should become necessary: Should any one prove so rash, clerk or layman, Dane or Angle, as to violate the laws of the Church or the rights of my kingship or any secular statute, and refuse to do penance according to the instruction of my bishops, or to desist from his evil, then I request ThurkU the Earl, yea, even command him, to bend the offender to right, if he is able to do so. ' In case the Earl is unable to manage the business alone, Canute promises to assist. There is some- thing in this procedure that reminds one of the later Norman official, the justiciar, who was chief of the administrative forces when the King was in England and governed as the King's lieutenant when the ruler was abroad. That Thurkil's dignity was not a new creation at the time of the proclamation is evident from the preamble, in which Canute sends "greetings to his archbishops and bishops and Thurkil earl and all his earls and all his subjects." The language of the preamble also suggests that Thurkil may have acted as the King's deputy during Canute's absence in Den- mark. It is further to be noted that of aU the magnates he alone is mentioned by name. In the account of the dedication of the church at Ashing- ton later in the same year, Thurkil is again given prominent mention. In this instance general re- ference is made to a number of important officials, ' Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 274. 112 Canute the Great [ioi7- but Earl Thurkil and Archbishop Wiilfstan are the only ones that the Chronicler mentions by name. ' It is evident that the English, too, were impressed by the eminence of the tall earl. The first and the most difficult problem that Canute and Thurkil had to solve was how to establish the throne among an unfriendly people; for the conquered Saxons cannot have regarded the Danish usurper with much affection. It is generally believed that Canute took up his resid- ence in the old capital city of Winchester, though we do not know at what time this came to be the recognised residential town. It may be true, as is so often asserted, that Canute continued, even after other lands had been added to his dominions, to make England his home from personal choice; but it may also be true that he beHeved his pres- ence necessary to hold Wessex in subjection. The revolutionary movements that came to the surface during the first few years of his reign had probably much to do with determining Canute's policies in these directions. It is a fact of great significance that during the first decade of his rule in England he was absent from the island twice only, so far as we know, and then during the winter months, when the chances of a successful uprising were most remote. ^ ^ Ajiglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1020. ' The first recorded absence was in the winter of 1019 and 1020; Canute returned in time for the Easter festivities. The Chron- icler tells of another return from Denmark in 1 023 ; as this return '0201 Rule of the Danes in England 113 Like the later William, Canute had his chiefs and followers to reward, and the process of pay- ment could not be long delayed. The rewards took the form of actual wages, paid from new levies of Danegeld; confiscated lands, of which we do not hear very much, though seizure of land was doubtless not unknown, as it was not a Scandina- vian custom to respect the property of an enemy; also official positions, especially the earl's office and dignity, which was reserved for the chiefs who had given the most effective aid. The payment of Danegeld was an old story in English history and the end was not yet. When we consider the really vast tribute that was levied from time to time and the great value of the precious metals in the Middle Ages, it becomes clear that many of the vikings who operated in England must have become relatively wealthy men. A large number evidently served in succes- sive hosts and expeditions. A Swedish runic monument found in Uppland (the region north of Stockholm) relates that one Ulf shared three times in the distribution of Danegeld: But Ulf has in England thrice taken "geld," the first time Tosti paid him, then Thurkil, and then Canute paid. ' was earlier than the translation of Saint Alphege in June, the absence must have been during the winter months. See the Chronicle for these years. ' Von Friesen, Historiska Runinskrifter (Fornvannen, 1909), 58. Von Friesen suggests that the chief Tosti who paid the first 8 114 Canute the Great rioi7- Ulf was evidently one of the vikings who composed Thurkil's invading force and finally passed with their chief into Canute's service. The earl's office was ancient in Scandinavia and counted very desirable. It did not quite correspond to that of the English ealdorman, as it usually implied a larger administrative area, a greater independence, and a higher social rank for the official thus honoured. The office was not new in England; for more than a century it had flourished in the Danelaw. In Ethelred's time such magnates as Uhtred in Northumbria and Ulfketel in East Anglia were earls rather than ealdormen. The first recorded act of the new sovereign was the division of the kingdom into four great earl- doms. Much has been made of this act in the past; the importance of the measure has been over-rated; the purpose of the King has been misunderstood. The act has been characterised as the culmination of a certain tendency in English constitutional development; as the expression of self-distrust on the part of the monarch ; and much more. It seems, however, that Canute at this time did little more than to recognise the status quo. England was during the later years of Ethelred's reign virtually divided into four great geld may have been Skogul-Tosti, the father of Sigrid the Haughty (pp. 71-72). For other monuments alluding to the Danegeld, see ibid., 58, 74-75; Montelius, KuUurgeschichle Schwed- ens, 267: the Osseby Stone. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 115 jurisdictions, three of which, Northumbria, Mer- cia, and East Anglia, were governed by the King's sons-in-law, Uhtred, Eadric, and Ulfketel. How much authority was assigned to each cannot be determined; but practically the earls must have enjoyed a large measure of independence. In the fight against the Danes, Uhtred seems to have taken but small part ; Ulfketel comes into promin- ence only when East Anglia is directly attacked. This arrangement, which was not accidental but historic, Canute had accepted before the reputed provincial division of 10 1 7. Eadric had long been a power in parts of Mercia; any attempt to dis- lodge him at so early a moment would have been exceedingly impolitic. Eric was already earl of Northumbria, having succeeded the unfortunate Uhtred, perhaps in the spring of 1016. It is only natural that Canute should reserve the rule of Wessex to himself, at least for a time. Provision naturally had to be made for Thurkil; and as the earl of East Anglia had fallen at Ashington, it was convenient to fill the vacancy and honour the old viking at the same time. ' It seems never to have been Canute's policy to keep England permanently divided into four great provinces; what evidence we have points to a wholly different purpose. During the first decade ' The statement of the Chronicle (1017) that he divided Eng- land into four parts may imply that some sort of sanction was sought from the witan; but such an act would merely recognise accomplished facts. 1 16 Canute the Great [ioi7- of the new reign, fifteen earls appear in the charters as witnesses or otherwise. Three of these may, however, have been visiting magnates from else- where in the King's dominions, and in one instance we may have a scribal error. There remain, then, the names of eleven lords who seem to have enjoyed the earl's dignity during this period. Of these eleven names, seven are Scandinavian and four Anglo-Saxon ; but of the latter group only one appears with any decided permanence. ' Thurkil, while he was still in England, headed the list. Thurkil was a Dane of noble birth, the son of Harold who was earl in Scania. He was a typical viking, tall, strong, and valorous, and must have been a masterly man, one in whom warriors readily recognised the qualities of chieftainship. He had part in the ill-fated expedition that ended in the crushing defeat of Hjorunga Bay. He also fought at Swald, where he is said to have served on the ship of his former enemy, Eric the Earl. ^ In 1009 he transferred his activities to England and from that year he remained almost continuously on the island till his death about fifteen years later. The old viking had several claims on the King's gratitude. Had he not deserted Ethelred at such an opportune moment, Canute might never have won the English crown. The statement of the sagas that Thurkil was Canute's foster-father has ■ For the evidence see the author's paper in American Historical Review, xv., 725. ' Munch, Del norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 392. ; 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 117 been refe red to elsewhere. The foster-relation- ship, if the sagas are correct, would not only help to explain how Thurkil came to hold such eminent positions in Canute's English and Danish king- doms, but may also account for the confidence that Canute reposed in Thurkil's son Harold, who may have been the King's foster-brother. The battles of Sherstone and Ashington no doubt also had a share in securing pre-eminence for the tall pirate. Sherstone, says the Encomiast, gained for Thurkil a large share of the fatherland.' He is promin- ently mentioned as one of those most eager to fight at Ashington, especially after it was reported that the raven had appeared with proper gestures on the Danish banner. ^ In his old age Thurkil married an Englishwoman, Edith, probably one of Ethelred's daughters, the widow of Earl Eadric. ^ He ruled as English earl from 1017 to 102 1. After Canute's return from Denmark in 1020, some misunderstanding seems to have arisen between him and the old war- chief ; for toward the close of the next year Thur- kil was exiled. The cause for this is not known ; perhaps Canute feared his growing influence, ' Encomium Emma, ii., c. 7. » Ibid., ii., c. 9. 8 Florence tells us that Thurkil's wife bore the name Edith {Chronicon, i., 183). The Jomsvikingasaga (c. 52) has Thurkil marry Ethelred's daughter Ulfhild, Ulfketel's widow. However, Ethelred had a daughter Edith who was married to Eadric. (Florence, Chronicon, i., 161.) For a discussion of the subject see Freeman, Norman Conquest, i.. Notes nn and ss. Ii8 Canute the Great "oi?- especially after his marriage to the former King's daughter. A reconciHation was brought about a year later ; but for some reason the King preferred to leave him as his lieutenant in Denmark, and he was never restored to his English dignities. Eric, Earl of Northimibria, governed this region from 1016 to 1023. He seems to have been Earl Hakon's oldest son, and is said to have been of bastard birth, the son of a low-bom woman, who had attracted the Earl in his younger years. He grew up to be extremely handsome and clever, •but never enjoyed his father's good-will.' The circumstances of Eric's promotion to the Northern earldom have been discussed in an earlier chapter. As the Scandinavian colonies north of the Humber were Norwegian rather than Danish, the appoint- ment of a Norse ruler was doubtless a popular act. Eadric was allowed to continue as governor of Mercia. Whether all the old Mercian region made one earldom is uncertain; most likely it did not extend to the western limits, as several smaller earldoms appear to have been located along the Welsh border. For one year only was Eadric the Grasper permitted to enjoy his dignities; at the first opportunity Canute deprived him not only of honours but of life. Eglaf, Thurkil's old companion in arms, seems to have been given territories to rule in the lower Severn Valley.^ Eglaf was one of the leaders in ' Snorre, Saga of Earl Hakon, c. 3. " American Historical Review, xv., 727 . 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 119 the great expedition of 1009. He was evidently one of those who entered Ethelred's service when peace was made; but during the closing years of the conflict, he was doubtless fighting for Canute. He was consequently one of the chiefs who might claim a particular reward. He was also of high lineage, the son of a powerful Danish chief, Thorgils Sprakaleg, and the brother of Ulf, who was married to Canute's sister Estrid. In the Worcester country an Earl Hakon was placed in control. He was evidently Eric's son and Canute's nephew, the young Hakon whom King Olaf drove out of Norway in the autumn of 1015. The youthful earl (he was probably not more than twenty years old in 1017, perhaps even younger) is described as an exceedingly handsome man with "hair that was long and fair like silk "' ; but warfare was evidently not to his taste. For a decade or more he remained in Canute's service in England. In 1026, hostilities broke out be- tween Norway and Denmark; the result was the final expulsion of King Olaf and the restoration of Hakon to his Norse vice-royalty. Soon after- wards he perished in shipwreck. Godwin is the first English earl of importance to appear among Canute's magnates. From 1019 to the close of the reign his name appears in almost every charter, and invariably as earl or with some corresponding title. The fact that Godwin found it possible to be present so frequently when grants ' Snorre, Saga 0} Saint Olaf, c. 30. 120 Canute the Great [ioi7- were to be witnessed would indicate that he could not have been located far away from the local court; perhaps he was closely attached to it. Though his ancestry is a matter of doubt, he was probably not cormected with the Old English aristocracy. This defect Canute remedied by giving him a noble Danish woman of his own household for wife.' Godwin was consequently closely associated with the new dynasty. Of the remaining magnates, Ethelwerd, Leof- wine, Godric, Ulf , and Ranig, little is really known. Ethelwerd seems to have had some authority in the extreme Southwest. Ranig's earldom was the modem shire of Hereford. There is nothing to indicate what territories were controlled by Godric and Ulf. Leofwine probably succeeded to Eadric's position as chief ruler in Mercia. In the list we should probably include Eadulf Cudel who seems to have succeeded to some power north of the Tees after the murder of his brother Uhtred''; but whether he was under the lordship of Eric or held directly from Canute cannot be known. These were the men with whom Canute shared his authority during the first ten years of his reign. It will be seen that the more important places in the local government were given to Danes and Northmen. So far as we know, only two of ' She was sister of the earls Ulf and Eglaf . Her Danish name was Gytha, which the Saxons changed to Edith. ' Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, ii., 197. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 121 Ethelred's ealdormen were retained in their ofifices ' ; of these the one soon suffered exile, while the other appears to have played but a small part in the councils of Canute. Two appointments were made from the native population, those of Godwin and Leofwine. In the case of Godwin it is to be observed that he was bound to the new dynasty by the noble ties of marriage. As to Leofwine 's ancestry we are not informed ; but there are indica- tions that some of his forefathers may have been Northmen. ^ The more prominent of Canute's earls were drawn from three illustrious families in the North, one Norwegian and two Danish. Thurkil's descent from the Scanian earls has already been noted. Eric and his son Hakon represented the lordly race of Earl Hakon the Bad. A great Danish chief, Thorgils Sprakaleg, had two sons who bore the earl's title in England, Ulf and Eglaf, a son-in-law, Godwin, and a few years later a nephew, Siward the Strong, the lord of Northumbria. Two of these earls were marri d to sisters of Canute: Eric to Gytha, and Ulf to Estrid. Godwin was married to Canute's kins- woman. Hakon was the King's nephew. Thurkil was his reputed foster-father. It seems that ' Ethel werd and Godric. Ethel werd was exiled in 1020. ' Leofwine had a son named Northman, and it is possible that his father also bore that name. See Freeman, Norman Conquest, i., Note ccc. The occurrence of the name "Northman" in a family living in or near the Danelaw may indicate Norse ancestry. 122 Canute the Great [1017- Canute at first had in mind to establish in England a new aristocracy of Scandinavian origin, bound to the throne by the noble ties of kinship and marriage. To this aristocracy the North contributed noble and vigorous blood. In the King's household, so far as we can learn anything about it, we find the same preference for men of Northern ancestry. Ordinarily, the thegns who witnessed royal grants may be taken to have been warriors or officials connected with the royal court. The signatures of more than half of these show names that are unmistakably Scandinavian. Usually, the Northmen sign before their Saxon fellows. The Old Norse language was probably used to a large extent at court; at least we know that the scalds who sang in praise of the "greatest king under heaven" composed their lays in Canute's native language.' The year 1017, which witnessed the exaltation of the foreigners into English officialdom, also beheld a series of executions that still further weakened the English by removing their natural leaders. Most of these are associated with a Christmas gemot, when Canute was celebrating the first anniversary of his rule as king of England. Of the victims the most famous was Eadric, the Earl of Mercia. For ten years he had been a power in his region, though at no time does it ' For the court poetry of the scalds see Vigfusson and Powell, Corpus Poelicum Boreale, ii. Their verses have in part come down to us. See below, pp. 292 ff . 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 123 appear that his word of honour or his pledge of loyalty could have had any value. In all the English sources he is represented as endowed with the instincts of treason, though the Encomiast, is careful to apply no term stronger than turncoat. At the same time, it is clear that Eadric the Grasper was a man of real abilities ; in spite of the fact that he held allegiance lightly, he seems to have retained his influence to the last. He was, says one writer, a man of low origin, one whom the tongue had brought riches and rank, clever in wit, pleasant in speech, but surpassing all men of the time in envy, perfidy, crime, and cruelty. ' The murder of Eadric was directly in line with Canute's policy of building up a new Scandinavian aristocracy, devoted to himself, and endowed with large local authority. The new order could not be built on such men as Eadric ; by his marriage to Ethelred's daughter he was too closely connected with the old order of things. Furthermore, a man who found it so easy to be disloyal could not safely be entrusted with such great territorial authority as the earlship of Mercia. There had been in this same year extensive plotting among the survivors of the Anglian nobility, and it is likely that Eadric was involved in this. It is also related that the Earl was not satisfied with ' Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., i6o. 124 Canute the Great [1017- the King's reward,' which may mean that he objected to having independent earldoms carved out of Western Mercia. At any rate, Canute was not reluctant to remove him. Eric appears to have acted as executioner; and the career of the Grasper came to a sudden end. The murder, so far as we can see, was popular ; among the men of power Eadric can have had few friends or perhaps none at all. Three other lords are mentioned as having suffered death on the same occasion: Northman, the son of Leofwine, and two lords from the South- west.^ There can be little doubt that these men were convicted of treacherous plotting and that the punishment was regarded as merited. It is a remarkable fact that Northman's death did not alienate his family from the new dynasty: his father Leofwine succeeded to Eadric's dignities and his brother Leofric to Northman's own place of influence; "and the king afterwards held him very dear. ' ' ^ Some of these executions should probably be placed in connection with certain measures taken against the former dynasty. Here again we have anxious care to secure the new throne. Six sons appear to have been bom to Ethelred before his marriage to the Norman Emma ; but of these only two or at most three seem to have survived their ' Encomium Emma, ii., c. 15. 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1017. 3 Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 182. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 125 father. After Edmund Ironside's death, Edwy alone remained ^ ; he is said to have been Edmund's full brother and a youth of promise. Evidently Canute intended to spare his life, but ordered him to go into exile. But the Etheling secretly re- turned to England a :d hid for a time in Tavistock monastery. He was evidently discovered, and Canute procured his death. ^ As Tavistock is in Devonshire, the execution of the two magnates from the Southwest may readily be explained on the supposition that they were plotting in Edwy's favour. The London assembly seems to have assumed that certain rights were reserved to the infant sons of Edmund, but that the guardianship of the children had been given to Canute. They were scarcely a problem in 1017; still, it was necessary to make them permanently harmless. It will be remembered that Edmund married Sigeferth's widow some time in the year 1015, perhaps in early summer. It is, therefore, extremely doubtful whether the two boys, Edward and Edmund, were both the sons of the unfortunate Aldgyth; if they were they must have been twins, or the younger must have been born a posthumous child, some time in 10 1 7, the year of their banishment. ■ Excepting the two sons of Emma who were now in Normandy, there seems to be no record of any other surviving son. Florence of Worcester speaks of Edmund's "brothers" in narrating tlie discussions at the gemot of Christmas, 1016; but he may have thought of Queen Emma's children. {Chronicon, i., 179.) "William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i., 218. 126 Canute the Great [1017- But if Florence's account is trustworthy, the status of the two was discussed at the Christmas gemot following Edmund's death in 1016. To slay the children of a "brother" who had committed them to his care and protection must have seemed to Canute a rude and perhaps risky procedure; it was therefore thought best to send them out of the land. Accordingly the ethel- ings were sent to the "king of the Slavs,"' who was instructed to remove them from the land of the living. This particular king was evidently Canute's maternal uncle, the mighty Boleslav, duke and later king of Poland. Boleslav took pity on the poor children and failed to dispose of them as requested. In 1025, he was succeeded by his son Mieczislav, who entered into close relations with King Stephen of Hungary.^ It was probably some time after 1025, therefore, that the ethelings were transferred to the Hungar- ian court, where they grew to manhood. After forty years of exile, one of them returned to Eng- land, but died soon after he had landed. It seems to have been Canute's purpose finally to destroy the house of Alfred to the last male descendant. The two most dangerous heirs were, however, beyond his reach: the sons of Ethelred ' Florence's writing ad regent Suanorum was probably due to an error of information or of copying; ad regent Sdavorum, or some such form, is probably the correct reading (i., i8i). " Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 303-308. Mieczislav's father was married to Stephen's sister. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 127 and Emma were safe with their mother in Nor- mandy. There was close friendship between the lords of Rouen and the rulers of the North; still, Duke Richard could not be expected to ignore the claims of his own kinsmen. So long as the ethelings remained in Normandy, there would always be danger of a Norman invasion combined with a Saxon revolt in the interest of the fugitive princes, Alfred and Edward. Canute was a resourceful king: these princes, too, could be rendered comparatively harmless. If their mother Emma should be restored to her old position as reigning queen of England, her Norman relatives might find it inconvenient to support an English uprising. This seems to be the true motive for Canute's seemingly unnatural marriage. Historians have seen in it a hope and an attempt to conciliate the English people, as in this way the new King would become identified with the former dynasty. But such a theory does scant justice to the moral sense of the Anglo- Saxons. Furthermore, neither Ethelred nor Emma had ever enjoyed real popularity. There is no doubt that a princess of the blood royal could have been found for a consort, if the prime consideration had been to contract a popular marriage. It seems rather that in this matter Canute acted in defiance of English public senti- ment and for the express purpose of averting a real danger from beyond the Channel. Appar- ently, Emma took kindly to Canute's plans, for she 128 Canute the Great [ioi7- is said to have stipulated that if sons were bom to them, they should be preferred to Canute's older children ' ; thus by inference the rights of her sons in Normandy were abandoned. Earlier in his career, Canute had formed an irregular connection with an English or Anglo- Danish woman of noble birth, Elgiva, the daughter of Elfhelm, who at one time ruled in Deira as ealdorman. Her mother's name is given as Ulfrun, a name that is Scandinavian in both its component parts. "" The family was evidently not strictly loyal to the Saxon line, for in 1006, just after Sweyn's return to Denmark, Elfhelm was slain and his two sons blinded by royal orders.^ Elgiva must have had relatives at Northampton, for the Chronicler knows her as the woman from North- ampton. She was a woman of great force of character, ambitious and aggressive, though not always tactful, as appears from her later career in Norway. She was never Canute's wife ; but, in the eleventh century, vague ideas ruled concerning the marriage relation, even among Christians. Her acquaintance with Canute doubtless began in 1 01 3, when he was left in charge of the camp and fleet at Gainsborough. Two sons she bore to him, Harold Harefoot and Sweyn. On Emma's re- ' Encomium EmmcB, ii., c. 16. " Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 190. On the subject of proper names ending in run, see Bjorkman, Nordische Person- ennamen in England, 194. 5 Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 158. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 129 turn to England, Elgiva seems to have been sent with her children to Denmark. We find her later taking an active part in the politics of Wendland, Norway, and probably of England. The Queen, who now came back from Normandy to marry her husband's old enemy, was also a masterful woman. If heredity can be stated in arithmetical terms, she was more than half Danish, as her mother Gunnor was clearly a Danish, wo- man while her father had a non-Danish mother and also inherited some non-Danish blood on the paternal side. She was evidently beautiful, gifted, and attractive: her flattering Encomiast describes her as of great beauty and wisdom.' But the finer instincts that we commonly associate with womanhood cannot have been highly devel- oped in her case ; what we seem to find is love of life, a delight in power, and an overpowering ambition to rule. At the time of her second marriage she was a mature woman; it is not likely that she was less than thirty years old, perhaps she was nearer forty. At all events, she must have been several years older than Canute. Two children were born to this marriage: Harthacanute, who ruled briefly in Denmark and England after the death of his father and of his half-brother Harold; and Gunhild, who was married to the Emperor Henry III. Emma lived to a ripe old age and died in 1052, fifty years after her first marriage. The wedding was celebrated in July, 1017, the ' Encomium Emma, ii., c. l6. 130 Canute the Great [ioi7- bride presumably coming from Normandy. The object sought was attained: for more than ten years there seems to have been unbroken peace between England and Normandy. When trouble finally arose after the accession of Robert the Devil, Canute was strong enough to dispense with further alliances. One of the chief necessities was some form of a standing army, a force that the King could depend upon in case of invasion or revolt. Much reliance could obviously not be placed on the old military system ; nor could the army of conquest be retained indefinitely. In 1018, or perhaps late in the preceding year, steps were taken to dismiss the Scandinavian host.' It has been conjectured that this was done out of consideration for the Saxon race; the presence of the conquerors was an insult to the English people. It had clearly become necessary to disband the viking forces, but for other reasons. A viking host was in its nature an army of conquest, not of occupation, except when the warriors were permitted to seize the land, which was evidently not Canute's in- tention. In a land of peace, as Canute intended England to be, such a host could not flourish. It should also be remembered that a large part was composed of borrowed troops furnished by the rulers of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; these could not be kept indefinitely. Another Dane- geld was levied, 82,500 pounds in all, to pay off the ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1018. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 131 host ; and most of the Northmen departed, to the evident satisfaction of ah concerned. The dismissal of one host was followed by the immediate reorganisation of another. Far more important than the departure of the fleet is the fact that the crews of forty ships remained in the royal service: this would mean a force of between three thousand and four thousand men. But the North knew no continuous body of warriors except the military households of chiefs and kings; such a household was now to be organised, but one that was far greater and more splendid than any organisation of the sort known in Scan- dinavia. According to Sveno's history, Canute had it proclaimed that only those would be ad- mitted to his new guard who were provided with two-edged swords having hilts inlaid with gold.' Sveno also tells us that the wealthy warriors made such haste to procure properly ornamented weapons that the sound of the swordsmith's hammer was heard all through the land. In this way, the King succeeded in giving his personal guard an aristo- cratic stamp. The guard of housecarles or "thingmen, " as they were called in the North, was organised as a guild or military fraternity, of which the King ranked as a member, though naturally a most important one. In many respects its rules " Historiola Legum Caslrensum Regis Canuti Magni, c. 2. The Historiola is found in Langebek, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum, iii. 132 Canute the Great [ioi7- remind us of the regulations enforced in the Jom- burg brotherhood, though its organisation was probably merely typical of the viking fraternities of the age. The purpose of the guild laws, as reported by Sveno and Saxo, was to promote a spirit of fellowship among the members, to secure order in the guard, and to inculcate proper be- haviour in the royal garth. When the housecarles were invited to the King's tables, they were seated according to their eminence in warfare, priority of service, or nobility of birth. To be removed to a lower place was counted a disgrace. In addition to daily fare and entertainment, the warriors re- ceived wages which were paid monthly, we are told. The bond of service was not permanent, but could be dissolved on New Year's Day only. All quarrels were decided in an assembly of the housecarles in the presence of the King. Members guilty of minor offences, such as failing to care properly for the horse of a fellow guardsman, were assigned lower places at the royal tables. If any one was thrice convicted of such misdeeds, he was given the last and lowest place, where no one was to communicate with him in any way, except that the feasters might throw bones at him if they were so disposed. Whoever should slay a comrade should lose his head or go into exile. Treason was punished by death and the confisca- tion of the criminal's property.' These laws were put into writing several genera- ' Sveno, Hisioriola, cc. 5-9. Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 351 ff. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 133 tions after the guard was formed, and it is not likely that all existed from the very beginning. There is, however, nothing in the rules that might not have applied in Canute's own day. It is said that the King himself was the first who seriously violated the guard-laws, in that he slew a house- carle in a moment of anger. Repentance came swiftty; the guard was assembled; kneeling the King confessed his guilt and requested punishment. But the laws gave the King the power of judgment in such cases, and so it must be in this instance as in others. Forty marks was the customary fine, but in this case the King levied nine times that amount and added nine marks as a gift of honour. This fine of 369 marks was divided into three parts: one to go to the heirs of the deceased ; one to the guard; and one to the King. But Canute gave his share to the Church and the poor. ' Though the housecarles are presumed to have possessed horses, the guard was in no sense a cavalry force. Horses were for use on the march, for swift passage from place to place, not for charging on the field. The housecarles were heavily armed, as we know from the description of a ship that Earl Godwin presented to Harthacanute as a peace offering a few years after Canute's ' Langebek, Scriptores, iii., 151 (note). The story is probably mythical; but I give it as a fitting companion to the English stories of Canute and the tide, and of his improvised verses inspired by the chants of the monks of Ely. 134 Canute the Great [ioi7- death. Eighty warriors, housecarles no doubt, seeing that it was a royal ship, manned the dragon, of whom each one had on each arm a golden armring weighing sixteen ounces, a triple corselet, on the head a helmet in part overlaid with gold; each was girded with a sword that was golden-hilted and bore a Danish ax inlaid with silver and gold hanging from the left shoulder; the left hand held the shield with gilded boss and rivets; in the right hand lay the spear that the Angles call the cetgar. ' It is not to be supposed that the whole guard was always at the court — it was distributed in the strong places throughout the kingdom, " especially no doubt in the South. It seems likely that individual housecarles might have homes of their own ; at any rate, many of them in time came into possession of English lands as we know from Domesday.' No doubt Anglo-Saxon warriors were enrolled in the guard, but in its earlier years, at least, the greater niunber must have been of Scandinavian ancestry. In the province of Uppland, Sweden, a runic monument has been found that was raised by two sons in memory of their father, who "sat out west in thinglith. "^ As thinglith was the Old Norse name for Canute's corps of housecarles, we have here contemporary ' Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 195. " Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 351. 3 Larson, The King's Household in England, 163-167. ^ The Kolstad Stone. Montelius, KuUurgeschichte Schwedens, 267. 1020] Rule of the Danes in England 135 mention of a Swede who served in the guard. Another stone from the same province records the fact that AH who raised it "collected tribute for Canute in England."^ Housecarles were sometimes employed as tax collectors, and it seems probable that Ali, too, was a member of the great corps. It is likely that housecarles are also alluded to in the following Scanian inscription: Sweyn and Thurgot raised this monument in memory of Manna and Swejm. God help their souls well. But they lie buried in London.^ The sagas are evidently correct in stating that the force of housecarles "had been chosen from many lands, though chiefly from those of the Danish [Old Norse] tongue." So long had the wealth of England been regarded as legitimate plunder, that the Scandinavian pirates found it difficult to realise that raids in South Britain were things of the past. They now had to reckon, not merely with a sluggish and dis- organised militia, but with a strong force of pro- fessional warriors in the service and pay of a capable and determined king. In the year 1018, says the German chronicler Thietmarof Merseburg, the crews of thirty viking ships have been slain in England, thanks be to God, by the son of Sweyn, the king of the English; and he, who earlier with his ' The Osseby Stone. Montelius, ibid. ' The Valleberga Stone. Wimmer, De danske Runemindes- mcsrker, iii., 165. 136 Canute the Great [1017-10201 father brought invasion and long-continued destruc- tion upon the land, is now its sole defender, j This seems to have been the first and last attempt at piracy in England during the reign of Canute. So far as his dominions extended, viking practices were outlawed. The check that the movement received in 1018 was the beginning of a rapid de- cline in its strength, and before the close of Canute's reign, the profession of the sea-king was practically destroyed. The Welsh, too, seem to have found it hard to repress their old habits of raiding the English frontier. It was probably this fact that induced Canute to establish so many earldoms in the South- west, particularly in the Severn Valley. A few years after the signal defeat of the viking fleet, apparently in 1022, Eglaf, one of the earls on the Welsh border, harried the lands of South-western Wales. ^ As the sources nowhere intimate that Canute ever planned to conquer Wales, and as this was evidently the year of Canute's absence in the Baltic lands, the conclusion must be that this expedition was of a punitive character. The Angles and Saxons were soon to learn that the new regime meant a security for the property as well as the persons of loyal and peaceful citizens, such as they had not enjoyed for more than a generation. ' Chronicon, viii., c. 5. Thietmar's account is strictly con- temporary. ' Annates Cambrics, 23. CHAPTER VI THE BEGINNINGS OF EMPIRE IOI9-IO25 THE first three or four years of Canute's government in England can have given but little promise of the beneficent rule that was to follow. To the conquered Saxon they must have been a season of great sorrow. On the throne of Alfred sat an alien king who had done nothing as yet to merit the affectionate regard of his subjects. In the shire courts ruled the chiefs of the dreaded Danish host, chiefs who had probably harried those same shires at an earlier date. A heavy tax had been collected to pay the forces of the enemy, but a large part of those forces still remained. The land was at peace ; but the calm was the calm of exhaustion. The young King had shown vigour and decision; thus far, however, his efforts had been directed toward dynastic security rather than the welfare of his English subjects. But with Canute's return from Denmark in 1020 begins the second period in the history of the reign. After that date, it seems that more intellig- 137 138 Canute the Great [1019- ent efforts were made to reconcile the Saxons to foreign rule. For one thing, Canute must have come to appreciate the wonderful power of the Church; for an attempt was made to enJist its forces on the side of the new monarchy. Perhaps he had also come to understand that repression could not continue indefinitely. This change in policy seems to be the outgrowth principally of the new situation created by Canute's accession to the Danish throne. Harold, his older brother, king of Denmark, appears to have died in 10 18.' Little is known of Harold; he died young and evidently left no heirs. For a year there seems to have been no recognised king in Denmark, as Canute did not leave England before 1019. In that year he sailed to the Baltic to claim the throne in person, taking with him nine ships, fewer than one thousand men; the rest of the new force of housecarles was doubtless left in Britain as a matter of security. Thurkil, Earl of East Anglia, seems to have been left behind as English viceroy. Various reasons may be assigned for this delay in securing the ancestral crown. Harold died in the year when Canute was reorganising the mili- tary forces of the realm; before his great corps of housecarles was complete, it would not have been safe to leave the country. Perhaps the King also felt that he must take some steps to reconcile the two racial elements of his kingdom. He may ' Langebek, Scriptores, i., 159 (note). 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 139 have concluded that with two kingdoms to govern it would be impossible to give undivided attention to English affairs and movements. To prevent rebellion in his absence, it might be well to remove, so far as possible, all forms of hostility; we read, therefore, of a great meeting of the magnates, both Danes and Angles, at Oxford in 10 18, where the matter of legislation was evidently the prin- cipal subject. At this assembly, it was agreed to accept Edgar's laws as the laws for the whole land. ^ It is significant that the comparatively large body of law that was enacted in Ethelred's day was ignored or rejected. The chief reason for this may have been that Canute was not yet willing to enforce the rigid enactments against heathen practices that were such a distinctive feature of Ethelred's legislation. There can be small doubt that in the Scandinavian settlements and particularly in the alien host heathendom still lingered to some extent. The delay was also due, perhaps, in large part to a serious trouble with Scotland. The term Northumbria is variously used; but in its widest application it embraced territories extending from the Humber to the Forth. The northern part of this kingdom, the section between the Tweed and the Forth, was known as Lothian; on this region the kings of Scotland had long cast covetous eyes. In 1006, while the vikings were distressing England, King Malcolm invaded Lothian, crossed ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1018. 140 Canute the Great [roi9- the Tweed, and laid siege to Durham. The aged Earl Waltheof made practically no attempt at resistance; but his young son Uhtred placed him- self at the head of the Northumbrian levies and drove the invader back into Scotland.' Uhtred succeeded to his father's earldom and was appar- ently recognised as lord throughout the entire ancient realm. While Uhtred lived and ruled, the neighbours to the north seem to have kept the peace; but in 1016, as we have seen, the great warrior was slain, probably at Canute's instigation and his earldom was assigned to Eric. Whatever Canute's intentions may have been, it seems likely that the new Earl did not come into immediate and undisputed control of the entire earldom; for we find that in the regions north of Yorkshire, the old kingdom of Bernicia, Uhtred's brother, Eadulf Cudel, "a very sluggish and timid man," sought to maintain the hereditary rights of the family. Two years after Uhtred's death, Malcolm the son of Kenneth reappeared in Lothian at the head of a large force gathered from the western kingdom of Strathclyde as well as from his own Scotia. The Northumbrians had had ample warning of troubles to come: for thirty nights a comet had blazed in the sky ; and after the passage of another period of thirty days, the enemy appeared. An ' Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, i., 216. The account of the siege of Durham is not by Simeon but by some writer whose identity is unknown. 10251 The Beginnings of Empire 141 army gathered mainly from the Durham country met the Scotch forces at Carham on the Tweed, near Coldstream, but was almost completely destroyed.' There is no record of any further resistance; and when Malcolm returned to the Highlands he was lord of Lothian, Eadulf having surrendered his rights to all of Northumbria beyond the Tweed. Canute apparently acquiesced in this settlement. So far as we know, he made no effort to assist his subjects in the North, or to redeem the lost territory. We cannot be sure of the reason for this inactivity; but the general situation on the island appears to offer a satisfactory explanation. It will be remembered that 1018 was the year when Canute disbanded his Scandinavian army. As we are told that the bishop of Durham, who died in 10 1 9, took leave of earth a few days after he had heard the news of the great defeat, "^ it seems likely that the battle of Carham was fought late in the year 1018, and after the host had departed for Denmark. Canute, therefore, probably had no available army that he could trust; to call out his new subjects would have been a hazardous experi- ment. There is also the additional fact that the sluggish Eadulf was in all probability regarded as a rebel, whom Canute was not anxious to assist. As to the terms of the surrender of Lothian, nothing definite is known. Our only authority in the matter puts the entire blame on Eadulf, ■ Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, {., 84. » Ibid. 142 Canute the Great 11019- and apparently would have us believe that Mal- colm merely stepped into the earl's position as vassal of Eric or Canute. If such were the case, Canute could hardly have been left in ignorance about the cession, and he may have cherished certain pretensions to overlordship, which Macolm evidently did not regard very seriously. In one way the cession of Lothian was a great loss to England; on the other hand, it added an Anglian element to the Caledonian kingdom, which in time became the controlling factor, and prepared the northern state for the union of the kingdoms that came centuries afterwards. The following year, Canute was finally in posi- tion to make the deferred journey to Denmark. The Danish situation must have had its difficulties. In a proclamation issued on his return, the King alludes to these, though in somewhat ambiguous terms : Then I was informed that there threatened us a danger that was greater than was well pleasing to us ; and then I myself with the men who went with me departed for Denmark, whence came to you the greatest danger; and that I have with God's help forestalled, so that henceforth no unpeace shall come to you from that country, so long as you stand by me as the law commands, and my life lasts. ' Most probably, the difficulty alluded to was some trouble about the succession. There may have ' Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 273 (sec. 5). 10251 The Beginnings of Empire 143 been a party in Denmark to whom the thought of calling a king from England was not pleasant; or it may be that a conservative faction was hoping for a niler of the old faith. Any form of invasion from Denmark at this time, when the nation was even kingless, is almost beyond the possible. But no doubt there had been a likeli- hood that Canute would have to call on his English subjects for military and financial support in the effort to secure his hereditary rights in the North. Canute chose to spend the winter in Denmark, as during the winter season there was least likeli- hood of successful plots and uprisings. As early as possible in the spring of 1020, he returned to England. Evidently certain rebellious move- ments had made some headway during his absence, for Canute immediately summoned the lords to meet in formal assembly at the Easter festival. The plotting was apparently localised in the south- western shires, as we infer from the fact that the gemot sat in an unusual place, Cirencester in the Severn country. Its chief act seems to have been the banishment of Ethelwerd, earl in the Devon country, and of a mysterious pretender whom the Chronicler calls Edwy, king of churls. ' It seems natural to associate the destinies of these two men and to conclude that some sort of conspiracy in the pretender's favour had been hatching, but we have no definite information. ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1020. 144 Canute the Great [1019- It was probably at this gathering that Canute issued his proclamation to the English nation; at least there seems to be no doubt that it was given in 1020. It is a remarkable document, a message to a restless people, an apology for the absence in Denmark, and a promise of future good govern- ment. It hints darkly at what may have been the disturbances in the Southwest and the measures taken at Cirencester in the following terms: Now I did not spare my treasures while unpeace was threatening to come upon you; with the help of God I have warded this off by the use of my treasures.' In a measure the Proclamation of 1020 contains the announcement of a new governmental policy in England, one that recognises the English sub- jects as citizens who may be trusted with some share in the administration of the realm, and not merely as conquered provincials whose rebellious instincts can be kept down by a continuous policy of coercion only. There was, it is true, little need of coercion after 1020; the natural leaders of the native population were gone. But the import- ance of the union with Denmark with respect to politics in England must not be overlooked: it removed what fear had remained as to the stability of Canute's conquered throne. At the first indica- tion of an uprising, it would be possible to throw a Danish force on the British coast, which, com- " Sec. 4. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 145 bined with the King's loyal partisans in England, could probably stifle the rebellion in a brief campaign. The purpose to make larger use of the native energies is indirectly shown in the command to the local functionaries that they heed and follow the advice of the bishops in the administration of justice: And I make known to you that I will be a kind lord and loyal to the rights of the Church and to right secular law. And also my ealdormen I command that they help the bishops to the rights of the Church and to the rights of my kingship and to the behoof of aU the people. And I also command my reeves, by my friendship and by all that they own, and by their own lives, that they everywhere govern my people justly and give right judgments by the witness of the shire bishop, and do such mercy therein as the shire bishop thinks right and the community can allow.' The significance of this appears when we remember that the local prelates were probably English to a man. There is, however, no evidence for the belief so frequently expressed, that Canute by this time, or even earlier, had concluded to dispense with his Scandinavian officials, and to nde England with the help of Englishmen only. In the Proc- ' Sees. 2, 8, and ii. For a translation of the entire document see Appendix i. 146 Canute the Great [1019- lamation the King speaks of Danes and Angles, not of Angles and Danes. Among the thegns who witnessed his charters, Danes and Saxons continue to appear in but slightly changed ratio till the close of the reign. The alien guard was not dismissed. Local government continued in the hands of Norse and Danish earls. Time came when these disappeared from their respective earldoms, but for reasons that show no conscious purpose of removal because of nationality or race. As the field of his operations widened, as the vision of empire began to take on the forms of reality, Canute found it necessary to use his trusted chiefs in other places and in other capacities. Conse- quently the employment of native Englishmen in official positions became more common as the years passed. The following year about Martinsmas (Novem- ber II, 1021), came the first real break in Canute's political system: Thurkil the Tall, who stood second to the King only in all England, was outlawed. Florence of Worcester adds that his wife was exiled with him.' The reason for this act is not clear; but we may perhaps associate it with a lingering dislike for the old dynasty. If Edith was actually Ethelred's daughter, Thurkil's marriage may have been a source of irritation or even supposed danger to Canute and possibly also to the lady's stepmother, the callous Queen Emma. ' Chronicon, i., 183. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 147 It is also possible that the King in this case simply yielded to pressure from the native ele- ment, particularly from the Church. Thurkil's prominence in the kingdom can hardly have been a source of pleasure to the men who recalled the part that he had played in the kingdom at various times. In the Proclamation he is entrusted with the task of enforcing the laws against heathen and heretical practices. But to assign such a duty to the man who was in such a great measure respons- ible for the martyrdom of Saint Alphege must have seemed a travesty upon justice to the good churchmen of the time. The conjecture that the banishment of the Earl was not wholly the result of royal disfavour receives some support from the fact that, a few months later, Canute and Thurkil were reconciled, and the old Earl was given a position in Denmark analogous to the one that he had held in England.^ Canute still found him useful, but not in the western kingdom. At the same time, the shrewd King seems not to have felt absolutely sure of the Earl's loyalty, for we read that he brought Thurkil's son with him to England, evidently as a hostage. In 1023 another great name disappears from the documents: Earl Eric is mentioned no more. ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1023. The story given by later writers that Thurkil was slain by a Danish mob soon after his exile cannot be credited. It doubtless originated in a desire that the persecutor of Saint Alphege should suffer retribution. See especially the life of this saint in Langebek, Scriptores, ii., 453. 148 Canute the Great [1019- Later stories that he, too, suffered exile are not to be beHeved. Eric seems to have died in possession of all his Northumbrian dignities and of the King's favour at a comparatively advanced age; for the warrior who showed such signal bravery at Hjo- runga Bay nearly forty years before could not have been young. In all probability he had passed the sixtieth milestone of life, which was alraost unusual among the viking chiefs of the period. We are told that in his last year he contemplated a visit to Rome which was probably never made- Most reliable is the story that he died from the effects of primitive surgery. Just as he was about to set out on the Roman journey, it was found necessary for him to have his uvula treated. The surgeon cut too deep and a hemorrhage resulted from which the Earl died. ' That the story is old is clear, for some of the accounts have the addi- tional information that the leech acted on the suggestion of one who can be none other than Canute. This part of the story is probably mythical. The spirit of chivalry was not strong in the " One of the sagas (Fagrskinna, c. 24) tells us that Eric actually made the pilgrimage and died soon after the return. That such a journey was at least planned seems probable; Eric's brother-in. law, Einar, is said to have made a pilgrimage during the earlier years of the decade; they may have planned to make the journey together. The earliest English writers who account for Eric's disappearance on the theory of exile are William of Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, i., 219), and Henry of Huntingdon {Historia. Anglorum, 186). 10251 The Beginnings of Empire 149 viking; but, so far as it existed, it found its best representative in Eric, the son of Hakon the Bad. He was great as a warrior, great as a leader in the onslaught. He possessed in full measure the courage that made the viking such a marvellous fighter; the joy of the conflict he seems to have shared with the rest. But when the fight was over and the foeman was vanquished, nobler qualities ruled the man; he could then be merciful and large of soul. As a statesman, on the other hand, he seems to have been less successful; in Norway he permitted the aristocracy to exercise local authority to a greater extent than the wel- fare of Norse society could allow. As to his rule in Northumbria we know nothing. The next year we have the closing record of still another Scandinavian earl in England: Eglaf signs a grant for the last time in 1024.' Doubtless some trouble had arisen between him and the King, for two years later he appears to be acting the part of a rebel. Still later, he is said to have joined the Varangian guard of Scandina- vian warriors at Byzantium, where he closed his restless career in the service of the Greek Emperor. ^ There still remained Norse and Danish earls in England, such as Ranig and Hakon; but the men who were most intimately associated in the English mind with conquest and cruel subjection were apparently out of the land before the third decade ' Kemble, Codex Diplomalicus, No. 741. " Jdmsvikingasaga, c. 52. 150 Canute the Great [ioi9- of the century had finished half its course. It is probable that Hakon succeeded his father in the Northumbrian earldom, as Leofwine of Mercia seems to be in possession of Hakon's earldom in Worcestershire in 1023,' the year when Hakon's father presumably died. After the banishment of Thurkil, we should expect to find Eric, while he still lived, as the ranking earl in the kingdom and the chief ad- viser to the King. But Eric's earldom was in the extreme north; his subjects were largely Norwegian immigrants and their descendants, as yet, perhaps, but imperfectly Anglicised; he was himself an alien and his circle of ideas scarcely touched the field of Saxon politics. He could, therefore, be of smaU assistance in governing the kingdom as a whole. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether Canute really felt the need of a grand vizier at this time. An excellent assistant, how- ever, he seems to have found in the Saxon Godwin. It has been thought that Godwin's exalted position of first subject in the realm belongs to a date as early as 1020.^ But this is mere conjecture. It is evident that his influence with Canute grew with the passage of time ; still, it is likely that historians have projected his greatness too far back into his career. ' In an agreement of that year involving lands in Worcester and Gloucester, Leofwine ealdorman signs as a witness. Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 738. ' Freeman, Norman Conquest, i., 285. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 151 A position analogous to that of the tall earl he could not have held before the closing years of the reign. If Canute left any one in charge of the kingdom during his absences after 1020, it could not have been Godwin. When the fleet sailed against the Slavs on the south Baltic shores in 1022, Godwin appears to have accompanied the host. Tradition tells us that he fought valiantly in the Swedish campaign of 1026. A Norse runic monument records his presence in some expedition to Norway, presumably that of 1028.' Canute did not employ English forces to a large extent in any of his foreign wars, possibly because he was distrustful of them: only fifty English ships made part of that vast armada that overawed the Nor- wegians in 1028. Canute's probable reluctance about arming the Saxons after the battle of Carham and the consequent loss of Lothian has already been referred to. The presence of Godwin as a chief in Canute's host may, therefore, be taken as a mark of peculiar confidence on the King's part. Godwin was . never without his rival. In the Midlands Leofwine and after him his son Leofric were developing a power that was some day to prove a dangerous barrier to the ambitions of the southern Earl and his many sons. The family of Leofwine had certain advantages in the race for power that made for stability and assured posses- sion of power once gained : it was older as a member of the aristocracy; it seems to have had Anglo- ' Afhandlinger viede Sophus Bugge's Minde, 8. 152 Canute the Great [1019- Danish connections, presumably Danish ancestry; it was apparently controlled by a spirit of prudence that urged the acceptance of de-facto rule. But in the matter of aggressive abilities and states- manlike ideas the Mercians were far inferior to their Saxon rivals ; the son and grandsons of Leof- wine never attained the height of influence and power that was reached by Godwin and his son Harold. While these changes were going on in England, an important advance had been made in the direction of empire. In his message from Rome to the English people (1027) Canute claims the kingship of England, Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden. The copies of the document that have come down to us are, however, not con- temporary, and it is not likely that the sweeping claim of the salutation was found in the original. For at no time was Canute lord of any Swedish territory as the term was understood and the frontier drawn in the eleventh century. It has been pointed out that in this case we probably have a scribal error of Swedes for Slavs.' As King of Denmark, Canute inherited pretensions to considerable stretches of the south Baltic shore lands, and consequently could claim to rule a part of the Slavic lands. Early in his reign he made an expedition to these regions, of which we have faint echoes in both English and Scandina- vian sources. • Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 326-328. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 153 From the Elbe eastward along the Baltic shores, at least as far as the Vistula, where the Lithuanian settlements appear to have begun,' Slavic tribes were evidently in full possession all through the viking age. There was, however, no consolidated Slavic power, no organised Slavic state. The dominions of Bohemia and Poland were developing but neither had full control of the coast lands. The non-Slavic peoples who were interested in this region were the Danes and the Germans. The eastward expansion of Germany across and beyond the Elbe had begun; but in Canute's day Teutonic control of Wendish territories was very slight. We find the Danes in Wendland as early as the age of Charlemagne, when they were in possession of a strong and important city called Reric, the exact location of which is not known. ^ The Danish interest appears to have been wholly a commercial one: horses, cattle, game, fish, mead, timber products, spices, and hemp are mentioned as important articles of the southern trade. ^ There was also, we may infer, something of a market for Danish products. At all times, the intercourse seems to have been peaceful; Danes and Wends appear to have lived side by side on the best of terms. The Germans, on the other hand, were not regarded with much favour by their Slavic neighbours. The feeling of hostility and ' Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 3. » Ibid., 24-25. 5 Danmarks Riges Historic, i., 322-323. 154 Canute the Great [ioi9- hatred that the Wend cherished was reciprocated on the German side; the German mind scarcely thought of the Slav as within the pale of humanity. The most famous of all Danish settlements in these regions was Jom, a stronghold near the mouth of the Oder, sometimes called Jumne, Jumneta, or Julin. In the eleventh century Jom was a great city as cities went in those days, though it was probably not equal to its reputation. The good Master Adam, who has helped us to so much information regarding Northern lands and conditions in his century, speaks of the city in the following terms: It is verily the greatest city in Europe. It is inhabited by Slavs and other peoples, Greeks and barbarians. For even the Saxons who have settled there are permitted to live with the rest in the enjoy- ment of the same rights; though, indeed, only so long as they refrain from public profession of their Christian faith. For all the inhabitants are still chained to the errors of heathen idolatry. In other respects, espe- cially as to manners and hospitality, a more obliging and honourable people cannot be found. ' The city was located on the east side of the island of WoUin, where the village of WoUin has since been built. For its time it enjoyed a very favourable location. Built on an island, it was fairly safe from land attacks, while its position some distance from the sea secured it from the ' Gesta, ii., c. 19. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 155 common forms of piracy.' Back into the land ran the great river highway, the Oder, while a few miles to the north lay the Baltic with its long coast line to the east, the west, and the north. To secure Danish influence in the city, Harold Bluetooth built the famous fortress of Jomburg and garrisoned it with a carefully chosen band of warriors, later known as the Jomvikings. According to saga, Palna Toki, the viking who is reputed to have slain King Harold, was the founder and chief of the brotherhood; but the castle probably existed before Toki became prominent in the garrison, if he ever was a member. The fortress was located north of Jom near the modern village of WoUin, where abundant arch^o- logical evidence has definitely identified the site.'' The harbour or bay that served as such has since filled with the rubbish of time; but in the tenth century it is reported to have had a capacity of three hundred dragons. The existence of a military guild at Jomburg seems well attested. Only men of undoubted bravery between the ages of eighteen and fifty years were admitted to membership; and, in the admission, neither kinship nor friendship nor considerations of exalted birth should be taken into accpunt. As members of the brotherhood, aU the Jomvikings assumed the duties of mutual ' Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 33-34. ' Danmarks Riges Historic, i., 325-326. Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 49. 156 Carmte the Great [toi9- support and the revenge of a fallen comrade. Strict discipline was enjoined in the fortress; absence for more than three days at a time was forbidden; no women were to be admitted to the castle. There was to be no toleration of quarrel- some behaviour; plunder, the fruitful source of contention, was to be distributed by lot. In all disputes the chief was the judge.' It seems evident that the chief of these vikings was something more than the captain of a garrison ; he bore the earl's title and as such must have had territorial authority in and about the city. Sup- ported by the Jomvikings he soon began to assert an independence far beyond what the Danish kings had intended that he should possess. How- ever, till the death of Harold Bluetooth, the brotherhood appears to have been fairly loyal to their suzerain; it was to Jomburg that the aged King fled when his son rebelled against him ; it was there that he died after the traitor's arrow had given him the fatal wound. The rebel Sweyn was not immediately recognised by the Earl at Jom; the vikings are said to have defied him, to have captured him and carried him off. Only on the promises of marriage to Gunhild, the sister of Earl Sigvaldi's wife, and of the payment of a huge ransom, was he permitted to return to his throne. The saga story has probably a great measure of truth in it. Sweyn seems to have been deter- mined on the destruction of the fraternity, and most ' Jomsvikingasaga, c. 24. 10251 The Beginnings of Empire 157 likely had some success ; for toward the close of his reign, we find the Jomvikings no longer terrorising the Baltic shores, but plundering the western isles. In 1 02 1, toward the close of the year, we read of the exile of Thurkil the Tall, who will be remem- bered as an old Jomviking, the brother of Earl Sigvaldi, and the leader in the descent of these vikings upon England in 1009. We do not know where the exile sought a new home, but one is tempted to conjecture that he probably returned to the old haunts at the mouth of the Oder. It is an interesting fact that a few months later Canute found it advisable to make a journey to that same region. In the entry for 1022, the Chronicler writes that "in this year King Canute fared out with his ships to Wiht, " or, as one manuscript has it, to "Wihtland. " Apparently, the movement, what- ever it was, did not interest the scribe; far more important in his eyes was the news that Arch- bishop Ethelnoth, when in Rome to receive the pallium, was invited to say mass in the papal presence, and was afterwards permitted to con- verse with the Holy Father. Historians have thought with the monk that the journey with the fleet can have had but little importance, that it was merely a mobilisation of the navy at the Isle of Wight, perhaps for the purpose of display. It was the Danish historian Steenstrup who first suggested that Wiht or Wihtland probably did not mean Wight in this case, but the old Witland 158 Canute the Great [1019- that we read of in the writings of Alfred : Wulf stan the wide-farer informed the royal student that "the Vistula is a mighty stream and separates Witland from Wendland and Witland belongs to the Esthonians. " ' Evidently the Angles under- stood Witland to be the regions of modem Pnissia east of the Vistula. That Canute's expedition actually went eastward seems extremely probable for we read that the next year he returned from Dermiark and had become reconciled with Earl Thurkil.^ There were Danish colonies at the mouths of the Oder, the Vistula, and the Diina^; all these, no doubt, submitted to the conqueror from Eng- land. The expedition probably first went to Jom in Wendland ; thence eastward to the Prussian regions of Witland and the still more distant Semland, a region near the Kurisches HafE that is reported to have been conquered by one of Harold Bluetooth's sons. " Canute's possessions thus ex- tended along the Baltic shores from Jutland al- most to the eastern limits of modem Germany; he may also have had possessions farther up the eastern coast of the sea. It is not likely that these possessions were anything more than a series of ' Normannerne, iii., 322-325. ^ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1023. 3 Steenstrup, Normannerne, i., 195-199; iii., 322-325. "• Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 328. The Sembrians are described by Adamus in his history (iv., c. 18) as a very barbarous but humane race. 1025] The Beginnings of Empire 159 stations and settlements; but these would serve as centres of influence from which Danish power would penetrate into the interior to the protection of Danish trade and commerce. Later English writers have a story to tell of this expedition, especially of the valorous part that was played by the Earl Godwin. In the expedition against the Vandals, Godwin, without first inform- ing the King, made a night attack on the enemy and put them to rout. When Canute prepared to make an attack early in the morning, he misse-d the English and feared that they had fled or deserted. But when he came upon the enemy's camp and found nothing there but bloody corpses and plunder, light dawned on the King, and he ever afterward held the English in high esteem. ' Jomburg apparently retained its old pre-emin- ence as the centre of Danish control on the south- em shore. The King's brother-in-law, Ulf, seems to have been left in control, probably with the title of earl. But after the death of Thurkil, who had been left as viceroy of Denmark, Ulf was ap- parently transferred to that country and Canute's son Sweyn, under the guidance of his mother Elgiva, was appointed the King's lieutenant in Wendland. " '■ Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, 187. The author dates this expedition in 1019, which is probably incorrect. An expedition to Wendland earlier than 1022 is quite unlikely. ' Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 66. l6o Canute the Great 11019- The extension of Danish influence among the Wends brought Denmark into closer contact and relations with the Empire. Two years after Canute's expedition to the Slavic lands, Henry the Saint passed to his reward, and Conrad the Salic succeeded to the imperial dignities. On the death of Henry II. the great Polish Duke Boleslav hastened to assume the regal title, and evidently planned to renounce the imperial suzerainty. This policy of hostility to the Empire was contin- ued by his son and successor, Mieczislav, who also may have hoped to interest his cousin King Canute in the welfare of the new kingdom. Conrad also felt the need of a close alliance with the Danish conqueror, and called upon Archbishop Unwan of Hamburg-Bremen for assistance as a mediator. Unwan was Canute's friend and succeeded in bringing about the desired under- standing. Possibly the price of the alliance may have appealed to Canute as much as the Arch- bishop's arguments; for Conrad bought the friend- ship of his Northern neighbour with the Mark of Sleswick to the Eider River. ' The exact date of this alliance is a matter of doubt, but the probabilities appear to favour 1025, when the Emperor Conrad was in Saxony. Some historians believe that the mark was not ceded at this time but ten years later, when Can- ute's daughter Gunhild was betrothed to Con- rad's son Henry, as Adam of Bremen seems to " Adamus, Gesla, ii., c. 54 10251 The Beginnings of Empire i6i associate these two events. ' But Adam's chrono- logy is confused on these matters. Canute's friendship was surely more difficult to purchase in 1025 when his star was rapidly ascending than in 1035 when his empire had begun to collapse. While we cannot be sure, it seems extremely likely that the boundary of Denmark was extended to the Eider in 1025. ' See Manitius, Deutsche Geschichle unter den sdchsischen und salischen Kaisern, 370. DANISH COINS FROM THE REIGN OF CANUTE, MINTED AT LUND, ROESKILDE, RINGSTED CHAPTER VII CANUTE AND THE ENGLISH CHURCH IOI7-IO26 THE English Church enjoyed Canute's favour from the very beginning: the King was a Christian; furthermore, he no doubt saw in the Church a mighty force that should not be antagon- ised. At the same time, there is no evidence of any close union between church and monarchy before 1020; and even then it was more like an entente cordiale than an open aggressive alliance, as it later came to be. Canute was a Christian, but he was also a shrewd statesman and a consummate politician. The religious situation among his Danish supporters in England as well as the general religious and political conditions in the North probably made it inexpedient, perhaps impossible, to accede to the full demands of the Church with- out danger to his ambitions and probable ruin to his imperialistic plans. When the eleventh century opened, the North was still largely heathen. Missionaries had been at work for nearly two centuries — ever since 162 [1017-10261 Canute and the English Church 163 Saint Ansgar entered the Scandinavian mission field in the days of Louis the Pious — and the faith had found considerable foothold in Denmark, especially on the Jutish peninsula. Canute's father Sweyn had been baptised ; but other indica- tions of his Christian faith are difficult to find. His queen, Sigrid the Haughty, was almost vio- lent in her devotion to the old gods. Sweden remained overwhelmingly heathen for some years yet, while the progress of the Church in Norway depended on royal mandates supported by the sword and the firebrand. Only five years before the death of Canute, Norse heathendom won its last notable victory, when Saint Olaf fell before the onslaught of the yeomanry at Stiklestead (1030). The army that conquered England for Canute was no doubt also largely heathen. It seems, therefore, safe to assume that during the early years of the new reign, the worship of the Anse-gods was carried on in various places on English soil; surely in the Danish camps, perhaps also in some of the Danish settlements. This situation com- pelled the Christian King to be at least tolerant. Soon there began to appear at the English court prominent exiles from Norway, hot-headed chiefs, whose sense of independence had been outraged by the zealous missionary activities of Olaf the Stout.' Canute had not been lord of England more than six or seven years before the Norwegian ■ Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 130, 131, 139, 164 Canute the Great [1017- problem began to take on unusual interest. Before long the missionary King found his throne completely undermined by streams of British gold. The exiles who sought refuge at Winchester and the men who bore the bribe-money back to Norway were scarcely enthusiastic for the faith that frowned on piracy; consequently it continued to be neces- sary for Canute to play the r61e of the tolerant, broad-minded monarch, who, while holding firmly to his own faith, was unwilling to interfere with the religious rites of others. In his later ecclesiastical legislation, Canute gave the Church all the enact- ments that it might wish for ; but it is a significant fact that these laws did not come before the Northern question had been settled according to Canute's desires and his viceroy was r\iling in Norway. Edgar's laws, which were re-enacted in 1018, at the Oxford assembly, deal with the matter of Christianity in general terms only. The more explicit and extensive Church legislation of Ethel- red's day was set aside and apparently remained a dead letter until it was in large measure re-enacted as a part of Canute's great church law late in the reign. The early surroundings of the King had not been such as to develop in him the uncompromis- ing zeal that characterised the typical Christian monarch in mediaeval times. We do not know when he was baptised ; it may have been in child- hood, and it must have been before the conquest of England, as the Christian name Lambert. 1026] Canute and the English Church 165 which was added in baptism to the heathen name by which we know him, would suggest that the rite was administered by a German ecclesiastic' It is believed that he was confirmed by Ethelnoth the Good, the English churchman who later be- came Archbishop of Canterbury.^ We do not know when the rite of confirmation was adminis- tered, but the probabilities point to the winter months of 1015-1016; for during these months Canute was several times in South-western England where Ethelnoth lived at the time The subjection of England to an alien, half- heathen aristocracy must have caused many difficulties to the English Church. How the prob- lems were met we do not know. The Mediaeval Church, however, was usually to be found on the side of power : the Church loved order and believed in supporting good and efficient government ' Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 50: schol. 38. It seems to have been customary to add a Christian name in baptism. There is an allusion to Canute's conversion in the Chronicle of Ademar de Chabannes (ii., c. 55), who seems to believe that Canute became a Christian after the conquest of England. But the authority of the Aquitanian chronicler, though contemporary, cannot be so weighty as that of the records of the church of Bremen which the Scholiast seems to have used in the entry cited above. For Ad^mar's statement see Waitz, Scripiores {M. G. H. ), iv., 140. ' Langebek, Scriptores, ii., 454: Osbern's tract concerning the translation of Saint Alphege. Osbern tells us that Ethelnoth was dear to Canute because he had anointed him with the sacred chrism. This cannot refer to his coronation, nor is it likely to have reference to his baptism, as Ethelnoth, would scarcely have given Canute a German name. It seems, therefore, that it must allude to his confirmation. 1 66 Canute the Great [ioi7- whenever circumstances would permit it. Soon after the meeting at Oxford, apparently in 1019, Archbishop Lifing made a journey to Rome; we may conjecture that he went to seek counsel and to obtain instructions as to what attitude the English clergy should assume toward the new powers, but we do not know. It is clear, however, that the subject was seriously discussed at the papal court, for the archbishop brought back a letter to Canute exhorting him to practise the virtues of Christian kingship. It must have flattered the young Dane to receive this, for he refers to it in his Proclamation : I have taken to heart the written words and verbal messages that Archbishop Lifing brought me from the pope from Rome, that I should everywhere extol the praise of God, put away injustice, and promote full security and peace, so far as God should give me strength. ' That same year the venerable Primate died, and Ethelnoth the Good was appointed to succeed him as Archbishop of Canterbury.^ The choice was evidently the King's own and the two men seem to have laboured together in singular harmony. But though Ethelnoth was primate, the dominant influence at court seems to have been that of an abbot in Devonshire. When Abbot Lifing was yet only a monk at Winchester, ' Lieberraann, Geschichte der Angelsachsen, i., 273. ^ Florence of Worcester, Chro?iicon, i., 183. 1026] Canute and the English Church 167 he seems to have attracted the King's attention; at any rate, we are told by the historian of Malmes- bury that he became an intimate friend of Canute and exerted great influence with him.' It may have been this friendship that secured to Lifing the abbacy of Tavistock, perhaps in 1024, in which year he witnessed charters for the first time as abbot. Lifing's advance to power was rapid. Two years after his first appearance in the documents as abbot, we find that he had been elevated to the episcopal office, having probably been advanced to the see of Crediton.^ The Devonshire country had been the centre of a persistent anti-Danish movement, it appears, and it was surely a prudent move to place a strong partisan of the new order in control of the Church in the southwestern shires. In the same year, the King further honoured him with landed estates in Hampshire. This must have been just prior to the Holy River campaign in Sweden, on which expedition the bishop prob- ably accompanied his royal master (William of Malmesbury tells us that he frequently went to Denmark with Canute) ; at all events, when Canute without first returning to England made his journey to Rome, in the early months of 1027, the " Gesta Pontificum, 200. ' Kemble, Codex Diplomalicus, No. 743. Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 185. To this he afterwards added the see of Worcester, to which he was appointed by Harold in 1038. Ibid., 193- l68 Canute the Great [ioi7- bishop of Creditor! was an important member of the King's retinue. It was Bishop Lifing who was sent back to England with Canute's famous message to the English Church and people, the King himself going on to Denmark. William of Malmesbury describes him as a violent, wilful, and ambitious prelate; when he died (in 1046) the earth took proper notice and trembled through- out all England.' The year 1020 was one of great significance for English history in the reign of Canute. In that year he returned to England as Danish king; in that same year he issued his Proclamation to his Anglian subjects and announced his new govern- mental policy; the same year saw the appoint- ment of a new and friendly primate of the Anglican Church; in that year, too, began a series of bene- factions and other semi-religious acts that made Canute's name dear to the English churchmen and secured him the favour of monastic chroniclers. These took various forms: new foundations were established and many of the older ones received increased endowments; monasteries that had been defiled or destroyed in the Danish raids were repaired or rebuilt; the fields where the Lord of Hosts had given the victory to Canute's armies were adorned with churches where masses were said for the souls of the slain; saints were hon- oured; pilgrimages were made; heathen practices were outlawed. ' Gesta Pontificum, 200-201. 1026] Canute and the English Church 169 The series properly begins with the consecration of the church on Ashington field in 1020. The church itself was apparently a modest structure, but the dedication ceremonies were elaborate. As the primacy was evidently vacant at the time, Archbishop Lifing having died about mid-year (June 12),' the venerable Wulfstan of the northern province was called on to officiate. With him were numerous ecclesiastics, bishops, abbots, and monks. King Canute and Earl Thurkil also graced the occasion with their presence.'' It is interesting to note that the office of chapel priest at Ashington was given to a clerk of Danish blood, the later prelate Stigand, one of the few Danes who have held ecclesiastical offices in England. Stigand for a time sat on the episcopal throne in the cathedrals of Winchester and Canterbury. Doubtless a Dane could perform the offices on this particular field with a blither spirit than a native Englishman. If the intention was to impress the English Church, Canute clearly succeeded. Though details are wanting, it is understood that similar foundations soon graced the other fields where Canute had fought and won. In that same year, apparently, monks were substituted for secular clerks as guardians of Saint Edmund's shrine. Grievously had the Danes sinned against the holy East Anglian King. Five generations earlier he had suffered ignomini- ' Stubbs, Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum, 31. 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1020. 1 70 Canute the Great [ioi7- ous martyrdom at the hands of the vikings. The saint had again suffered outrage in the closing months of King Sweyn's life by what seemed to be petty persecution of the priests who served at his sacred shrine. As we have already seen, the King's sudden death while the matter of tribute was stiU unsettled gave rise to the legend that Saint Edmvmd struck down the Dane "in like man- ner as the holy Mercurius slew the nithing Julian. " It was charged that the priests of the holy place led disorderly lives, and on the advice of the neighbouring bishop, Elfwine of Elmham, it was determined to eject them. Earl Thurkil's con- sent was asked and received. Monks to the number of twenty were brought from Saint Benet Hulme and Ely. ' The same year a new church was begun, that the relics of the martyr might have a more suitable home. The monks naturally organised themselves into a monastic community, which seems to have enjoyed full immunity from the very beginning: a trench was run around Saint Edmund's chapel on the edge of which all tax-gathering was to stop. In addition it is said that the Lady Emma pledged an annual gift of four thousand eels from Lakenheath, though this was probably a later contribution. The brethren of the monastery also claimed that Canute granted them extensive jurisdiction over the manors that belonged to the new foundation.^ It is evident ' Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, I., xxvii, 47, 126. " Ibid., {., 343. 1026] Canute and the English Church 171 that large endowments were given and Canute in this way became in a sense the founder of one of the most important sanctuaries of mediaeval England. William of Malmesbury tells us that Canute dis- liked the English saints, but the evidence indicates the contrary. The only instance of ill-will re- corded is in the case of Saint Edith, King Edgar's holy daughter. Saint Edith rested at Wilton, where there was a religious house for women that had enjoyed her patronage. Canute expressed a doubt as to the sanctity of a daughter of the im- moral Edgar and ordered the shrine to be opened. The offended princess arose, we are told, and struck the impious King in the face. ' Canute acknow- ledged his error and did penance. There may be some truth in the story so far as it relates to the King's hostility or incredulity, for Saint Edith was the sister of Canute's old enemy. King Ethelred. It may have been the vigorous argument of Saint Edith, or genuine piety, or political considera- tions that wrought the change, but it is clear that Canute soon developed a profound respect for the saints that rested in England. He caused the relics of Saint Wistan to be translated from Repingdon to a more suitable home in the honoured abbey of Evesham.'' The remains of Saint Felix were brought back to Ramsey in the face of strong opposition from the jealous monks of Ely.^ On ■ William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, 190. " Chronicon Abbatice de Evesham, 325-326. ^ Historia Rameseiensis , 127-128. 172 Canute the Great [1017- one of his northern journeys the King turned aside to Durham to adore the bones of the mighty Saint Cuthbert. Five miles did the King walk with bare feet to the Durham sepulchre, and after showing proper respect and veneration, he con- cluded his visit with a royal gift of lands, two manors, we are told, with all their belongings.' Toward the close of his reign, by legislative act, he gave the strenuous Dunstan a place on the calendar of English saints.^ By far the most famous act of homage of this sort was the translation of Saint Alphege from London to Canterbury' in 1023, famous not be- cause of its peculiar importance, but because certain literary monks saw fit to write long ac- counts of it. This, too, was an act of expiation : so far as the sins of Canute's people were concerned the case of Bishop Alphege was much like that of the martyred King Edmund. Alphege was from Western England and became a monk at Deerhurst in Gloucestershire. He was for a time abbot of Bath and later bishop of Winchester. It was he who confirmed Olaf Trygvesson and thus indirectly began the work that resulted in the conversion of Norway. As Archbishop of Canter- bury he seems to have taken a pastoral interest in the Danish besiegers, for which he was rewarded with indignities and death. His bones had been laid at rest at Saint Paul's in London; but Canter- ' Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, i., 90. " Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 298. 1026] Canute and the English Church 173 bury was naturally anxious to have her first mar- tyred bishop in her own house, while London, on the other hand, is said to have watched over the sacred remains with a jealous care that bore the marks of avarice rather than of veneration. We are told that Canute earlier had formed the purpose of translating the relics and that certain calamities had recalled the intention to his mind. He suggested the project to Archbishop Ethelnoth, who doubted the feasibility of the venture. Ac- cording to the highly-coloured report of the monk Osbern who claims to have his information from an eye-witness, the King and the Archbishop secretly removed the body from its resting-place and gave it to a monk who bore it to the Thames where the King's ship lay ready to receive it. The attention of the Londoners was diverted to other parts of the city by feigned excitement at the farther gates, for which the King's housecarles were responsible. Meanwhile, the royal ship, with Canute himself at the rudder, was conveying the remains to Southwark, where they were given into the keeping of the Archbishop and his com- panions, who bore them joyfully on to Rochester. Here the party was joined by Queen Emma and the five-year-old princeling Harthacanute accom- panied by a strong force of housecarles. The translation was effected in June and occupied seven days.' ' Most of these details are from Osbern's tract on the Kfe and translation of Saint Alphege. See Langebek, Scriplores, ii., 174 Canute the Great [ioi7- The Dane's interest in the Church also expressed itself in frequent and important endowments. While it is not always possible to verify these grants, there can be little doubt that the monastic records are usually correct on the points of pos- session and donors, though the extant charters are frequently forgeries produced at a time when titles were called into question. In some of these gifts, too, we see clearly a desire to atone for past wrongs. Canterbury, which had suffered heavy losses at the hands of Thurkil and his wild com- rades, was assured of its liberties and immxinities early in the reign. ^ Another act of expiation was the visit and gift to Glastonbury, the famous monastery that had received the bones of Edmund Ironside. A century after Canute's time Edmund's grave was covered with a "pall of rich materials, embroidered with figures of peacocks." Legend ascribes the gift to Canute, and may in this case be trustworthy. With the King at Edmund's grave stood Archbishop Ethelnoth, who was at one time a monk at Glastonbury.'' The visit seems to have been made in 1026, perhaps on the eve of Canute's expedition against the Norwegians and Swedes. Perhaps Canute's most famous gift was the or Wharton's Anglia Sacra, ii. The account in the Chronicle is briefer but more reliable. ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, Nos. 727 and 731; of these the former is scarcely genuine. ' William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i., 224. 1026] Canute and the English Church 175 golden cross at Winchester. Some time in the early years of his reign, apparently in 1019, probably just before his visit to Denmark, he gave to the New Minster a "magnificent golden cross, richly ornamented with precious stones"; in ad- dition to this, "two large images of gold and silver, and sundry relics of the saints."' It seems to have been a gorgeous present, one that was keenly appreciated by the recipients, and the history of which was long recounted. The gift was apparent- ly accompanied by a donation of valuable lands." Canute also showed an interest in the monastery of Saint Benet Hulme, to which three manors were given. ■' It is claimed that he granted certain immunities to the church of Saint Mary Devon in Exeter, but the evidence is not trustworthy.'' The great abbey of Evesham was not forgotten: the blessed Wistan was given a black chasuble and other ornaments, probably at the time of his translation. 5 It may be that in making this gift the King wished to show his appreciation of the abbot as well as to honour the saint: Abbot Elf ward is said to have been Canute's cousin; if such was the case he must have been the son of the ill-starred Pallig. Gifts there also were of a more personal charac- ter, gifts to various ecclesiastics, monks, and priests whom the King wished to honour; especially may ■ Liber de Hyda, xxxvi. ^ Ibid., 324. 3 Kemble, Codex Diplomatics, No. 740. * Ibid., No. 729. 5 Chronicon Abbatia de Evesham, 83. 176 Canute the Great [1017- we mention the grants to Bishop Burhwold and to Bishop Lifing. ' But such donations were not numerous; Canute seems to have preferred to honour foundations, probably because in mediaeval times the institution was of greater consequence than the individual. The gifts enumerated were made during the first half of the reign. Grants were made in the second period as weU: Abingdon claims to have enjoyed his favour^; the Old Minster at "Winchester was endowed with lands and adorned with speci- mens of the goldsmith's art'; a considerable gift of lands was made to York cathedral; but these seem to reveal a different spirit and purpose in the giver. Before his career closed the great Dane became an ardent Christian; but in his earlier years, the politician left little room to the church- man: the Church was a factor merely, though a great factor, in the political situation. Other kings have gloried in new foundations as monu- ments to religious zeal; Canute selected the long- established, the widely-influential shrines and houses and gave his favour chiefly to them. In return he doubtless expected the favour of Saints Cuthbert, Alphege, Edmund, Felix, and Dunstan, and the support of Canterbury, Evesham, Win- chester, and the other great institutions that he ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, Nos. 728, 743. ' Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, i., 434 £E. > Annates Monastici, ii., 16. < Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 749. 1026] Canute and the English Church 17'j endowed. It is to be noted that nearly all the institutions that shared the royal bounty were located in the Anglo-Saxon South where Canute especially needed to build up a personal following. The exceptions were York, Durham, and Coventry where the faithful rejoiced in an arm of Saint Augustine, a relic of peculiar value that Canute is said to have bestowed on the city.' Whatever his motives were, it is clear that Canute showed an interest in matters ecclesiastical far beyond what the Church might reasonably expect from a king whose training had scarcely been positively Christian, and who still kept in close touch with the non-Christian influences that dominated so much of the North. Still, one desire remained unsatisfied : thus far the King had done nothing to make the Christian faith compulsory in England. The Proclamation of 1020 looks in that direction; but it contains no decree of the desired sort. It is a peculiar docu- ment, remarkable more for what it omits than for what it actually contains. God's laws, by which the rules of the Church are doubtless meant, are not to be violated; but the important task of bringing the violators to justice is committed to the old pirate, Thurkil the Tall, whose appreciation of Christian virtues and divine commandments cannot have been of the keenest. "^ Certain charac- ' Gervase of Canterbury, Historical Works, ii., 56. The arm was brought to England from Rome by Archbishop Ethelnoth. William of Malmesbury, Ggito i?egM?n, i., 224. "Sec. 9, 178 Canute the Great lioi7- teristically heathen sins are to be avoided : among the things forbidden is to consort with witches and sorceresses.' But the only crime of this nature for which the document prescribes a specific penalty is that of marrying a nun or any other woman who has taken sacred vows : And if any one has done so, let him be an outlaw before God and excommunicated from aU Christen- dom, and let him forfeit all his possessions to the king, unless he quickly desist from sin and do deep penance before God.^ It is evident, however, that Canute believed that the process of education in the church from Sunday to Sunday would eventually solve the problem of heathenism in England; for he closes his Proclamation with an exhortation to all his subjects to attend faithfully the divine services: And further still we admonish all men to keep the Sunday festival with all their might and observe it from Saturday's noon to Monday's dawning; and let no man be so bold as to buy or sell or to seek any court on that holy day. And let all men, poor and rich, seek their church and ask forgiveness for their sins and earnestly keep every ordained fast and gladly honour the saints, as the mass priest shall bid us, ' Sec. 15. As the term used for sorceress seems to be Norse, this prohibition was evidently aimed at practices in the Danelaw. "Sec. 17. 10261 Canute and the English Church 179 that we may all be able and permitted, through the mercy of the everlasting God and the intercession of His saints, to share the joys of the heavenly kingdom and dwell with Him who liveth and reigneth forever without end. Amen.' ' Sees. 18-20. CHAPTER VIII THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS THE question what attitude to assume toward the organised EngHsh Church may have caused Canute some embarrassment; but the English problem was simple compared with the religious complications that the young King had to face in the North. England was Christian, at least officially, while Scandinavia was still largely heathen ; though every day saw the camps of Christendom pitched a little farther toward the Arctic. In all the Northern kingdoms missionaries were at work planting the seeds of the new faith. By the close of the millennium Christianity had made great progress in the Danish kingdom; it was firmly rooted in Jutland and had found a foothold on the islands and in Scania. Amo g the Norwegians the new worship had also made some progress ; but in Sweden the darkness of heathen- dom still hung heavy and low. Norse Christianity doubtless filtered in with the viking raids: with the plunder of the Catholic South and West, the sea-kings also appropriated many of the forms and ideas of Western civilisation, 1 80 IT " S 1 J5 LJJ tin S.E The Twilight of the Gods i8i and it is not to be supposed that the fields of rehgious thought were neglected or overlooked. King Hakon the Good became a Christian at the court of his foster-father, Ethelstan, the grandson of Alfred.' The sons of Eric Bloodax were also baptised in England, where their father had found an exile's refuge.'' Olaf Trygvesson found his faith and his mission while fighting as viking in England. Olaf the Saint received baptism in Rouen on his return from a raid as viking mercen- ary. Thus Norway had been in close touch with the new faith for nearly a century; and yet, Christianity had made but little actual progress. During the reign of Canute the Danish Church reached the stage of effective organisation, while in Norway the religious activities were still of the missionary type. The forces of the Anse-gods were in retreat all along the religious frontier; but it is not to be supposed that they were panic-stricken. To their zeal for the ancestral worship was added a love for the conflict which inspired the faithful to contest every inch of the Christian advance. The challenge of Thor has a sort of historic reality in it : ' Snorre, Saga of Harold Fairhair, c. 41. Hakon's dates according to saga are 935-961. The earlier date should probably be corrected to 945 or a later year, perhaps 947. See Norges Hislorie, I., ii., 139. ' Snorre, Saga of Hakon the Good, c. 3. Eric Bloodax was Hakon's half-brother. For a time he ruled Northumbria as vassal of the English King. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 952. The vassal relationship is asserted in the sagas. 1 82 Canute the Great in a sense the issue of religion was settled in the North by wager of battle. In his admiration for strength and force, many a Northman seemed willing to follow the lead of the stronger cult. The Anse-faith of the viking age seems to have been a development of an ancient form of heaven worship or possibly of sun worship, traces of which have been found in the North from the days of the stone age.' In time the deity came to be viewed from various angles, and each particular aspect was individualised and made the object of separate worship. Thus, apparently, arose the three great divinities, Thor, Woden, and Frey. Thor is the god of strength, the mighty defender of gods and men. His name (O. Eng. Thunor), his flaming beard, the crash of his hammer-stroke show that the Thor-conception was closely associated with early notions of thunder and lightning. Similarly, the name of Woden "^ associates his divinity with the untamed forces of nature, the fury of the tempest, the wrath of the storm. He is, therefore, the god of the battle rush, the divine force that inspires the athletic frenzy of the berserk. Thor is armed with a hammer, Woden with a spear. Thor rides in a cart drawn by rams ; Woden's mount is ' Montelius, KuUurgeschichte Schwedens, 312. Two symbols of sun worship, the wheel and the axe (the symbol of lightning which later developed into Thor's hammer), can be traced back to the close of the stone age. Ibid., 55. The worship of the bright sky may have preceded that of the sun. " German Wotan. Cf. Mod. Ger. Wuth. The Twilight of the Gods 183 a swift eight-footed horse. But Woden is more than a mere god of conflict ; he is wise and cunning and knows the mysteries of the world. Frey is the god of fruitfulness, the sun-god as giver of life and growth. He should be worshipped by tillers of the soil. In the course of time, new deities were admitted to the Scandinavian pantheon ; some of these were no doubt developed from older conceptions ; others were evidently introduced from neighbouring cults. Gradually the old, rude beliefs came to be overlaid with myths, a series of strange tales, bold, strong, and weird. Recent scholars have held that many of these were borrowed from the bulging storehouse of Christian faith and legend — the result of intellectual contact between the old races and the Norse immigrant on the Western Islands. ' But even where this borrowing can be clearly traced, the modifying touches of the Norse imagination are clearly in evidence. The Northern peoples also e eveloped a system of ethics of which we have a remarkable state- ment in the Eddie poem, the "Song of the High One." While of a lower character than that associated with Christianity, it was, when we consider the soil from which it sprang, a re- markable growth. Candour, honesty, courage, strength, fidelity, and hospitality were enjoined and emphasised. The Northman was impressed ' Particularly the late Sophus Bugge in The Home oj the Eddie Poems and elsewhere. 184 Canute the Great with the fact that all things seem perishable ; but he hoped that the fame of a good life would con- tinue after death. Cattle die, kinsmen die, Finally dies one-self; But never shall perish the fame of him Who has won a good renown. Cattle die, kinsmen die. Finally dies one-self; But one thing I know that always remains. Judgment passed on the dead.' But the duties toward the hostile and the weak, that Christianity strove to inculcate, the North- man did not appreciate: slavery was common; weak and unwelcome children were often exposed at birth; revenge was a sacred duty. It is not the intention to enter upon a full dis- cussion of Old Northern faith and morals: in the conversion of a people that had reached the par- ticular stage of culture that the Norsemen occupied in the eleventh century, neither is of prime import- tance. It is doubtful whether the vikings were much interested in the intricacies of dogma, be it heathen or Christian. It also seems unlikely that Christian morals as practised at the time could have proved very attractive. In the life of Saint Olaf, for instance, there was little that we should regard as saintly, but much that was cruel, sinful, ' Hdvamdl, 39-40. {Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i , 8.) The Twilight of the Gods 185 and coarse. The Celtic Church, with which the Norwegians first came into close contact, seems to have put a somewhat liberal construction on the ten commandments. The forms of worship, how- ever, were of the first importance: in the gorge- ous ritual of the mediaeval Church the heathen could not faU to see a tangible excellence that his own rude worship did not possess. The Anse-f aith knew no priesthood : the various local officials were charged with the duty of per- forming the ancient rites, though some evidently- had peculiar responsibilities in this matter. In the family the father had certain sacerdotal duties. The gods were worshipped in temples, though not exclusively so; sacred groves and fountains were also used for such purposes. Frequently, also, the great hall of a chief was dedicated to the gods and used for sacrificial feasts. ' Most famous of all the Old Scandinavian sanc- tuaries was that at Upsala in Eastern Sweden, built, we are told, by the god Frey himself. It was a large wooden structure, highly ornamented with gold. Within were rude images of the three major divinities, Thor, Woden, and Frey, with Thor's image in the chief place. Near the temple there grew, according to the account in Adam's chronicle, an exceedingly large tree that always kept its verdure, in winter as well as in summer. There was also a fountain where the victims were some- times drowned; if the corpse did not reappear, • Montelius, KuUurgeschichte Schwedens, 321. 1 86 Canute the Great the favour of the gods was assured. In the sacred grove about the sanctuary, the sacrificial victims were hung — horses, dogs, and other beasts, fre- quently also human beings. The corpses were not removed but permitted to hang from the trees. Adam reports that an eye-witness once counted seventy-two such sacrificial victims.' Every ninth year the entire Swedish nation was summoned to sacrifice at Upsala. The feast was celebrated shortly before the vernal equinox and continued nine days. At least one human being was sacrificed each day. Great multitudes were in attendance — king and people all sent their offerings to Upsala. It seems, however, that Christians were released from the duty of attend- ance on the payment of money. ^ It is clear that the gathering had a national as well as a religious significance. Elaborate festivities were combined with the sacrifices. Three times in the year did the Northmen gather in this manner to feast and to invoke the gods: at Yule-tide in January, at the vernal equinox, and late in the autumn. Of these gatherings the sagas speak somewhat explicitly and seem to give reliable information. It was the old way, when a sacrifice was to be, that all the franklins should come to the place where the temple was, and carry thither the victuals that they wished to have as long as the feast lasted. All ' Gesla, iv., c. 27 and schol. 134, 137. ' Ibid. The Twilight of the Gods 187 were to have a drinking together, and there were also slaughtered all kinds of cattle and also horses. And all the blood that came thereof was then called sortilege-blood, and sortilege-bowls those wherein the blood stood, and sortilege-twigs that were made like a sprinkler. With this blood were all the altars to be sprinkled withal, and also the walls of the temple without and within, and also sprinkled on the people, but the meat was seethed for the entertainment of the people. There had to be fires in the midst of the floor of the temple, and kettles over them, and the toasts were carried across the fire. And he that made the feast or was chief had to make a sign over the toast and the sanctified meat. First must come Woden's toast : that was drunk to victory and power of the king; and then Niard's toast; and Frey's toast for good seasons and peace. It was many men's wont to drink Brage's toast after that. Men also would drink a toast to their kinsmen that had been laid in their barrows, and that was called the memory toast. ■ This description applies more especially to the great Yule-festivities, but its more prominent features, the gathering, the sacrificial slaughter, the blood-sprinkling, the toasts, and the feasting, were evidently common usages, though places and occasions probably developed varieties of custom- ary worship. On the same occasions, the will ' Vigfusson and Powell, Origines IslandiccB, i., 309-310. From the Hakonar Saga. 1 88 Canute the Great of the gods was ascertained by the casting of lot or other processes of sortilege. Vows were pledged and oaths were registered. A ring of two-ounce weight or more must lie on the altar in every head temple. This ring every god'e (temple-official) must carry in his hand to any law- moot that he himself was to preside over, and he must first redden it in the blood of the sacrificial beast which he sacrificed there himself. ' In the myth Ragnarok the Sibyl has told of the end of all things, even of the divinities; how the twilight shall settle down upon the life of the Anses; how their strength shall wither and age steal upon them; and how at last Swart, the lord of the fire- world, shall come to the attack wrapped in flames. Swart from the south comes With flaming sword; Bright from his blade The sun is blazing. Stagger the stony peaks, Stumble the giants; Heroes fare Hel-ward And heaven yawns. ^ It is an awftd picttire that the prophetess unrolls for us of all the personified forces of destruction mustering to do battle against the gods. The ' Vigfusson and Powell, Origines Islandiccs, i., 311. From the Landndma-boc. "Volusp^, 11. 155-158. {Corpus Poeticum Boreale,\., 199.) (Monument THE TJANGVIDE STONE from the Island of Gotland. The stone shows various mythological figures; see below, page 302.) The Twilight of the Gods 189 forces of evil win, for weakness has stolen upon the world in the "twilight" preceding the final con- flict: "an age of lust, of ax and sword, and of crashing shields, of wind and wolf ere the world crumbles."' Then comes the end of all things: Swart is the sun, Earth sinks in the ocean, The shining stars Are quenched in the sky. Smoke and steam Encircle the Ash-tree, Flame-tongues lick The lofty heaven.^ The prophecy of destruction as well as an ex- pressed hope of future regeneration shows quite clearly the result of Christian influence on thought and imagery. The poem must consequently have been produced after the North had come under the spell of Western culttire, some time, perhaps, in the tenth centiury. Less than a century later the "twilight of the gods" had set in. The tmion of the Anglo-Saxon to the Danish crown could not fail to affect missionary operations in the North. It would seem at first sight as if the work would be strengthened and hastened, for now the Christianising energies of Britain would be added to those of Germany. As a matter of fact the situation became more complex and difficult : ■ Voluspd, n. 133-134- 'Ibid., 11. 175-178. 190 Canute the Great the union brought out the question whether the primacy of the new church should belong to Ham- burg-Bremen or to Canterbury. It seems that Canute at one time held out hopes to Archbishop Ethelnoth of rising to metropolitan authority of the Danish as well as of the English nation. Such an arrangement would seem natural and highly desirable: the empire that Canute ruled from Winchester could be more readily held together if its ecclesiastical concerns were all directed from the cathedral at Canterbviry. These new plans with respect to the young Danish Church apparently date from the years immediately following Canute's return to England as Danish king (1020). His new interest in English ecclesiastical matters has been discussed elsewhere. In 1022, Ethelnoth consecrated three bishops for Danish sees: Gerbrand for Zealand (Roeskild); Reginbert for Funen (Odense); and Bernhard for the Scanian lands.' The sources also state that many other Enghsh bishops were sent to Denmark from England, but no names are given. It is to be noted that the names given above are not Anglo-Saxon but German. It has therefore been thought that these bishops were from Flanders or Lorraine, in which regions there was an ecclesiastical movement of some importance in the days of Canute.^ Of these three the most important was doubt- ' Stubbs, Regis trum Sacrum Anglicanum, 33. ' Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 383. The Twilight of the Gods 191 less Gerbrand, whose cathedral was located at Roeskild, the royal residential city. At this time Unwan was archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen. Unwan was an aggressive and ambitious prelate; it was not with pleasure that he learned of the new bishops from the West ; without the North as its mission-field, Bremen would be a sorry province. Bishop Gerbrand on his journey to his new parish, — he was probably sailing along the German coast according to custom, — was captured and brought before Archbishop Unwan who forced him to do proper homage. Apparently the German Prelate made a favourable impression on Bishop Gerbrand for through his influence the Archbishop induced Canute to agree that future bishops should be consecrated at Bremen.' Tradition is doubtless correct in ascribing to Canute considerable activity in the endowment of churches. The statement that he established monasteries in Denmark is probably an error; if he attempted to do so, his efforts failed^; some time stni had to pass before the viking could find contentment in the cloister. Danish monasticism dates from the closing years of the century, when twelve monks from Evesham on the Avon came on request of King Eric to fotind a monastery at Odense. It seems likely that the payment of Peter's pence dates from this reign. As to the amount of this tax nothing is known; but it is ' Adamus, Gesia, ii., c. 53. ' Danmarks Riges Historic, i., 403, 500-501. 192 Canute the Great probable that the sum was a very modest one, as the Danes in England seem to have been specially favoured in this matter, the tax in the Danelaw being half as large as in the rest of England. ' Across the Sound in Scania, the introduction of Christianity was a slower process. We learn that in Sweyn's time an Englishman, Godebald, was appointed bishop there, and that he occasion- ally preached in the neighbouring sections of Sweden and Norway. ^ The results were evidently meagre, but it is significant that the preacher came from England. The Norwegian Church is in a peculiar sense a daughter of the English Church. The first serious attempt at mission work in Norway was made about the middle of the tenth century, when King Hakon built a few churches and sent for English priests to officiate in them. One of these appar- ently bore the episcopal title, Sigfrid, a monk of Glastonbtuy. ^ The yeomanry gathered and slew the missionaries and the work came to nought. When Olaf Trygvesson seized the kingship (995). he came accompanied by English priests. Among these was Bishop Sigurd, who was prob- ably a Northumbrian of Norse ancestry, and evidently a man of strength and discretion. After the battle of Swald he seems to have continued ' Danmarks Riges Historic, i., 403. ' Adamus, Gesla, ii., c. 39. 3 Taranger, Den angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydclse paa den nor ski, 143. The Twilight of the Gods 193 his labours in Sweden. English missionaries also came with Olaf the Stout. He was accompanied by a number of priests and bishops from England through whose doctrine and instruction he prepared his heart for God, and to whose guidance he entrusted the people who were subject to him. Among these were men who were famous for learning and virtue, namely Sigfrid, Grimkell, Rudolf, and Bemhard. ' It is to be observed once more that none of these bears an Anglo-Saxon name : Sigfrid and Grimkell were doubtless natives of the Danelaw, of Norse blood, but English in culture and faith; Bernhard may have been a German from the country of the lower Rhine ; Rudolf is said to have been a kinsman of Edward the Confessor ; as his name is Norman, we shall have to conclude that he was a relative of Queen Emma, Edward's mother. Late in life he received from the Confessor an important ap- pointment as abbot of Abingdon (1050).^ So long as King Olaf lived GrimkeU seems to have held the office of chief bishop. These were the men who laid the foimdation of the Norwegian Church; later missionaries from Britain continued the work along the earlier lines. The result was that the new Church came largely to be organised according to English models. Its ceremonial came to reflect Old English practices. ' Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 55. ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1050. Anglia Sacra, i., 167. 13 194 Canute the Great Its terminology was formed according to Anglo- Saxon analogies.' Characteristic of both the English and the Norse Church was an extensive use of the vernacular. And many remarkable parallels have been found in the church legisla- tion of King Ethelred and the ecclesiastical laws attributed to Saint Olaf . ^ It would seem most fitting that a church so intimately connected with English Christianity should pass under the metropolitan jurisdiction of the see at Canterbury, and such may have been Saint Olaf's original intention. But the establish- ment of Danish power at Winchester, the appoint- ment of Canute's friend Ethelnoth to the primacy, and Canute's designs on the Norwegian throne made such an arrangement impractical. There was consequently nothing to do but to enter into re- lations with the see of Bremen. Adam tells us that Olaf sent an embassy ^ headed by Bishop Grimkell with gifts to our archbishop and bearing the request that he receive these [English] bishops favourably ' An illustration of this appears on a runic monument at Oddemess in Southern Norway raised in memory of a godson of Saint Olaf: "Oivind, Saint Olaf's godson [kosunr or gosunr] raised this church on his allodial land. " ^ For the account of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries I am in- debted to Taranger's work on the influence of the Anglo-Saxon on the Norwegian Church: Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske. 3 Gesta, ii., c. 55; iv., c. 33. The embassy was probably sent some time during the years 1020-1023, and perhaps shortly before Canute accepted the supremacy of Hamburg-Bremen in Denmark. RUNIC MONUMENT SH0W3 HAMMER OF THOR THE ODDERNESS STONE The Twilight of the Gods 195 and send others of his own consecration that the rude Norwegian people might be strengthened in the Christ- ian faith. It is diflScult to appreciate the tremendous social changes that the introduction of Christianity worked among the Northmen of the eleventh century. There was so much that was new in Christian practice that the adjustment was a difficult matter. The rigid observance of the seventh day; the numerous holidays; the fre- quent fasts and the long abstentions of Lent ; the duties of confession and penance ; the support of a new social class, the priests; all these things the unwilling convert found exceedingly irksome. In addition to this, there were certain prohibi- tions that also worked hardships : marriage within certain degrees of kinship ; the exposure of child- ren (except such as were bom with deformities, who might be exposed after baptism) ; the eating of horseflesh, and other honoured Northern cus- toms. Much that was heathen could not be rooted out. The churches were frequently built near the old sanctuaries and the new worship unavoidably came to be associated in many minds with much that was heathen. ' While Canute was organising the Church in Denmark, Olaf was striving to reshape Norwegian society and uproot the old faith. With force and > This paragraph is summarised from Professor Bugge's dis- cussion in Norges Historic, I., ii., 379-381. 196 Canute the Great fair words he won many for the new order, but many more refused to receive baptism. Ten years passed with growing discontent ; so long as the na- tion was still heathen in morals and view of life, resistance was inevitable. Finally the partisans of the old rites and practices turned to Canute, the great Christian King. And he who should have been a defender of the faith heard their com- plaints with unfeigned joy. CHAPTER IX CANUTE AND THE NORWEGIAN CONSPIRACY IO23-IO26 THE sons of Earl Hakon, Eric and Sweyn, who ruled Norway for fifteen years after the fall of Olaf Trygvesson, were not aggressive rulers. They were not of the blood royal, they were vassals of alien kings, both seem by nature to have been of an easy-going disposition ; hence they were not able to command obedience to the extent that a strong monarchy demanded. As a result, the Norwegian aristocracy arrogated to itself a great measure of independence. The peasantry re- sumed their old habits and practices; in many places the old worship was wholly restored, in- cluding the sacrificial festivals. The Earls were Christians, but did not interfere. Of a different type was King Olaf Haroldsson. He was determined and forceful, equipped with a vigorous intellect and a will that could brook no opposition. Though his policies extended far beyond the religious field, his chief anxiety was to make Norway a Christian kingdom. His zeal 197 198 Canute the Great [1023- was that of the convert, the passion of the devotee ; but it was more than that : it was the purpose of the far-seeing statesman. In his viking adventures he had become acquainted with the advantages of the European poHtical system. He wished to introduce this into his own kingdom, to Euro- peanise Norway. This was the great king-thought for which Saint Olaf Hved and fell. But at the basis of the European system lay Christianity. In his proselyting endeavours, he met opposition from the very beginning; but for a time he was able to overcome all resistance. However, the spirit of rebellion was silenced only ; after five years of missionary effort. King Olaf found that Christ- ian progress was apparent rather than real. He also found that the devotees of the old worship were still determined and that a group of chiefs were organising an opposition that might overturn his throne. The opposition was of two sorts : on the one hand the Christian was opposed by the partisan of the old gods ; on the other hand Olaf 's strong kingship was disliked by the chiefs who recalled the free- dom that they had enjoyed in the days of the two earls. Distances were great in Norway; travel was difficult; the ocean was the best highway. But with sail and oar it took time to reach the settlements on the long coast line, and the King soon learned that promises to renounce the Anses were easily forgotten or broken. Then followed crop failures in the far North: it was clear that 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 199 Frey was angry and wished to punish the apostacy of his people. ' In the aristocratic opposition five chieftains bear special prominence. At Soli on the wide plains of Jaederen in South-western Norway, not far from the modem city of Stavanger, lived Erling, the son of Skjalg. Erling had sailed with King Olaf to Wendland, but had had no part in the fight at Swald. Later the Earls found it advisable to make peace with the Soli family and gave Erling Skjalgsson a magnificent fief in the South-west. From the Naze to the Sogn Firth his was the ruling influence. Of all the Norwegian magnates Erling was unquestionably the most powerful ; and though both Earl Eric and King Olaf had looked askance at his power, he maintained his position for a quarter of a century. Five active sons and a spirited daughter grew up in Erling's house. The lord of Soli never was an ideal subject ; but after his nephew Asbjom slew one of King Olaf's servants in the royal presence during the Easter festivities, a quarrel broke out that had fatal consequences. ^ The island of Giski some distance north of Cape Stadt was the ancestral seat of the famous Amung family, which for several generations held a promi- nent place in the councils of Norway. According to tradition the family was founded by one Finnvid who was found in an eagle's nest, and hence was known as Finnvid Found. The family ■ Snorre, Saga o{ Saint Olaf, c. io6. 'Ibid., cc. 22, 23, 116 ff. 200 Canute the Great [1023- took its name from Arne, a prominent chief in Saint Olaf s day and a good friend of the King. Seven sons and a daughter were bom to Arne and his good wife Thora. The oldest of the sons married the only daughter of the mighty Erling. Arne's daughter became the wife of another prominent lord and enemy of Olaf, Harek of Tjotta. For a time all the sons of Arne supported the King and Kalf alone finally joined his enemies. Olvi of Egg, a wealthy Thronder, was found to have continued the old sacrificial practices in secret, and on the King's orders was slain. Kalf Arnesson married his widow, and from that day his loyalty was shaken. ' Far to the north Hved two chiefs who were also counted among the King's opponents: Harek of Tjotta and Thor the Dog. Thor was the ill- fated Asbjorn's uncle and the brother-in-law of the slain Olvi. He lived on the Bark-isle beyond the Arctic Circle and was easily the most powerful man in those regions. ^ Harek lived on the isle of Tjotta, a little to the south of the Polar Circle. He seems to have had something of a monopoly of the Finnish trade and from this and other sources amassed great wealth. In the Norse nobility few stood higher than Harek : he counted among his kinsmen the reigning King as well as his pre- decessors the Earls. ^ In the rebellion that finally ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 1 06-1 1 o. 'Ibid., c. 106. 3 Ibid., c. 104. 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 201 cost King Olaf his life, Thor and Harek were prominent leaders. In the Throndelaw, some distance south of Nidaros, dwelt Einar Thongshaker. Einar, the strongest and most athletic Norseman of his day, the archer who could pierce a damp ox-hide with a blunt shaft, was also a man of great personal influence. Married to Earl Eric's sister, he was naturally in sympathy with the dynastic claims of the Earl's family. For some years after the defeat at the Nesses, he had lived in exile in Sweden; but finally he was reconciled to King Olaf and was permitted to return. ' It does not appear that any of these leaders had any enthusiasm for the old faith; Erling Skjalgsson and Einar Thongshaker seem to have been zealous Christians. But among their kinsmen were many who clung to the worship of Woden and Thor. Wherever the King found heathen rites celebrated in open or secret, harsh measures were employed — loss of property, of limb, and even of life. Thus the chiefs saw many a kinsman dis- honoured or dead, and to their disinclination to obey the royal mandate was joined the motive of private revenge. Soon dissatisfaction was rife everywhere, and over the North Sea fled yearly a band of exiles who had resisted the royal will. Among those who went west was Einar Thong- ' On the subject of the Norse chiefs in King Olaf 's day, see Munch, Del norske Folks Hisiorie, I., ii., 659-670; Norges His- torie, I., ii., 340-348. 202 Canute the Great [1023- skaker, though he went ostensibly as a pilgrim, not as a plotter. Soon after his return from Swe- den he found it advisable to seek expiation at Rome for earlier sins, and in 1022 or 1023 he left for the Eternal City. It seems probable that his brother-in-law Eric joined him in this expedition or planned to do so, for the sagas persist in con- necting Eric's death, which must have occtured about 1023, with a pilgrimage to Rome, at least projected and perhaps carried out. In England Einar is said to have visited young Earl Hakon, possibly in his earldom in the Severn Valley; he also had an interview with Canute "and was given great gifts."' Einar's visit was probably just after Canute's return from his expedition to the Slavic lands. Whether the pilgrimage was more than a mere pretext we do not know, though it probably was made in good faith. After his return to Norway he was not active in King Olaf 's service, though he showed no open hostility. Many magnates or sons of prominent franklins had fared to Canute on various errands; but all who came to King Canute were given their hands full of wealth. There one could see greater splendour than elsewhere, both as to the multitude of people in daily attendance and in the other arrangements on the manors that he possessed and occupied. Canute the Mighty gathered tribute from the lands that were ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 121. According to Snorre's reckoning, he left in the summer of 1023 and returned the follow- ing summer. 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 203 the richest in the North ; but in the same measure as he had more to receive than other kings, he also gave much more than any other king. . . . But many of those who came from Norway lamented the loss of their liberties and hinted to Earl Hakon and some to the King himself, that the men of Norway were now surely ready to renew their allegiance to King Canute and the Earl, and to receive their old liberties from them. These speeches suited the Earl's mind, and he suggested to Canute that Olaf be called on to surrender the kingdom to them, or to agree to divide it.' Snorre attributes Canute's delay in claiming the Norse kingship to a difference between himself and his cousin, Earl Hakon, as to who should possess and rtde the country. It is evident, however, that before 1023 Canute was hardly in a position to press a claim of such a doubtful character. But in that year the situation was more favourable : he was in uncontested possession of the English and Danish crowns; he had successfully fought and subdued the Slavs to the south of Denmark; his prestige was consequently greater than ever before. That year, the subject of Norse conquest must have been discussed quite seriously at Winchester, for as soon as the winter was past, an embassy was on its way to King Olaf's court to demand the kingdom of Norway for Canute. Among the various regions that composed the Norwegian realm, two enjoyed a peculiar promin- ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 130. 204 Canute the Great 11023- ence : the Wick and the Throndelaw. The Thron- delaw was a group of ' ' folks ' ' or shires about the Throndhjem Firth, a region that had developed considerable solidarity and in one sense was reck- oned as the heart of the kingdom. Here was for some time the capital of the nation, as it has remained in ecclesiastical matters to this day, at least nominally. The Wick was the country that bordered on the great "Bay " in the extreme south. It was this region that first came into contact with European civilisation and where culture and Christianity had perhaps taken firmest root. In a sense the Wick was disputed territory: it had earlier been under Danish overlordship, and a part of it had also for a brief period been subject to Sweden; national feeling was therefore not strong on these shores. For this reason, perhaps. King Olaf had established a royal residence at Tunsberg near the mouth of the Firth on the western shore. Here the King held his court in the winter of 1024-1025; it was here that he received the English embassy. It was a splendid company that Canute sent to Norway, but Olaf was not pleased with their errand. For several days he kept them waiting before he was willing to grant them an audience. But when they were permitted to speak with him they brought into his presence Canute's writ and recited their message, that Canute claims all of Nor- way as his possession and asserts that his ancestors 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 205 have possessed the realm before him; but whereas King Canute offers peace to all lands, he will not fare to Norway with war shields if another choice is possible. But if King Olaf Haroldsson wishes to rule Norway, let him fare to King Canute and receive the land from him as a fief and become his man and pay such tribute as the earls had earlier paid. ' Such a proposal was an insult to the Norse nation, and it is not likely that Canute expected a favourable reply. But in its apparent modera- tion, in its appeal to historic rights, the demand served well the intended purpose: to extort a challenge that would make hostilities unavoidable and make Olaf appear as the aggressor. King Olaf's anger did not permit a diplomatic reply: I have heard tell in olden story that Gorm the Dane- king was an excellent ruler, but he ruled Denmark only; but the Dane-kings who have come since his day do not seem to have been satisfied with that. It has come to this now that Canute rules Denmark and England and in addition has subjected a large part of Scotland. Now he challenges my inheritance. He should, however, learn to be moderate in his avarice, — -or does he plan to govern all the Northlands alone? Or does he intend to eat alone all the cabbage in England ? He will be able to accomplish that before I shall pay him tribute or do him any sort of homage. Now you shall tell him these my words, that I will defend Norway with point and edge as long as life ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 131. 2o6 Canute the Great 11023- days are granted me ; but never shall I pay tribute for my kingdom to any man. ' Such is Snorre's account. The speeches are doubtless the historian's own; but they reveal a keen insight into the shrewd diplomacy of Canute and the impetuous methods of Olaf. The am- bassadors soon prepared to retire, little pleased with the outcome. It is reported that in con- versation with Sighvat the Scald they expressed their surprise at the Norse King's rashness. The lord of England was gentle and forgiving. Only recently two kings came from north in Scotland, from Fife, and he laid aside his wrath and let them keep all the lands that they had earlier possessed and gave them great gifts of friendship in addition. The poet later put his reply into verse : Able kings have carried Their heads to Canute, coming From Fife in the far north (Fair was the purchase of peace). Olaf has never sold (Oft has the stout one conquered) Here in the whole world His head to any man.' There could be no question about unpeace after Olaf's defiance had been repeated to Canute. It is said that Norsemen looked on cabbage eaters • Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 131. • Corpus Poelicum Boreale, ii., 133-134. 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 207 as naturally stupid; hence the taunt, if given, had a sharp point. The great King is said to have remarked that Olaf should find something besides cabbage within his ribs. That summer two of Erling's sons, Aslak and Skjalg, appeared at the English court. "And King Canute gave the brothers large revenues. " ' During the succeeding summer (1025) King Olaf remained in the South. Rumour had it that Canute was coming from England with a powerful host, and the Norwegian King made preparations to meet him. The chiefs were summoned to the Wick and seem to have appeared with their re- tainers in large numbers. Olaf's spies were everywhere on the lookout for the English fleet. Merchant ships were eagerly sought for news. But Canute was not yet ready to fight and did not appear before autumn. He spent the winter in Denmark but mainly for precautionary purposes ; hostile activities were evidently to be postponed to a more favourable time.^ That same autumn Olaf approached the King of Sweden on the subject of an alliance against the ambitious King of Denmark. The young Anund Jacob, King Olaf's brother-in-law and admirer, was now on the Swedish throne. It was easy to convince the youthful King that his realm would not long be left in peace should Canute succeed in adding Norway to his dominions. An alliance was accordingly concluded: the king who should ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 131. ' Ibid. 2o8 Canute the Great no23- first need assistance should have the other's help, A conference was also arranged for, as more definite plans would have to be agreed upon. That year King Olaf prepared to winter at Sarpsborg, just across the firth from Tunsberg. King Anund made a winter journey into Gautland toward the Norse frontier, and tarried there for some months. During his stay there, envoys appeared from Canute with gifts and fair words. Anund was assured of peace and security if he wotdd renounce his alliance with the Norsemen. But this em- bassy also had to return with unsatisfactory re- ports : Anund intended to be faithful to his pledge ; no friendship for Denmark was to be looked for in Sweden. ' Spring came (1026) and developments were looked for ; but the unexpected happened : Canute returned to England, leaving his young sonHartha- canute, a boy of eight or nine years, as regent in Denmark under the guardianship of Ulf, Canute's brother-in-law, who seems to have succeeded Thurkil the Tall as viceroy in Denmark. The allied kings now proceeded to hold their projected conference at Kingscrag, near the south-east corner of Olaf's kingdom. In this conference a new agreement seems to have been reached; the defensive alliance was apparently changed to an ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 132. The legendary Olafs-saga tells us that the gifts were two golden candlesticks, a golden dish highly jewelled for the table service, and two gold rings. Anund is said to have remarked that he did not wish to sell Olaf for a dish. ORNAMENTS (CHIEFLY BUCKLES) FROM THE VIKING AGE ORNAMENTS (CHIEFLY BUCKLES) FROM THE VIKING AGE 1026] Canute and Norwegian Conspiracy 209 offensive one and an attack on Canute's Danish possessions was planned. ' Why Canute failed to attack Norway in the autumn of 1025, or in the following spring, is not known. It seems, however, a fairly safe conjec- ture that he felt unprepared to meet the allied forces. He evidently preferred to wait until the spirit of disaffection and rebellion had spread more widely in Norway ; for thus far only the great house of Soli had openly espoused the pretender's cause; most of the dissatisfied lords were in King Olaf's host. Doubtless he also hoped that by diplomatic means or otherwise dissension might be sown between the confederated kings, and their alliance dissolved. Gold was the power that Canute depended upon to prepare rebellion in Norway. That the Danish King employed bribery in these years to a large extent is a well-attested fact. Florence of Worcester who wrote three generations later recounts how gold was distributed among the Norwegian chiefs in the hope that they would permit Canute to rule over them, though Florence is clearly misinformed when he tells us that the Norsemen had renounced their allegiance to King Olaf because of his simplicity and gentleness. ^ Olaf was a saint when the scribe at Worcester wrote his history; but he was not a saint of the ideal sort, and hence Florence is led into error. ■ Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 134. ' Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 184. 14 2IO Canute the Great [1023-1026] Richard of Cirencester, too, has heard of these proceedings and the "great supply of gold and silver that was sent to the magnates of that country. " ' Both writers represent the Norsemen as eager for the bribes. The sagas, of coiorse, give fuller details. The result was that King Olaf 's forces to some extent were made up of men whose loyalty had been vmdermined, who were in the pay of the enemy. The following year (1027), the year when the most Christian monarch made his pilgrimage to the tomb of Peter, seems to have seen the greatest activity in this direction ; but the probabilities are that large sums of Dane- geld had found their way to Norway also in the earlier two or three years. ' Speculum Historiale, ii., 178. CHAPTER X THE BATTLE OF HOLY RIVER AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO ROME IO26-IO27 ONE of the notable results of the expedition to the South Ba tic in 1022 was that a reconciliation was effected with Thurkil the Tall. ' ' And he gave Denmark into the keeping of Thur- kil and his son; and the King brought Thurkil 's son with him to England."' The son who was thus made regent was probably Sweyn; it was scarcely Harthacanute, as this Prince was present at the translation of Saint Alphege from London to Canterbury that same year (1023) ; of Canute's other son, Harold Harefoot, we hear nothing until after the King's death. The hostage that Canute took with him to England may have been Harold who played an important part in Northern history two decades later. Thtirkil cannot have lived long after his promotion to the vice-royalty, for three years later (1026), we find Harthacanute representing royal authority in Denmark with '■Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1023. 211 212 Canute the Great [1026- Earl Ulf as guardian and actual wielder of power. This cliange in the regency we may, perhaps, ascribe to the activities of Queen Emma, one of whose chief purposes in life was to disinherit her husband's illegitimate offspring. The next few months seem to have witnessed a revolution in Denmark: Earl Ulf appears to have summoned a national assembly at Viborg, an old sanctuary in the north central part of Jutland, where he announced that it was Canute's desire to have his young eight-year-old son chosen and proclaimed King of Denmark. With evident suc- cess he argued that the ancient kingdom, which always had had a ruler within its borders, was poorly served by the present arrangement of subjection to an absentee-king. He also called attention to the threatened invasion from the allied kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. The sagas assert that Queen Emma had plotted with Earl Ulf to secure the royal name for her son and that she had even forged a document to support the move. The assembly assented and Hartha- canute was proclaimed King. ' There are suggestions that Ulf at this time was in communication with the allied monarchs and that he had even encouraged them to invade the Danish territories. Evidence is wanting, but it is clear that Ulf's activities in 1026 were not of the proper sort '' The Earl was an ambitious and ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 148. ' Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 349. 1027] The Battle of Holy River 213 turbulent man, closely connected with both the Danish and the Swedish dynasties. He was a man of the type that finds service difficult; it is clear that Canute suspected him of treason. After Canute's departure for England the North- ern kings had their conference at Kingscrag where a closer alliance was formed and offensive opera- tions were probably determined upon. Soon afterwards King Olaf was on his way to his northern capital to raise the host for a grand effort. It seems that the chiefs quite generally obeyed the summons ; of the leaders in the north- ern shires Einar Thongshaker alone remained at home on his estates. A considerable fleet gathered at the rendezvous at the mouth of Throndhjem Firth; as it sailed southward there were constant additions, till it finally counted 480 ships. The royal flagship was the Bison, a longship that had been built the winter before, the prow of which bore the head of a bison adorned with gold. On the journey southward, King Olaf learned that Canute was still in England, but that he was making preparations for a grand attack. He also learned that Erling Skjalgsson was now with his sons in the enemy's service. But no one knew when the English host might be expected; time passed and the Norsemen began to tire of inaction. Accordingly King Olaf dismissed the least effec- tive part of his forces and with the remainder, sixty large and well-manned ships, sailed for the coast of Zealand, expecting later to join the Swedish 214 Canute the Great ti026- armament that had gathered on the Scanian coast. ' Meanwhile, Canute had hastened his prepara- tions. One of his Scanian subjects, Hakon of Stangeby, had, when the plans of the enemy had become evident, hastened to England to warn his King. It is said that Canute rewarded him with an estate in Scania for his loyalty and promptness. ^ It was a mighty fleet that sailed from southern England that summer; Canute led the expedition in person with Earl Hakon apparently as second in command. Snorre reports that Canute's ship had one hundred and twenty oars, while that of the Earl had eighty. Both ships were provided with golden figureheads; but their sails were counted particularly splendid with their stripes of blue and red and green. Earl Ulf had by this time come to realise that Denmark could not afford to ignore the Lord of England. There was evidently much dissatisfaction with the Earl's regime, for we find that the Danes in large numbers accepted the invaders. Ulf and Harthacanute soon retreated to Jutland, and left the islands and Scania to the enemy. The situation that Canute found when he sailed into the Lime Firth was perhaps not wholly a surprise; he must have known something about what his deputy had been plotting and doing. ■ Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 144. ^ Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 347-348. There seems to be no reason to doubt that Saxo here reports a reHable tradition. 1027] The Battle of Holy River 215 That he was angry is evident ; that his wrath was feared is also clear. Harthacanute was advised to submit ; he knelt before his father and obtained forgiveness, as the King realised that no responsi- bility could lodge with a witless boy. Ulf also tried to make terms with the offended monarch, but was merely told to collect his forces and join in the defence of the kingdom; later he might propose terms. Such is Snorre's account'; it may be inaccurate in details, but the main fact that Earl Ulf was faithless to his trust seems to be correctly stated. Elsewhere, too, Ulf is accused of opposition to his King: Saxo charges him with treason ''; and an entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us that Canute went east to fight Ulf and Eglaf . ^ There has been some dispute as to the identity of these chiefs, but unless evidence to the contrary is forthcoming, we shall have to conclude that they were the two brothers who were earls in England in the early days of Canute as English king. Shortly before this (1024), Eglaf 's name disappears from the English sources. The Chronicler was evidently not informed as to the situation in the North; but he knew that the two brothers were among the opponents of the King and recorded what he knew. Meanwhile, Olaf was on the shores of Zealand with his longships. Saxo relates that one day ' Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 148. ' Gesta Danorum, 347 S. 3 Entry for the year 1025; this should be corrected to 1026. 2i6 Canute the Great [i026- while he was addressing the Danes at a public assembly with a view to winning them to his own allegiance, spies rushed up and reported that they had seen several ships approaching. An aged Dane assured the King that the ships were mer- chantmen only ; but when sails in growing numbers began to cross the horizon, he added that they were merchantmen who had come to buy Denmark with iron.' From the Lime Firth, Canute must have sailed his fleet southeastv/ard to the upper entrance of the Sound ; at any rate, King Olaf soon discovered that the homeward route had been effectually blocked. There was now nothing to do but to continue the journey eastward and to form a junction with King Anund's fleet which was harrying the Scanian coast. Canute must have followed in hot pursuit, for before the enemies could form a junction he seems to have found and defeated a part of the Swedish fleet at Stange- berg. ^ A little later, he came up with the com- bined strength of the allied Kings near the mouth of Holy River. Holy River is a short stream in the eastern part of Scania that serves as the outlet of a group of lakes not far inland. Between these lakes and the sea the forest was heavy enough to conceal any activities inland. When the Kings learned that the Danish fleet was approaching, they took covmsel and decided to draw up their ships in battle order ' Gesla Danorum, 348. ' Ibid. 1027] The Battle of Holy River 217 east of the river mouth, but to act on the defensive. King Anund was to remain in charge of the fleet while King Olaf, who is reputed to have been something of a military engineer, went inland to prepare a trap for the enemy. Where the river left the lakes he is said to have built a temporary dam of trees and turf, and he also improved the outlets of some of the smaller lakes, so as to in- crease the water masses behind the dam. Many days the work continued under Olaf's direction. Then came the message that Canute had arrived and the Norsemen hastened to their ships. It was late in the afternoon when Anund's spies finally caught sight of the great armament ap- proaching from the west. Swift-footed couriers at once left for the lakes to inform Olaf, who immediately prepared to break the dam, at the same time filling the course with large trees. Canute saw the enemy drawn up in line and ready for the fight; but it was then too late to proceed to the attack; moreover, the enemy had the advantage of a carefully chosen position. The Dane therefore refused battle that day. Finding the harbour at the river mouth empty, he sailed into it with as many ships as could be accom- modated; the remainder were left just outside. At dawn the next morning, a large part of Canute's forces was found to have landed; some were convers- ing, others seeking amusement. Then without the least warning the waters came down in torrents, 2i8 Canute the Great [1026- dashing the floating trees against the ships. The ships were injured and the waters overflowed the river banks, drowning the men who had gone on land and also many who were still on the ships. Those who were able to do so cut the ropes and allowed their ships to drift, each in its own direction. The great dragon that Canute himself commanded was among these; it was not easily managed by the oars alone and drifted out toward the hostile fleet. But when the allies recognised the ship, they immediately surrounded it; but it was not easily attacked, for the ship was high like a castle and had a number of men on board, who were carefully chosen, thoroughly armed, and very reliable. It was not long before Earl Ulf came up alongside with his ships and men and the battle was now joined in earnest. Canute's forces now came up from all sides. Then the Kings Olaf and Anund realised that they had now won as much as fate had allowed them for this time; so they ordered a retreat, withdrew from Canute's fleet, and separated from the fight.' In its disorganised condition Canute's host could make no effective pursuit. The Danes and English had suffered heavy losses, while those of the Swedes and Norsemen were slight; still their combined forces were yet inferior to those of Canute. It was, therefore, agreed to avoid further battle. Eastward the course continued, the intention being to stop for the night in the harbour of Barwick on the coast of Bleking. ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 150. 1027] The Battle of Holy River 219 However, a large part of the Swedish fleet did not enter the harbour, but continued the journey- eastward and northward; nor were the sails low- ered before the chiefs had reached their respective homes. Early the following morning. King Anund ordered the signal to be sounded for a council of the remaining chiefs. The entire army landed and the assembly proceeded to discuss the situa- tion. King Anund announced that of 420 ships that had joined him in the preceding summer only 120 were now in the harboiu-. These with the sixty Norwegian ships did not make a force sufficient for successful operations against Canute. The Swedish King therefore proposed to Olaf that he should spend the winter in Sweden, and in the spring, perhaps, they might be able to re- new hostilities. Olaf demurred: the former vik- ing covdd not surrender his purposes so readily; it would still be possible, he argued, to defeat Canute as his large fleet would soon be compelled to scatter in search of provisions, his eastern coasts having been too recently harried to afford much in the way of supplies. But the outcome was that Olaf left his ships in Sweden and returned to Norway overland. Canute kept informed as to the situation in the enemies' fleet and army but did not attempt pur- suit. It would seem that a great opportunity was thus permitted to slip past; but the King probably did not so regard it. To fight the Swedes 220 Canute the Great [1026- was not a part of his present plan ; his hope was to detach King Anund from his more vigorous ally. When he learned that the hostile fleet was about to dissolve, he returned to Zealand and blocked the Sound, hoping, no doubt, to intercept the Norwegian King on his return northward. As we have seen, however, Olaf appreciated the danger and refused to risk an ambush. That same season saw him on the march through south-western Sweden to his manors on the shores of the great Firth. On his arrival in his own land, he dis- missed the larger part of his host ; only a small body of trusted men including several prominent mag- nates remained with him at Sarpsborg, where he prepared to spend the winter. ' Of this campaign we have, broadly speaking, but one detailed account, — the one given in the sagas. As these are far from contemporary, doubts have been cast upon the story, but in the main it seems reliable. That there was a battle at Holy River we know from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which states that Canute was defeated at that place by Ulf and Eglaf supported by a large force of Swedes. As to the strategic device of King Olaf, we cannot be so svire ; but the account in the sagas reveals a topographical knowledge so specific as to argue strongly for the belief that the authors must have had access to reliable sources. There is also a question as to the date of the battle : Snorre seems to place it in 1027; the Old English ■ Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 154-159. 1027] The Battle of Holy River 221 Chronicle has it in 1025. The battle seems to have been fought some time in September, 1026. It evidently occurred before Canute made his pil- grimage to Rome, where we find him at Easter, 1027. Though Canute suffered a defeat at Holy River, the outcome gave no advantage to his enemies. The Swedes were discouraged and tired of a con- flict which, after all, did not seem to concern them. King Olaf was discredited : a King who had aban- doned his ships was not in position to claim a victory. From that day he found disloyalty everywhere. The pretender had only to appear on the Norwegian coasts with ships and men to secure the enthusiastic allegiance of the rebellious Norsemen. Canute was not prepared, however, to move against Olaf at this time. Autumn was coming on, a season that was far too short for naval opera- tions. And soon a tragedy was enacted at the Danish court, the consequences of which probably caused a complete rearrangement of Canute's immediate plans. The day before Michaelmas the King proceeded to Roeskild, where Earl Ulf had prepared an elaborate entertainment for him and his train. According to the sagas Ulf was aggressive, vigorous, and brave; but he was also tactless and careless in speech, and possessed a temper that was not easily controlled. The fes- tivities did not seem to please the King — he was moody and silent. In the evening Ulf suggested 222 Canute the Great [i026- a game of chess, hoping, no doubt, that the play would help to restore the royal good humour. But as they were playing at chess, King Canute and Earl Ulf, the King made a wrong move and the Earl took one of his knights. The King moved his opponent's chessman back and told him to make another play; this angered the Earl; he overturned the chessboard, rose, and left the table. Then said the King, "Are you running away now, timid Wolf!" The Earl turned in the doorway and replied, "Farther you would have run at Holy River, if you had been able. You did not then call Ulf timid, when I rushed up to help you, when the Swedes were threshing you and your men like dogs. " With that the Earl left the room and went to sleep. ' It is not likely, however, that the Earl's rest was wholly undisturbed that night, for in the morning he was found to have sought sanctuary in Holy Trinity Church. Nor did sleep appease the King's anger; while he was dressing the next morning, he ordered his shoe-swain to go at once and slay Ulf. But the servant dared not strike him within the sacred precincts. Then the King called Ivar White, one of his guardsmen, a Norse- man who is said to have been Earl Eric's nephew, ' and sent him with similar orders. Ivar soon re- turned to the King with a bloody sword as evi- dence that his sister's husband was no more. ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 153. ' Munch, Det Norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 737. Ct,iir^. ^foM fm f&r TiiofiTin.jrm eaSf | aptr. r 6 §o"\)1jn; j.TO^ ^A)em.1. all cjf IJl^iv aV (Wi oiSi- a^ /z tetrad jrt/ malfen^a/ e^wait ar^lS^t l>«?cWt^t2i. U{iJ^.j>a t^ J . Lines from the oldest fragment of Snorre's History (written about 1260) The fragment tells the story of the battle of Holy River and the murder of Ulf. A LONGSHIP tW — 1^1 ^C *L, 1027] The Battle of Holy River 223 Tales of chess games that have resulted seriously for at least one of the players appear elsewhere in mediasval literature; hence it would not be safe to accept this account without question. Still, there is nothing improbable about the tale; the insult that Ulf offered was evidently seized upon by the King as a pretext for ridding himself of a man whom he believed to be a traitor. An inde- pendent English tradition credits Canute with a passion for the game: the historian of Ramsey tells us that Bishop Ethelric once found him "relieving the wearisomeness of the long night with games of dice and chess."' Nor is there any reason to doubt that Ulf was actually assas- sinated at the time ; his name disappears from the sources. A life had been taken in God's own house; blood had been shed before the very altar; even though the King had ordered it, the Church could not overlook the crime. The priests immediately closed the church; but on the King's command, it was again opened and mass was said as before. It is recorded that large possessions were added to the church when services were resumed. To his sister the widowed Estrid, the King also owed satisfaction; we are told that she, too, received large landed estates. But her young son Sweyn, who was at this time scarcely more than eight years old, she prudently seems to have removed from her brother's kingdom; for twelve years the " Historia Rameseiensis, 137. 224 Canute the Great [io2t- future King of Denmark was a guest at the Swedish court. ' It seems that the scene of his recent guilt had small attraction for Canute after that fateful Michaelmas season. He is said to have left the city and to have taken up his abode on his longship. But not many months later we find him on a pilgrimage to the capital of Christendom. The journey must have been planned during the au- tumn of 1026; it was actually undertaken during the early months of the following year ; apparently the pilgrims arrived in Rome toward the end of March. We cannot be sure what induced King Canute to make this journey at this particular time. In his message to the English people he says that he went to seek forgiveness for his sins ; but this pious phrase is almost a rhetorical necessity in mediseval documents and must not be regarded too seriously. Nor can we trust the statement that the King had earlier vowed to make such a pilgrimage, but had hitherto been prevented by business of state; for the year 1027 had surely but little to offer in the way of leisure and peace. The motive must be sought in the political situation that had developed in the North in the year of the Holy River cam- paign, and in the strained relations that must have arisen between the King and the Church. No doubt the eyes of the Christian world looked approvingly on the persistent efforts that Olaf ' Adamus, Cesla, ii., c. 71. 1027] The Pilgrimage to Rome 225 of Norway, who was canonised four years later, was making to extirpate heathendom in the North. Especially must the English priesthood have looked with pride and pleasure on the vigorous growth of the Norse daughter Church. But here comes the Christian King of England with hostile forces to interfere in behalf of King Olaf 's enemies. Canute probably protested that he would carry on the work ; but it is clear that an absent monarch with wide imperial interests could scarcely hope to carry out successfully a policy that implied revolution both socially and religiously. His hand had also been raised against the Christian ruler of Sweden, which was yet a heathen land, against a prince in whom the Church doubtless reposed confidence and hope. Perhaps worst of all, Canute's hand was red with the blood of his sister's husband, his support at Holy River, whose life had been taken in violation of the right of sanctuary and sacred peace. The mediaeval Church was a sensitive organism and offences of this sort were not easily atoned for. It was time to pray at Saint Peter's tomb. It is also likely that Canute hoped to gain certain political advan- tages from the journey : in a strife with the North- ern powers it would be well to have the Emperor a passive if not an active ally ; and this was the year of the imperial coronation. Norse tradition remembers Canute's pilgrimage as that of a penitent: "he took staff and scrip, as did all the men who travelled with him, and 15 226 Canute the Great [1026- journeyed southward to Rome; and the Emperor himself came out to meet him and he accompanied him all the way to the Roman city."' Sighvat the Scald, who was both Canute's and Olaf's friend, also mentions the pilgrim's staff in his reference to the royal pilgrimage. ^ Still, it is not to be thought that gold was overlooked in prepar- ing for the journey: the saga adds that "King Canute had many horses with him laden with gold and silver, " and that alms were distributed with a free hand. The Encomiast, who saw the King in the monas- tery of Saint Bertin in the Flemish city of Saint- Omer, also gives us a picture, though one that is clearly exaggerated, of a penitent who is seeking forgiveness and reconciliation. With humble mien the royal pilgrim entered the holy precincts; his eyes cast down and streaming with tears, he implored the suffrages of the saints; beating his breast and heaving sighs, he passed from altar to altar, kissed the sacred stones, and left large gifts upon each, even upon the smallest. In addition alms were distributed among the needy. ^ The route followed was the old one from Den- mark south-westward along the German coast to Flanders, whence the journey went southward through Lorraine and the Rhone country. It ' Fagrskinna, c. 33. » Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 136. The statement in Fagr- skinna is probably based on Sighvat's verses. 3 Encomium Emmcs, ii., c. 20. 1027] The Pilgrimage to Rome 227 seems to have been Canute's intention to visit King Rudolf of Burgundy on the way ; but he was found to have departed on a similar journey to the Eternal City. The progress was one that was doubtless long remembered in the monasteries along the route. Important institutions at some distance from the chosen route seem also to have been remembered in a substantial way ; it may have been on this occasion that a gift was sent to the monastic foundation at Chartres, of which we have grateful acknowledgment in the Epistles of Bishop Fiolbert'; and another to the church at Cologne, a costly psalter and sacramentary which some time later found their way back to England. ^ On Easter Day (March 26), King Canute as- sisted at the imperial coronation ceremony ; on that day King Conrad and Queen Gisela received the imperial crowns in the Church of the Holy Apos- tles. ^ The assembly was large and splendid and the visiting sovereigns held places of conspicu- ous honour. When the Emperor at the close of the ceremony left the Church, Canute and Rudolf walked beside him. It was a day of great re- " Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxli, col. 231. As to its date the letter furnishes no clue. Bishop Fulbert died, according to Migne's calculations, in April, 1029, two years after Canute's journey. ^Wharton, Anglia Sacra, ii., 249; William of Malmesbury's Vita Wulstani. The manuscripts were illuminated by Erven, scholasticus of Peterborough. 3 Giesebrecht, Geschichte der deulschen Kaiserzeit, ii., 241-243. For a collection of the relevant texts, see Bresslau's Jahrbiicher des deulschen Reicks unter Konrad II., i., 139. 228 Canute the Great [1026- joicing among Conrad's German followers, ending, as was customary, with a fight between them and their Roman hosts. On the 6th of April, a great synod met at the Lateran to consider various weighty matters and to settle certain important controversies. It may have been at this meeting, though preliminary negotiations must have prepared the matter to some extent, that King Canute or his spokesman stated the complaints of the English Church. For one thing he urged that the price extorted from the English archbishops for the pallium was too high. The Pope promised to reduce the charges on condi- tion that Peter's pence be regularly paid. Ap- parently the curia urged reform in church dues generally, for a little later Canute sent his English subjects a sharp reminder on this point. The Pope also agreed to exempt the English school at Rome from the customary tribute. On the whole it seems, however, that the more substantial re- sults of the negotiations remained with the Roman curia. The English King had another set of grievances which seem to have been discussed in the same synod, but which particularly interested the ruler of Burgundy. English and Danish pilgrims, he asserted, were not given fair and considerate treatment on their journeys to Rome: they were afflicted with unjust tolls and with overcharges at the inns; evidently Canute also felt that the highways should be made safer and justice more 1027] The Pilgrimage to Rome 229 accessible to those who travelled on holy errands. In the matter of undue charges, the Burgundians appear to have been especially guilty. The rea- sonableness of Canute's request was apparent to the synod, and it was decreed that the treatment of pilgrims should be liberal and just: and all the princes have engaged by their edict, that my men, whether merchants or other travellers for objects of devotion, should go and return in security and peace, without any constraint of barriers or tolls. ■ From Rome, Canute hurried back to Denmark, following the same route, it seems, as on the journey south. Soon after his return he sent a message to the English clergy and people, advising them as to his absence and doings in Italy. ^ From the use of the phrase, "here in the East" in speaking of the Scandinavian difficulties, it seems likely that the message was composed in Denmark or some- where on the route not far from that kingdom. It was carried to England by Bishop Lifing of Crediton. In this document Canute also recounts the honours bestowed upon him in Italy; especially does he recall the presents of Emperor Conrad: "divers costly gifts, as well in golden and silver ' See Appendix ii.: Canute's Charter of 1027. ' The Anglo-Saxon original of Canute's Charter has been lost. Our oldest version is a Latin translation inserted into the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (see Liebermann, Gesetze der Angel- sachsen, i., 276, 277). Most of our information as to Canute's pilgrimage comes from this document. 230 Canute the Great [i026-i027i vessels as in mantles and vestments exceedingly precious." The document also asks that the lawful chiirch- dues be regularly paid, — Peter's pence, plough alms, church scot, and tithes of the increase of animals and of farm products. This admonition was later enacted into law. At the same time he forbids his sheriffs and other officials to do injustice to any one, rich or poor, either in the hope of winning the royal favour or to gain wealth for the King. He has no need of wealth that has been unjustly acquired. But this lofty assertion of principle looks somewhat strange in the light of the fact that the King was in those very days engaged in bribing a nation. There can be no doubt that the visit to the Eternal City was of considerable importance for the future career of the Anglo-Danish King. Doubtless Rome began to realise what a power was this young monarch who up to this time had probably been regarded as little better than a barbarian, one of those dreaded pirates who had so long and so often terrorised the Italian shores. Here he was next to the Emperor the most redoubt- able Christian ruler in Europe. Probably Canute returned to the North with the Pope's approval of his plans for empire in Scandinavia, — tacit if not expressed. John XIX. was a Pope whose ideal of a church was one that was efficiently administered and he may have seen in Canute a ruler of his own spirit. CHAPTER XI THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY IO28-IO3O CANUTE was still in the Eternal City on the 6th of April, but it is not likely that he remained in the South much later than that date. With the opening of spring, hostilities might be renewed in Scandinavia at any moment. That Canute expected a renewal of the war is clear from the language of his message to Britain: I therefore wish it to be made known to you that, returning by the same way that I departed, I am going to Denmark, for the purpose of settling, with the counsel of all the Danes, firm and lasting peace with those nations, which, had it been in their power, would have deprived us of our life and kingdom. . . . After affairs had been thus composed, he expected to return to England. His plans, however, must have suffered a change. So far as we know, warlike operations were not resumed that year; and yet, if any overtures for peace were made, they can scarcely have been 231 232 Canute the Great [1028- successful. Some time later in the year Canute set sail for England; but with his great purpose unfulfilled: for he had promised in his "Charter" to return to Britain when he had "made peace with the nations around us, and regulated and tranqtdllised all our kingdom here in the East." Not till next year did he return to the attack on King Olaf Haroldsson. Hostile movements across the Scottish border seem to have been responsi- ble for the postponement of the projected con- quest. It is told in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that as soon as Canute had returned from Rome he departed for Scotland; "and the King of Scots submitted to him and also two other kings, Masl- beathe and Jehmarc. " Malcolm, the son of Kenneth, was at this time ruler of Scotia, a kingdom composed chiefly of the region between the Forth and the river Spey, with various outlying dependencies. We do not know what called forth hostilities between Mal- colm and Canute at this time; but it is possible that the inciting force may have been the Nor- wegian King, as difficulties in Britain might lead Canute to abandon his Norse pretensions. As overlord of the Orkneys and probably also of the neighbouring Scotch coast lands, King Olaf natur- ally would be drawn into diplomatic relations with the kings of Scone. The Chronicle gives the year of the expedition to Scotland as 1031; but it also places it in the year of Canute's pilgrimage, which we know to have been made in 1027. 1030] The Conqiiest of Norway 233 Malcolm rendered some sort of homage in 1027, but for what territories we do not know. That he became Canute's vassal for all his possessions is unlikely; he had already for a decade been the man of the English King for Lothian; and the probabilities are that the homage of 1027 was merely the renewal of the agreements entered into after the battle of Carham in 1018. With the Northern war still unfinished, Canute cannot have been in position to exact severe terms. Fur- thermore, the acquisition of the Norwegian crown would bring to Canute important possessions to the north and north-west of Malcolm's kingdom and place him in a more favourable position for con- quest at some future time. Whether Malcolm realised it or not, further victories for Canute in Scandinavia would mean serious dangers for the Scottish realms. The identity of the other two kings, Maelbeathe and Jehmarc, is a matter of conjecture. Mael- beathe was probably Macbeth, who as earl ruled the country about Moray Firth, the Macbeth whom we know from Shakespeare's tragedy. Skene believes that Jehmarc, too, must have ruled in the extreme north or north-west, the region that was under Norse influence. But the language of the Chronicle need not mean that these kings were both from Scotland; Munch's conjecture that Jehmarc was Eagmargach, the Celtic King of Dublin after the Irish victory at Clontarf, ' is at '■Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 673. 234 Canute the Great [1028- least plausible. That Canute counted Irishmen among his subjects appears from a stanza by Ottar the Swart : Let us so greet the King of the Danes, Of Irish, Enghsh, and Island-dwellers, That his praise as far as the pillared heaven May travel widely through all the earth. ' If Munch's identification is correct, it reveals a purpose of combining all the Scandinavian West with the older kingdoms, a poHcy that must have seemed both rational and practical. The homage of Malcolm and Macbeth seems to be mentioned by Sighvat though here again the chronology is defective, the submission of the kings "from far north in Fife" being dated before 1026. In the meantime Norway was not forgotten. During the year 1027, while Canute was absent in Rome or busied with North British affairs, his emissaries were at work in Norway still further undermining the tottering loyalty of the Norwegian chiefs. No attempt was made at secrecy — it was bribery open and unblushing. Says Sighvat the Scald: Jealous foes of King Olaf Tempt us with open purses; Gold for the life of the lordly Ruler is loudly offered. ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 157 (Vigfusson's translation with slight changes). 1030] The Conquest of Norway 235 The poet was a Christian and seems to have taken grim satisfaction in the teachings of the new faith regarding future punishment: Men who sell for molten Metal the gentle ruler In swart Hell (they deserve it) Shall suffer the keenest torture.' The activities of the Danish envoys appear to have extended to all parts of the country, though it seems likely that their success was greatest in the West and South-west where they enjoyed the protection and assistance of the mighty nobleman Erling Skjalgsson, who thus added dishonour to stubborn and unpatriotic wilfulness. After Holy River Canute apparently dismissed his fleet for the winter, in part at least, and Erling returned to his estates at Soli. With Erling Canute's envoys came north and brought much wealth with them. They fared widely during the winter, paying out the money that Canute had promised for support in the autumn before; but they also gave money to others and thus bought their friendship for Canute; and Erling supported them in all this." Evidence of this activity appears in a remarkable find of English coins to the number of 1500 near Eikunda-sound, not far from Soli. The treasure ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 134. ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 161. 236 Canute the Great [1028- was brought to light in 1836; most of the coins bear the effigies of Ethelred and Canute; all are from Canute's reign or earlier.' The next year (1028) Canute sailed his fleet into Eikunda-sound and remained there for some time ; but there seems no reason why English money should be secreted on that occasion. More probably the treasure was part of the bribe money; the fact that it was hidden would indicate that Canute's agents found the business somewhat dangerous after all. Gold alone does not account for Saint Olaf's downfall. There were other reasons for the de- fection of the aristocracy, but these have been discussed in an earlier chapter: there was dis- satisfaction with the new faith; there was dis- satisfaction with a regime that enjoined a firm peace everywhere, that aimed at equal justice for all without respect to birth or station, and that enforced severe and unusual ptmishments; there was also the memory of the days of the earls, when the hand of government was light and the old ways were respected. In 1028, Canute was ready to strike. Soon the news spread that a vast armament was approaching Norway. "With fifty ships of English thegns,"'' the King sailed along the Low German shores to the western mouth of the Lime Firth. Among the chiefs who accompanied him from England were the two earls, Hakon and Godwin. One of ' Munch, Del norske Folks Historic, I., ii., 741. 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1028. weo] The Conquest of Norway 237 Godwin's men found his death in Norway, as we learn from a runic monument raised by one Arn- stein over the grave of his son Bjor, "who found his death in Godwin's host in the days when Canute sailed [back] to England. "' The ships that the King brought from England were doubtless large and well- manned: Canute's housecarles may have made up a considerable part of the crews. At the Lime Firth an immense Danish fleet was waiting : according to the sagas 1440 ships made up the fleet that sailed up to the Norwegian capital Nidaros. Twelve great hundreds is evidently merely a round num- ber used to indicate unusual size; but that the armament was immense is evident from the ease with which it accomplished its work. So far as we know, the awe-stricken Norsemen made no resistance. In addition to the English and Danish ships, there were evidently not a few that were manned by the housecarles of dis- affected Norwegian chiefs. Olaf was informed of Canute's intentions and did what he could to meet the invasion. Men were dispatched to Sweden to bring home the ships that had been abandoned there nearly two years before. This was a difficult undertaking, for the Danes kept close guard over the passages leading out of the Baltic. Part of the fleet the Norsemen burned ; with the rest they were able to steal through the Sound after Canute had begun his advance toward ' Ajhandlinger viede Sophus Bugges Minde, 8. 238 Canute the Great [1028- Norway. King Olaf also summoned the host, but there came Pew folk and little dragons. What a disgrace that landsmen Leave our lord royal Unsupported. (For money Men desert their duties.) What forces the Norwegians were able to collect sailed up into Oslo Firth, where King Olaf pru- dently remained till Canute had again departed from the land. ' The northward progress of Canute's armament is told in a poem by Thorarin Praise-tongue, who had composed an earlier lay to the King's honour. ^ "The lord of the ocean " sailed from the Lime Firth with a vast fleet. Canute seems to have cut across the strait to the southwestern part of Norway, where the "war- trained men of Agdir saw in terror the advance of the hero," for Canute's dragon gleamed with steel and gold. "The swart ships glide past Lister" and soon fill Eikunda-sound. And so the journey goes on past the Hornel-mount and the promontory of Stadt, till the "sea-falcons glide into the Nid River. " At important points Canute landed and sum- moned the franklins to formal assemblies. The summons were generally obeyed: the franklins swore allegiance to the new King and gave the required hostages. Wherever there was occasion ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. l68. ' Ibid., c. 172. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 239 to do so, the King appointed new local officials from the elements whose loyalty he believed he could trust. He spent some time in Eikunda- sound where Erling Skjalgsson joined him with a large force. The old alliance was renewed and Erling received promise of all the region between the great headlands of Stadt and the Naze, with a little additional territory to the east of the latter point. This was more than the lord of Soli had ever controlled before. The terms have not been recorded, but Canute was always liberal in his promises. ' When Nidaros was reached, the eight shires of the Throndelaw were summoned to meet in a grand assembly, the Ere-thing, which met on the river sands at the mouth of the Nid. As Thrond- hjem was counted the most important region of the kingdom, the Ere-thing throughout the middle ages enjoyed a prominence of its own as the assembly that accepted and proclaimed the Nor- wegian kings. Here then, Canute was formally proclaimed the true King of Norway, and the customary homage was rendered.^ There was no need of going beyond Nidaros. Thor the Dog, Harek of Tjotta, and other great lords from the farther North were present at the Ere-thing and took the oaths of allegiance. Thor came in Canute's fleet; Harek joined the King at Nidaros. On these two chiefs the King de- pended for support in the Arctic regions. In re- " Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170. " Ibid. 240 Canute the Great [1028- tum for their allegiance they received enlarged franchises and privileges, among other things the monopoly of the trade with the Finnish tribes. ' The conclusions of the Ere-thing concerned Norway alone. A little later a larger assembly was called, a joint meeting of the chiefs of Norway and of the invading army — magnates from Eng- land, Denmark, and Norway ; possibly the warriors, too, had some voice in this assembly. Here then, in the far North on the sands of Nidaros, was held the first and only imperial assembly, so far as our information goes, that Canute ever summoned. It was called to discuss and decide matters of interest common to all the three realms — especially was it to hear the imperial will, the new imperial policy. Canute was yet a young man — he had not advanced far into the thirties — but prudence, perhaps also wisdom, had developed with the years. He realised that his own person was really the only bond that held his realms together; but he also understood that direct rule was impractic- able. The Norse movement was essentially a revolt from Olaf , not a popular demand for union with Denmark. Among the Danes, too, there was opposition to what smacked of alien rule, as is shown by the readiness with which the magnates had received the revolutionary plans of Earl Ulf. No doubt it was with reluctance that Canute announced a system of vassal earls and kings; ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 241 however, no other solution can have seemed possible. To his nephew Hakon he gave the vice-royalty of Norway with the earl's title and dignity. Whether the entire kingdom was to be included in Hakon's realm may be doubted; Southern Norway, the Wick, which was as yet unconquered, was an old possession of the dynasty of Gorm and may have been excepted. "Next he led his son Harthacanute to his own high-seat and gave him the kings-name with the government of the Danish realms."' As Harthacanute was still but a child a guardian must be found, and for this position Canute seems to have chosen Harold, the son of Thurkil the Tall, ^ his own foster-brother, if tradition can be trusted. Harold at this time was apparently in charge at Jomburg, where he had probably stood in a similar relation to Canute's older son Sweyn who was located there. It is significant that the only one who is awarded the royal title is Harthacanute, the youngest of the King's three sons ; but he was also the only one who was of legitimate birth. There can be little doubt that Canute intended to make Harthacanute the heir to all his realms. Of these arrangements Thorarin Praise-tongue sings in his lay: Then gave the wise Wielder of Jutland Norway to Hakon His sister's son. ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 171. ' Ibid., c. 183. 16 242 Canute the Great 11028- And to his own son (I say it) the old dark Halls of the ocean, Hoary Denmark. ^ Among the Norwegian chiefs who thus far had remained neutral was Einar Thongshaker, the archer of Swald. But now that the Ere-thing had acted and had renounced its allegiance to Olaf, Einar promptly appeared and took the required oaths. King Canute felt the need of binding the proud magnate closely to the new order of things, and along with gifts and increased feudal income went the flattering phrases that next to those who bore princely titles Einar should be the chiefest in the kingdom, and that he or his son Eindrid seemed, after all, most suited to bear the rule in Norway, "were it not for Earl Hakon. "^ There remained the formality of taking hostages, sons, brothers, or near kinsmen of the chiefs, "or the men who seemed dearest to them and best fitted." The fleet then returned to the South. It was a leisurely sail, we are told, with frequent landings and conferences with the yeomanry, especially, no doubt, in the shires where no as- eemblies had been summoned on the northward journey. When King Olaf heard of Canute's return, he moved farther up the Oslo Firth and into one of its arms, the Drammen Firth. Here ' Carpus Poeticum BoreaXe, ii., 159. ' Snorre, Saga oj Saint Olaf, c. 171. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 243 he apparently left his ships while he and his men withdrew some distance into the interior. King Canute did not pursue him. He sailed along the south shores to the Oslo Firth and up to Sarps- borg, where an assembly of the freemen accepted him as King. From Sarpsborg he returned to Denmark, where he seems to have spent the winter. Not till the following year did he care to risk a return to England; but at that time his Norse rival was treading the path of exile across the Baltic (1029). While Canute was being hailed as King at Sarpsborg, Olaf was in hiding two or three days' march distant, probably in the Ring-realm. When he learned of the enemy's departure, he promptly returned to Tunsberg and tried to resume his sway. The situation was desperate, but he wished to make a last appeal to the Norsemen's feeling of loyalty to Harold's dynasty. And now another fleet sailed up the western shores, this time the King's own. Only thirteen ships steered out of Tunsberg harbour and few joined later. The season was the beginning of winter, a most unfavourable time for aggressive operations. When King Olaf had rounded the Naze, he learned that his old enemy, Erling Skjalgsson, had been levying forces in considerable numbers. Olaf managed, however, to intercept Erling's ship and overpowered the old chief after a furious struggle. "Face to face shall eagles fight; will you give quarter?" Erling is reported to have 244 Canute the Great [i028- said when Olaf remarked on his bravery. The King was disposed to reconciliation; but during the parley one of his men stepped up and clove the rebel's head. "Unhappy man," cried the King, "there you struck Norway out of my hand ! " But the overzealous housecarle was forgiven. ' The news of Erling's death fired the whole coast. The magnates realised at once that re- treat was now impossible: they must maintain the cause of Canute. Nowhere could King Olaf land, everywhere the yeomanry called for revenge. From the south came the sons of the murdered man in vigorous pursuit ; in the north Earl Hakon was mustering the Thronder-foLk. Finally King Olaf was forced into one of the long inlets that cut into the western coast. Here he was trapped; flight alone was possible; but before him lay wild mountain regions, one of the wildest routes in Norway. It was midwinter, but the crossing was successful, though the sufferings and difficul- ties must have been great. Exile was now the only choice ; the journey continued to the Swedish border and thence across that kingdom and the Baltic Sea to Russia. ^ When Canute returned to England, Norway was apparently loyal, peaceful, and obedient. So far as we know, he never again visited the North. The rule of Earl Hakon was brief : a year and a half at most. Of the character of his government ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 174-176. 'Ibid., cc. 177 fE. t030] The Conquest of Norway 245 we have no information; but the good-natured, easy-going son of Earl Eric was not a man to antagonise the Norwegian aristocracy. His lack of aggressive energies was thoroughly appreciated at Winchester : it is difficult to determine whether Canute's attitude toward his nephew is to be as- cribed to bad faith or lack of faith; at all events, the King seems anxiously to have sought a pre- text to remove him. Among the noble families of Thronde-land, perhaps none ranked higher than the house of the Amungs. Ame Armodsson was a mighty chief and, while he lived, a good friend of King Olaf . Of his five surviving sons four were faithful to the King till he fell at Stiklestead. As we have noted elsewhere, the family also had connections with Olaf's enemies: Ame's daughter was the wife of Harek; his son Kalf was married to the widow of Olvi who had been executed at the King's orders for practising heathen rites; somewhat later Olvi's son Thorir was slain for treason (1027?). When Olaf left Norway, Kalf deserted him and not long afterwards made peace with Earl Hakon and became his man. The sagas attribute this step to the influence of his wife Sigrid and her brother, Thor the Dog. Sigrid is represented as a woman of the legendary type, possessed of a demon of revenge. She had lost much: a husband for his fidelity to the old gods ; a son for suspected treason ; another in an effort to take vengeance for his brother. To this motive was added that of ambi- 246 Canute the Great [1028- tion, which was, perhaps, that which chiefly de- termined Kalf's actions. Canute seems to have been anxious to secure the active support of this influential noble and probably had expressed a desire for an interview; for in the spring following the conquest (1029), Kalf prepared his ship and sailed to England.' It must have been clear to Canute that con- tinued peace in the North was not to be hoped for. That King Olaf Haroldsson, who had begun his career as a viking while he was yet a mere boy and who was still young, strong, and virile, would be content with permanent exile was unthinkable. Canute must further have realised that his power in Norway had no secure foundation: bribery could not be employed forever ; heathendom was a broken reed. His representative was weak, or, as Canute is said to have put it, too "conscientious" ; in a crisis he was not to be trusted. Einar Thong- shaker was of doubtful loyalty and furthermore had nearly passed the limits of active life. But here was Kalf, young and influential, wealthy and strong. Canute therefore proposed to Kalf that if Olaf should reappear in Norway he was to raise the militia and lead the host against him. He thus became, in a way, Canute's personal, though un- official, representative in the kingdom, with a higher title in prospect: I will then give you the earl's dignity and let you govern Norway; but my kinsman Hakon shall fare ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183. t030] The Conquest of Norway 247 back to me; and for that he is best suited, as he is so conscientious that I scarcely beUeve he would do as much as hurl a single shaft against King Olaf , if they were to meet.' Kalf listened joyfully; Canute's speech appealed to him; "and now he began to yearn for the earlship. " An agreement was made, and soon Kalf's ship, laden with gifts, was again sailing eastward over the North Sea. Bjame the Poet recalls these gifts and promises in a praise-lay of which we have fragments : The lord of London made promise Of lands ere you left the westlands (Since there has come postponement) ; Slight was not your distinction.^ A few months later the vice-royalty was vacant. Soon after Kalf's return to Norway, Hakon sailed to England; Canute had apparently sent for him. The sources are neither clear nor wholly agreed on this matter ; but practically all place the journey in some relation to Hakon's betrothal to Gunhild, Canute's niece, the daughter of his sister Gunhild and a Slavic prince, Witigern. It was late in the year before Hakon was ready to return — sometime after Martinsmas (November iith)^ says Florence of Worcester. ^ His ship never ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183. ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 163. 3 Chronicon, i., 184-185. 248 Canute the Great [1028- reached Norway ; it went down in a tempest in the Pentland Firth, probably in January, 1030. The EngHsh sources have it that Canute in fact exiled Hakon, though formally he sent him on a personal mission ; but the chroniclers are evidently in error in this matter. When these writers speak of outlawry, they mean exile from England; and Hakon was no longer an EngUsh resident. Still, it is extremely probable that Hakon had been deprived of his ancestral dignities, that he had been transferred to a new field. Two possibilities appear to fit into the situation : the Earl may have been transferred to the north-western islands or to Jomburg. The Norwegian dependencies along the Scottish shores, the Orkneys and other pos- sessions, passed to Canute when he assumed the Norwegian crown. The fact that Hakon's ship went under on the shores of the Orkneys may indicate that he had an errand in those waters, that Canute had created a new jurisdiction for his easy-going nephew. Still more is to be said for the alternative possibility. Canute had clearly decided to su- persede Hakon in Norway. He had already, it seems, selected his illegitimate son Sweyn for the Norse governorship. The promotion of Sweyn would create a vacancy in Jomburg; perhaps Hakon was intended as Sweyn's successor at that post. At any rate, the King was planning a marriage between the Earl and a kinswoman of his own who was of the Slavic aristocracy, a marriage 1030] The Conquest of Norway 249 that would secure for the Earl a certain support among the Wendish nobility. The prospective bride was probably in Wendland with her kinsmen at the time; at any rate she was not on the ship that went down in the Swelchie of Pentland Firth ; for a few years later we find Gunhild the widow of one whose history is closely associated with Jom- burg, Harold, the son of Thurkil the Tall, the Harold who in 1030 was administering Danish affairs in the name of Harthacanute. Florence tells us that in 1044, Gunhild was exiled from England with her two sons, Thurkil and Heming. ' Two fierce brothers, it will be recalled, led the Jomvikings into England in 1009, — Thurkil and Heming. No doubt the exiled boys were Harold's sons, named in honour of their stately grandfather and his valiant brother. Once more Norway was without a ruler. The news of Hakon's death was not long in reaching the Throndelaw, and the leaders of the various factions seem to have taken prompt measures to provide a satisfactory regime. Einar Thongshaker, mindful of Canute's earlier promises, got out his ship and repaired to England. As usual the diplomatic King was prodigal with promises and professions of friendship: Einar should have the highest place in the Norse aristocracy, a larger income, and whatever honours the King could give except the earl's authority, — that had been as- signed to Sweyn, and messengers had already ' Chronicon, i., 199. 250 Canute the Great [1028- been dispatched to Jomburg with instructions to the young prince to assume control at Nidaros. ' The old warrior cannot have been pleased. It is likely that his loyalty received a violent shock. Knowing that an attempt would be made to re- store Olaf to the throne, he apparently decided to assume his customary neutral attitude; at any rate, he would not fight under Kalf Arnesson's banner. So he lingered in England till the trouble was over and Sweyn was in charge of the kingdom. Kalf did not go to England ; he was busy carrying out his promises to Canute. For hardly had the merchant ships brought rumours of Earl Hakon's death, before Olaf's partisans took measures to restore their legitimate King. Some of the chiefs set out for Russia; and when midsummer came, King Olaf's banner was advancing toward the Norwegian capital. Kalf was prepared to meet him. As it was not known what route Olaf might choose to take or in what region he would set up his standard, the forces of the yeomanry were divided, the southern magnates under the leader- ship of the sons of Erling undertaking to meet the King if he should appear in the south-east, while the northern host under Kalf, Harek, and Thor the Dog was preparing to hold the Throndelaw. The host that gathered to oppose the returned exile was wholly Norse: no Dane or Englishman seems to have fought for Canute at Stiklestead. The only alien who is prominently mentioned in » Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 194. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 251 chis connection is Bishop Sigurd, a Danish eccle- siastic who had served as Hakon's court bishop and was a violent partisan of Canute. All the western coast as far as to the Arctic seems to have been represented in the army of the franklins, which is said to have numbered 14,400, four times the number that fought for the returned King. Still, the disparity of forces was not so great after all. Most of the kingsmen were superb warriors, and all were animated with enthusiasm for Olaf's cause. It was otherwise in the host of the yeomanry; many had small desire to fight for King Canute, and among the chiefs there was an evident reluctance to lead. Kalf had, therefore, no difficulty in securing authority to command — it was almost thrust upon him. The battle was joined at Stiklestead farm, about forty miles north-east of the modem Throndhjem. The summer night is short in the Northlands and the long morning gave opportunity for careful preparation. At noon the armies met and the battle began. For more than two hours it raged, King Olaf fighting heroically among his men. Leading an attack on the hostile standard, he came into a hand-to-hand conflict with the chiefs of the yeomanry and fell wounded in three places. ^ Saint Olaf's day is celebrated on July 29th, and it is generally held that the battle was fought on that date. Some historians have thought that it ' For details of the battle see Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 215-229. 252 Canute the Great ['028- was really fought a month later on the last day of August. Sighvat was that year on a pilgrimage to Rome, and was consequently not an eye-witness ; but his lines composed after his return are, never- theless, one of the chief sources used by the saga- men. The poet alludes to an eclipse of the sun on the day of the battle: They call it a great wonder That the sun would not, Though the sky was cloudless, Shine warm upon the men. ' Such an eclipse, total in that very region at the hour assigned to the climax of the fight, actually occurred on August 31st. It is generally held, however, that the eclipse came to be associated with the battle later when the search for miracles had begun. The reaction was successfully met, but without any assistance from Canute. Sweyn had prepared a large force of Danes, commanded it seems by Earl Harold, and had hastened northward; but had only reached the Wick when the battle of Stiklestead was fought. It seems strange at first thought that no English fleet was sent to assist Kalf and his associates. It is not likely that Canute depended much on the fidelity of the Northmen — he understood human nature better than most rulers of his time ; nor had he any means of knowing how widely the revolt wotdd spread ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 142. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 253 when the former King should issue his appeal. The key to his seeming inactivity must be sought in the international situation of the time : England was just then threatened with an invasion from the south, a danger that demanded a concentra- tion of military resources on the shores of the Channel. The accounts that have come down to us of the relations of England and Normandy during the latter half of Canute's reign are confused and contradictory ; but a few facts are tolerably clear. Some time after the murder of Ulf (1026), Canute gave the widowed Estrid in marriage to Robert the Duke of Normandy (1027-1035).' It may be that on his return from Rome in the spring of 1027 Canute had a conference with Robert, who had succeeded to the ducal throne in the previous February. But whether such a meeting occurred or not, Robert had serious trouble before him in Normandy and no doubt was eager for an alliance with the great King of the North. The marriage must have taken place in 1027 or 1028 ; a later date seems improbable. The father of William Bastard is not famous for conjugal fidelity and may not have been strongly attracted by the Danish widow ; at any rate, he soon repudiated her, perhaps to Estrid's great relief, as Duke Robert the Devil seems not to have borne his nickname in vain. The characteristics of the Duke that most im- ' The evidence for this marriage is discussed by Freeman in Norman Conquest, i.. Note ppp. 254 Canute the Great [t028- pressed his contemporaries were a ferocious dis- position and rude, untamed strength. It is likely, however, that the break with Canute is to be ascribed not so much to domestic infelicity as to new political ambitions; at the court of Rouen were the two sons of King Ethelred, Edward and Alfred, who had grown to manhood in Normandy. It apparently became Robert's ambition to place these princes on English thrones, which he could not hope to accomplish without war. An embassy was sent to Canute (perhaps in 1029), somewhat similar to the one that Canute had sent to Norway a few years before, bearing a similar errand and equipped with similar argu- ments. Evidently the Norman ambassadors did not receive kind treatment at the English court. Their report stirred the Duke to great wrath; he ordered a fleet to be prepared for an invasion of England.' Most likely that was the time, too, of the Duchess Estrid's disgrace. The expedition sailed, but a storm sent, as William of Jumieges believes, by an overruling Providence, "who had determined that Edward should some day gain the crown without the shedding of blood, " drove the fleet in a westerly direction past the peninsula of Cotentin to the shores of Jersey. Robert was disappointed, but the fleet was not prepared in vain: instead of attacking England, the Duke proceeded against Brittany and forced his enemy Duke Alain to seek ' William of Jumieges, Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 10. 1030] The Conquest of Norway 255 peace through the mediation of the Church at Rouen. ' These events must have occurred after Canute's return from the North, — in the years 1029 and 1030. No other period seems possible; it is not Hkely that the threatened hostihties could have been later than 1030, for in 1031 a new King, Henry I., ascended the French throne and Robert the Devil became involved in the resulting civil war.'' If our chronology is correct, the summer of 1030 saw the Northern Empire threatened from two directions; in Norway it took the form of revolt; in Normandy that of threatened invasion. In both instances legitimate claimants aimed to dislodge a usurper. The danger from the South was by far the greater; Olaf's harsh rule had not yet been forgotten by the Norsemen, nor had they yet experienced the rigours of alien rule. England was quiet and apparently contented; but what effect the pretensions of the Ethelings would have on the populace no one could know. We may be sure that Canute was ready for the invader; but so long as the Norwegian troubles were still unsettled, he wisely limited himself to defensive operations. It is also related, though not by any contempo- rary writer, that Canute was dangerously ill at the 'William of Jumi&ges, Historia Normannorum, vi., cc. lo, ii. 'This was followed by a famine in the duchy (1033) which probably induced the Duke to make his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre on the return from which he died (1035). 256 Canute the Great 11028-1030] time of the Norman trouble, and that he at one time expressed a willingness to divide the English kingdom with the Ethelings. ' Whether he was ill or not, such an offer does not necessitate the infer- ence either of despair or of fear for the outcome. The offer if made was doubtless a diplomatic one, on par with the promises to the Norwegian rebels, made for the purpose of gaining time, perhaps, until Norway was once more pacified. But fortune had not deserted the great Dane. When autumn came in 1030, the war clouds had passed and the northern skies were clear and cheerf\il. Canute's Norwegian rival had gone to his reward ; his Norman rival was absorbed in other interests. Without question Canute was now Emperor of the North. ' William of Jumifeges, Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 12. CHAPTER XII THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH WHEN the eleventh centvury began its fourth decade, Canute was, with the single excep- tion of the Emperor, the most imposing ruler in Latin Christendom. Less than twenty years earlier he had been a landless pirate striving to dislodge an ancient and honoured dynasty; now he was the lord of four important realms and the overlord of other kingdoms. Though technically Canute was counted among the kings, his position among his fellow-monarchs was truly imperial. Apparently he held in his hands the destinies of two great regions; the British Isles and the Scan- dinavian peninsulas. His fleet all but controlled two important seas, the North and the Baltic. He had built an empire. It was a weak structure, founded too largely on the military and diplomatic achievements of a single man ; but the King was young — in the ordin- ary course of nature he should have lived to rule at least thirty years longer — and with careful diplomatic effort, of which he was a master, he might be expected to accomplish great things in the way of consolidating his dominions. But instead 17 257 258 Canute the Great of thirty years, the fates had counted out less than half a dozen. In this period he was able to do almost nothing to strengthen the bonds of empire. Canute's power did not long remain at its zenith — the decline began almost immediately. In this there is nothing strange ; the marvel is in the fact that such an empire was actually built. Of Canute's many dominions, the kingdoms of Denmark, England, and Norway had fairly distinct boundaries. Lothian might be in ques- tion between England and Scotland; the Nor- wegian kings had claimed certain territories across the Scandinavian watershed, Jemteland, a Norse colony in Swedish possession; but otherwise the limits were tolerably definite. The fourth divi- sion, the Slavic lands on the southern rim of the Baltic, was a more indefinite area. Its limits are unknown; perhaps it shotdd be called a sphere of influence rather than a province. There were, however, certain evident nuclei ; the regions about the lower course of the Oder with Jomburg as the chief city were doubtless the more important part ; in addition there was Semland in the extreme' east of modern Prussia, Witland a trifle farther west where the Vistula empties into the sea ; and doubt- less some of the intervening territories. There are indications that Danish settlements had also been planted in the region of the modem city of Riga' ; but as to their probable relation to Canute's empire the sources are silent. ' Steenstrup, Normannerne, i., 195-199. The Empire of the North 259 In addition to England, Canute possessed import- ant territories elsewhere in the British archipelago. The King of Scotland was his vassal, at least for a part of his dominions; and we have seen that at least one other Scottish king, probably from the extreme north of the island, had done homage to Canute. It has also been shown that the Norse- Irish kingdom of Dublin should, perhaps, be counted among his vassal states. As King of Norway, Canute was lord of the Shetlands and the Orkneys, perhaps also the Hebrides, and other Norse colonies on the west shores of Scotland. The Faroes were not wholly subject and the Ice- landic republic still maintained its independence; but the straggling settlements in far-off Greenland seem to have acknowledged their dependence on the Norwegian crown. ^ Any definite imperial policy Canute seems never to have developed. In his own day the various tmits were nominally ruled by earls or sub-kings, usually chosen from the King's own immediate family ; but the real power was often in the hands of some trusted chief whom the King associated with the lord who bore the title. If time had been granted, some form of feudalism might have de- veloped out of this arrangement; but it had few feudal characteristics in Canute's own day. It was evidently Canute's intention to continue the scheme of one king for the entire group of domin- ions, for at the imperial assembly at Nidaros, he ' Munch, Del norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 704, 705. 26o Canute the Great placed Harthacanute in the high-seat and gave him the administration of Denmark, which was, after all, the central kingdom. The Encomiast bears further testimony as to Canute's intention when he tells us that all England had taken an oath to accept Harthacanute as king. ^ It seems that Canute, to secure the succession to his legitimate son, had adopted the Capetian expedient of as- sociating the heir with himself in the kingship while he was still living. So long as obedience, especially in matters of military assistance, was duly rendered, few diffi- culties were Ukely to arise between the supreme lord of Winchester and his subordinates in Nidaros, Roeskild, or Jomburg. As the union was personal, each kingdom retained its own laws and its own system of assemblies, though this must have been true to a less extent in the Slavic possessions, as these seem to have been regarded almost as a Danish dependency. When the reign closed, Harthacanute was governing Denmark; Sweyn assisted by his mother Elgiva had charge of Nor- way, though at that moment the Norwegian rebels were in actual control. Canute ruled England himself, not because it was regarded as the chief or central kingdom, but more likely because it ' Encomium Emmm, ii., c. 19. The Encomiast is intensely partisan and much given to exaggeration; but we cannot reject the statement as to the Enghsh oath without convicting him of a worse fault for which there was scarcely a sufficient motive at the time when the Encomium was composed. The Empire of the North 261 could not with safety be entrusted to any one else. So far as the Empire had any capital, that dis- tinction appears to have belonged to the ancient city of Winchester. Here in the heart of Wessex was the seat of English government, the royal and imperial residence. We naturally think of Ca- nute's household as an English court; but it is difficult to determine what racial influences were in actual control. Nor do we know what was the official language in Canute's royal garth; but the probabilities are that both Old English and Old Norse were in constant use. The housecarles who guarded the royal person and interests were in large part of Scandinavian birth or blood. The Norse poets who sang praise-lays in the royal hall at Winchester sang in their native dialects. Of the King's thegns who witnessed Canute's land grants, as a rule about one half bear Scandina- vian names ; there can be little doubt that most of these were resident at court, at all events those whose names appear in more than one document. Other nationaUties, too, were represented at Winchester. In the enrolment of housecarles, the King asked for strength, valour, wealth, and aristocratic birth; not, it seems, for Danish or EngMsh ancestry. The bishops that Canute sent from England to Denmark appear to have been Flemings or Lotharingians. William who in a later reign became bishop of Roeskild is said to have come to Denmark as Canute's private secretary 262 Canute the Great or chancellor; but William is neither a Northern nor a Saxon but a Norman name. And thus with Dane and Angle, Norman and Norseman, Swede and Saxon, Celt and German thronging the royal garth the court at Winchester must have borne an appearance that was distinctly non-English. As at other courts, men came and went; and the stories of the splendours at Winchester were given wide currency. The dissatisfied Norsemen who sought refuge in England fovmd at Canute's court greater magnificence than in any other place, both as to the number in daily attendance and as to the furnishings and equipments of the palaces that he owned and occupied. ' Sighvat the Scald, who had seen Rouen and visited Rome, was so deeply impressed with the glories of Canute's capital that in his praise-lay he intro- duced the refrain: Canute was under heaven The most glorious King. " There seems also to have been a notable Slavic element in Canute's retinue. Attention has been called to the Bang's Slavic ancestry: the Slavic strain was evidently both broader and deeper than the Danish. One of the King's sisters bore a Slavic name, Santslave^; another sister, Gunhild, ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 130. " Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 135-136. 3 Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 64-65. The name occurs in the Liber VibtE of Winchester in a list of benefactors. See above p. 57. The Empire of the North 263 married a Slavic "king, " Wyrtgeom or Witigem, ' who may have been the Wrytsleof who witnessed an EngHsh land grant in 1026^; possibly he was visiting his English kinsfolk at the time. Among the chiefs of the imperial guard was one Godescalc, the son of a Slavic prince, though Danish on the maternal side; he, too, married into the Danish royal family. ^ The affairs of each separate kingdom were evidently directed from the national capitals and administered largely by native functionaries. At the same time, it seems to have been Canute's policy to locate Danish officials in all his principal dominions, at least in the higher offices. The appointment of Danes to places of importance in England has been noted in an earlier chapter. With the subjection of Norway, a number of Danes received official appointments in that kingdom. A leading cause of the Norwegian revolt in 1034-1035 was the prominence given to aliens in the coiincils of the regent Sweyn : " Danish men had in those days much authority in Norway, but that was liked ill by the men of the land."'' On the other hand, no Englishman seems to have received official responsibilities in the North ' Steenstrup, Venderne og de Danske, 65. Florence of Wor- cester, Chronicon, i., 199. ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 743. 3 After Canute's death, Godescalc returned to his native country and took up the cause of Christian mission eflfort among the heathen Wends. Adamus, Cesta, ii., cc. 64, 75. * Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 247. 264 Canute the Great except in the Church; and it may be doubted whether Canute sent many Anglian prelates to his realms in the east; the bishops that we have record of seem to have been Normans, Flemings, or clerks from the Danelaw. When a court bishop was to be found for the household of Earl Hakon, the choice fell upon Sigurd, a Dane and a violent friend of Danish rule. Of Canute's diplomacy the sources afford us only an occasional glimpse; but the information that we have indicates that he entered into diplo- matic relations with almost every ruler of import- ance in Northern and Western Europe. The King of Scotland became his vassal. The sagas tell of an embassy to Sweden in the years preceding the attack on Norway. During the same period Canute's cousin, the King of Poland, apparently sought his alliance against the Germans. With the Emperor he maintained the closest relations. The Norman dukes were bound to the Danish dynasty by the noble ties of marriage. On his visit to Rome the English King came into personal contact with the King of Burgundy and His Holiness the Pope. Even to distant Aquitaine did the mighty monarch send his ambassadors with messages of good- will in the form of substan- tial presents. In a panegyric on William the Great, the Duke of Aquitaine, Ademar of Cha- bannes writes that every year embassies came to the Duke's court with precious gifts from the kings of Spain, France, and Navarre, "and also from The Empire of the North 265 Canute, King of the Danes and the Angles"; and the chronicler adds that the messengers brought even more costly presents away. ' On one occasion "the King of that country [England] sent a manuscript written with letters of gold along with other gifts. "^ As this statement seems to have been written in 1028, and as the author emphasises the fact that this beautiful codex had arrived "recently," it seems probable that this embassy should be associated with Ca- nute's pilgrimage to Rome the year before. It is not strange that Canute should wish to honour a prince like William ; and it is only natural that he should wish to placate a people who had suffered so much, as the Aquitanians had, from the raids and inroads of his former associates and his allies, the vikings and the Normans. With respect to his immediate neighbours, Ca- nute's policy was usually absorption or close friendship. What he felt he could add to his dominions, he added; where this was not possible, he sought peace and alliance. His diplomacy must have concerned itself especially with three states: Normandy, Sweden, and the Empire. As to his relations with Sweden after the encounter at Holy River, history is silent ; but war was evidently ' Mon. Ger. Hist., Scripiores, iv., 134; Ademar's Chronicle, ii., c. 41. " Migne, Patrologia Latina, cxli., col. 122: sermon by Ad^- mar. Migne considers the sermon of doubtful genuineness, possibly because he thought its delivery should go back to 998, when in reality 1028 seems to be the correct date. 266 Canute the Great avoided. Canute probably regarded any effort to extend his territories eastward as an unwise move, so long as the disappointed Norwegian chiefs con- tinued to show signs of vmrest and rebellion. With Normandy he lived in continuous peace for more than a decade, until Robert the DevU took up the cause of the exiled princes. That Canute feared a move in this direction seems evident ; and as Queen Emma's influence at Rouen was probably weakened by the death of Richard the Good (1027), it was no doubt in the hope of strengthening his position at the ducal court that Canute sought the title of duchess for his widowed sister. As we have seen, his success was only temporary, and for a time war seemed imminent. But the confused situation in the French kingdom at this time proved Canute's salvation. In the civil war that followed the accession of Henry I. to the French throne in 103 1, Robert of Normandy took a leading part on the King's side; and it was largely due to his efforts that Henry finally over- came his enemies.' Meanwhile, the sons of Ethelred and Emma had to wait several years before another opportunity appeared with sufficient promise to tempt the exiles back across the Channel. For soon after the French King was safely en- throned, famine came upon Normandy, an afflic- tion that led Robert the Devil to think of a visit to the grave of Christ. The journey was undertaken but on the return the Duke died in Asia Minor ' Lavisse, Histoire de France, II., ii., 162. The Empire of the North 267 (1035). His successor was William who finally conquered England; but William was a child and Canute had no longer any fears from that direction. A few months after Robert's death the King of England also closed his earthly career. Had Robert survived Canute, it is likely that some of the results of Hastings might have come thirty years earlier than they did. After 10 1 9, when Canute ascended the Danish throne, the attitude and plans of the Emperor became an important factor in Northern diplomacy. The Empire was a dangerous neighbour; the Ottos had apparently been ambitious to extend their authority throughout the entire Jutish penin- sula. But during Canute's reign neither power could afford to offend the other; and the Danes were therefore able to keep continued peace along the southern borders of the kingdom. At one time, when the Emperor found himself in serious difficulties, Canute was able to drive a hard bar- gain and exchange his friendship for a strip of imperial territory. It is not likely that the German kings looked with much favour on Danish expansion at the mouths of the Vistula and the Oder, but they were not in position to prevent it. In 1022, when Canute made his expedition to Wendland, the Emperor Henry II. was absent in Italy, striving, as usual, to reduce disorder. ' Two years later he died, and Conrad of Franconia was chosen King ' Manitius, Deutsche Geschichte, 322-323. 268 Canute the Great of the Germans. His election was the signal for uprisings and plots almost along the whole length of the border, in Poland, in Lorraine, and in Lom- bardy." Boleslav, King of the Poles, died in the following year (1025), but his successor continued the policy of hostility to the Germans and seems to have sought the alliance of his cousin Canute against the Teutonic foes.^ Conrad, too, sought Canute's friendship and was able to outbid his Polish rival. It was agreed that there should be perpetual peace between Conrad and Canute, and to cement the good understanding and secure its continuance in years to come, Canute's little daughter Gunhild, who could not yet have been more than five or six years old, was betrothed to Conrad's son Henry, who was, perhaps, three years older. ^ The covenant was kept, and Henry received his bride about ten years later (1036), after the death of Canute. The bridegroom was the mighty Emperor Henry UL, though he did not attain to the imperial dignity before the death of Conrad in 1039. Gunhild was crowned Queen of Germany and as a part of the ceremony received the more honoured German name Kiuiigund; but she never became empress, as she died in 1038. '' In return for his friendship, Canute received the mark of Sleswick, a strip of land between the Schley and the Eider, that Henry the Fowler had ' Manitius, Deutsche Geschkhte, 360-361, 365, 389 flf. 'Ibid., 369-370. sAdamus, Gesta, ii., c. 54. * Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 409. The Empire of the North 269 taken from the Danes a century before. Thus the Eider once more became the boundary of the Danish kingdom. But apart from territorial acquisitions, Canute was doubtless glad to con- clude the treaty, as he was just then planning the conquest of Norway. The negotiations with Conrad were probably concluded in the year 1025 or 1026, though more Hkely in the former year. ^ Perhaps at the same time the German King invited his ally to participate in his coronation as Emperor; for in 1027 Canute journeyed to Rome to witness the great event. There can be little doubt that on this occasion the pledges were renewed. But even in the absence of formal treaties there was small occasion for Conrad to make trouble for his neighbour to the north. The years following his coronation in Rome saw four serious revolts in Germany; not till 1033 was real order restored in Conrad's kingdom. There was another power that Canute could not afford to antagonise or even ignore : no mediseval monarch could long flourish if he overlooked the needs of the Church. During the first years of his English kingship, Canute does not seem to have sought to conciliate the clergy ; but after a few years he apparently adopted a new policy and strove to ally himself with the priesthood. It was as king of England that he first succeeded in forming such an aUiance ; in his other kingdoms, the eccle- 'Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 54. Manitius {Deutsche Geschichie, 370) believes the cession was not made before 1035. 2/0 Canute the Great siastical problem assumed a somewhat different form. With the head of Christendom, Canute's rela- tions seem to have been cordial throughout his entire reign. It was the papacy that made the first move to establish such relations: in 1019 Archbishop Lifing brought a message back from Rome replete with good advice which seems to have flattered the young Dane. The pilgrimage to Rome doubtless strengthened the bond; espe- cially must the King's later efforts to see that the proper church dues were collected have pleased the Popes of that period. For the papacy had fallen low in that age; the Pope whom Canute visited was only a layman up to the day of his election to the sacred office ; his successor Benedict is said to have been a mere boy when he was elevated to the papal dignity, though authorities differ as to his age. There was, therefore, little likelihood of any conflict so long as the Peter's pence were regularly transported to Rome. A new papacy was to come ; but Hildebrand had not quite reached manhood when Canute went to his rest. Canute's ecclesiastical policy in England, at least during the closing years of his reign, seems to have aimed at greater control than had been the case earlier. The friendship and active good-will of the Church could best be secured by carefully choosing the rulers of the Church. As a Christian court, the royal household at Winchester had in its The Empire of the North 271 employment a regular staff of priests, nine of whom are mentioned in the documents. Canute honoured his priests; he seems to have invited them to seats in the national assembly; he called them in to witness grants of land. Finally, he honoured several of them still further by appoint- ing them to episcopal office: at least three of Canute's clerks received such appointments before the reign closed.' His successor inherited his policy and several more of Canute's chapel clerks were honoured in Edward's time. The policy was not new: even in Carolingian times the royal chapel had been used as a training school for future prelates, and there are traces of a similar practice in England long before Canute's time. But so far as the Dane was concerned, the plan was prob- ably original : we cannot suppose him to have been very well informed as to precedents more than two centuries old. In Norway the problem was how to christianise and organise the land, and Canute had no great part in either. The Danish Church, however, was growing in strength and developing under con- ditions that might produce great difficulties: it was the daughter of the German Church; it was governed by an alien prelate. The primacy of the Northern churches belonged to the see of Bremen, the church from which the earliest missionaries had gone forth into Denmark and Sweden. While this primacy was in a way ' Larson, The King's Household in England, 140-142. 272 Canute the Great recognised, in practice, the Northern kings in the early years of the eleventh century paid small regard to the claims of the archbishop. The two Olafs depended mainly on England and the neighbouring parts of the Continent for priests and prelates; and Canute, as King of England, seems to have planned to make the Danish Church, too, dependent on the see of Canterbury. At this time Unwan was Archbishop of Bremen ; for sixteen years he ruled his province with a resolute hand and for the most part with strength and wisdom. Unwan was displeased when he learned that Canute was sending bishops from England to Denmark ; we have already seen how he managed to make a prisoner and even a partisan of Ger- brand, who, hke Unwan himself, was doubtless a German. This must have been in 1022 or 1023, more likely in the former year. Aided by Ger- brand, who acted as mediator, Unwan was able to make Canute recognise his primacy. Adam of Bremen mentions great gifts that Unwan sent to Canute,' but these were probably not the de- termining consideration. In 1022, Canute was fighting the Slavs and adding territory that would naturally belong to the mission fields of Bremen, and it would hardly be wise to make an enemy of one whose historic rights had been admitted by earlier Danish kings. Till Unwan's death in 1029, the King and the Archbishop were fast friends. Unwan served as mediator between Canute and ' Gesta, ii., c. 53. THE HYBY STONE (Monument from the first half of the eleventh century; raised to a Christian as appears from the cross.) The Empire of the North 273 the Emperor when the alliance was formed in 1025 (?)^ and otherwise served the Danish King. It seems probable that a personal acquaintance was formed, for Adam tells us that Unwan rebuilt Hamburg and spent considerable time there, "whither he also invited the very glorious King Canute ... to confer with him. "^ The entente that was thus formed seems also to have affected mission operations in Norway. It is likely that Unwan demanded that King Olaf should no longer be allowed to recruit his ecclesi- astical forces in England; for soon after the date that we have assumed as that of the new treaty, Bishop Grimkell appeared as King Olaf's am- bassador at Unwan's court. The Bishop, who was evidently a Northman from the Danelaw, brought the customary gifts and the prayer that Unwan would accept the Anglian clerks and prelates then in Norway as of his province and that he would further increase the clerical forces of the kingdom. ' Thus in the years 1022-1023, the rights of Ham- burg-Bremen were recognised everywhere. Unwan was succeeded in the province by Li- ben tius, the nephew of an earlier Libentius who had held the metropolitan office in Bremen before Unwan's day. He was of Italian blood and therefore not likely to be burdened with German sympathies. Before everything else, says the good Master Adam, he entered into friendly ' Gesta, ii., c. 54. " Ibid., c. 58. ^/Jid., c. 55;iv., c. 33. 18 274 Canute the Great relations with the King of the Danes.' But during Libentius' as well as Unwan's primacy Canute seems to have selected the bishops for his Danish as well as for his English sees. During the closing years of his life, Canute's policy was completely identified with that of the mediaeval Church as regards his attitude toward heathen and un-Christian practices. So long as the Norwegian problem was unsettled, the King dared not take a decided stand against the old faith, as he was too much dependent on heathen or semi-heathen assistance against King Olaf. But after the conquest there was no reason for further delay, and the English Church got its desired legislation. In two comparatively long enactments, one ecclesiastical and one secular, all the old and important church laws were re-enacted and various new provisions added. ^ Archbishop Dunstan was canonised and given May 13th as his mass day. ^ Added protection was given to churches and to the ministers of the altar: out- lawry was to be the punishment for slaying a priest.'' It was carefully explained that the privileges of the priesthood were due to the exalted character of the divine office ; for great is the exorcism and glorious the consecration that cast out devils and put them to flight whenever baptism is celebrated or the host is consecrated; and ' Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 62. ^ Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 278 ff. ' I. Canute, c. 17, i. 1 1bid., cc. 3, 4; II. Canute, c. 39. The Empire of the North 275 holy angels are present to watch over the sacred act and through the power of God to assist the priests so long as they worthily serve Christ.' Sundays and other church holidays were to be properly kept; and no commercial transactions were to be tolerated on Sundays, nor were the public courts to hold sessions on those days except in cases of extreme necessity.^ Due attention was to be given to the seasons when the Church prescribed fasting; but it was explicitly stated that except in the case of penitents, no fasting was to be required between Easter and Pentecost, or from Christmas to the close of the week follow- ing Epiphany, ^ the joyous period of the Northern Yule-tide. It seems clear that enactments of this sort would be necessary only in regions where there might still be a considerable number of recent converts with whom the observance of Christian rites and customs had not yet become a habit. It may be, therefore, that these laws were particularly in- tended for certain parts of the Danelaw. Per- haps it was the need of improving the religious conditions in the Danish settlements that in- spired the royal demand for general instruction in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. And we order every Christian to learn at least so much that he can understand clearly the teachings of ' I. Canute, c. 4, 2. ' Ibid., c. 1$. ' Ibid., c. 17 . 276 Canute the Great the true faith, and to learn thoroughly the Pater Noster and the Credo. ' Some attention is also paid to ecclesiastical finance. Fines were provided for neglect in the payment of church dues ; part of these were to be paid to the bishop. The Anglo-Saxons were in the habit of making contributions for church lights at the feast of the Purification (Candlemas, February 2d), at Easter Eve, and on AU Saints' day (Nov- ember 1st). A fortnight after Easter plough alms were to be paid. A tithe of yoimg beasts was due at Pentecost. Peter's pence were contributed on Saint Peter's day (August ist). A tithe of the har- vested crops was due at All Saints' day. The last tax of the year was the church scot which was paid at Martinsmas (November nth). All these con- tributions are specifically mentioned and urged in Canute's laws for the English Church.^ The second part of Canute's legislation, the sectilar laws, is a document of considerable length, of which only a comparatively small part is copied from the earlier " dooms. " It deals with a variety of subjects, several of which may be classed as religious rather than secular. A very important act was the definition and prohibition of heathen- dom and heathen practices. Heathendon is the worship of idols, namely the worship of heathen gods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, fountains or rocks or forest trees of any sort ; ' I. Canute, c. 22. ' Ibid., cc. 8-10. The Empire of the North 277 also to practise witchcraft or to commit murders in any manner, whether in sacrifices or in auguries, or to busy oneself with any such delusion. ' As it is not customary to forbid what is never performed, we have in this enactment evidence for a persisting heathendom on English soil. In the Scandinavian colonies pagan practices were probably hard to uproot; at the same time, it is not likely that the old faith was a force that needed to be considered any longer. The matter of Christian marriage is dealt with in both the secular and the ecclesiastical laws. It was difficult to enforce the regulations of the Church on this subject and particiilarly among the vikings, whose ideas as to the binding force of marriage were exceedingly vague.'' Canute for- bade clandestine marriages; to the old law that a man should have but one wife he added the impor- tant provision that "she should be his legally espoused wife. "^ He also gave the protection of the state to widows and virgins who preferred to remain unmarried. '^ Other important enactments deal with matters of finance, especially with the King's share in the fines assessed in the courts, his income from his ' II. Camite, c. 5, I. " On this point tlie Norse sources furnish evidence everywhere. For the condition among the Scandinavians in Britain, see the account of the ' ' Siege of Durham ' ' published among the writings of Simeon of Durham {Opera Omnia, 215-220). 3 /. Canute, c. 7, 3. < II. Canute, cc. 52, 52, i, 74. 278 Canute the Great estates, and coinage and counterfeiting; there are also important laws that look toward the sectirity of persons and of property. The principle of equality before the law is distinctly stated: the magnates were to have no vmusual privileges in the courts of justice. Many a powerful man will, if he can and may, defend his man in whatever way it seems to him the more easy to defend him, whether as freeman or as theow (serf). But we will not suffer that injustice.' With the legislation of Canute, the development of Old English law comes to a close. Various tracts or customals of considerable importance were composed in the eleventh century, some of which may have been put into form after the close of Canute's reign; but of these we know neither the authors nor the date. The "Laws of Edward" that the Norman kings swore to maintain were in reality the laws of Canute; for when the Anglo- Norman lawyers of the early twelfth century began to investigate the subject of Old English law, they found its most satisfactory statement in the legislation of the mighty Dane. In the Quadripartitus these laws occupy the most promi- nent place ; while the compilations that Liebermann has called the Instituta Cnuti and the Consiliatio Cnuti are scarcely more than translations of Ca- nute's legislation for church and state. ^ ' II. Canute, c. 20, I. " For the text of these compilations (including the forged forest law) see Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 529-546,612- The Empire of the North 279 So great was the Danish King's reputation as a lawmaker in the twelfth century that he was even credited with enactments and institutional experi- ments with which he never had any connection. Toward the close of that century an official of the royal forest, as it seems, drew up an elaborate law for the King's hunting preserves which he tried to give currency and authority by ascribing it to Canute.' The Dane was not indifferent to the chase, but he did not find it necessary to make it the subject of extensive legislation. In his secular laws the subject is disposed of in a single sentence : "And let every man forego my hunting, wher- ever I wish to have it free from trespass, under penalty of the full fine. "^ In the so-called "Laws of Edward the Con- fessor" it is stated that the murdrum fine originated in the reign of Canute. It is well-known that William the Conqueror found it necessary to take special measures for the protection of his Normans from assassination at the hands of Englishmen who were seeking vengeance; he decreed, therefore, that the hundred where the murder of a Norman was committed should see that the criminal was given proper punishment or pay a heavy fine in case of default. The twelfth-century lawyer who 626. The documents have been made the subject of a series of studies by F. Liebermann, the results of which are summed up in Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, i., loo-ioi. ■Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 620. 'II. Canute, c. 80, I. 28o Canute the Great drew up the "Laws of Edward" evidently be- lieved that in this matter William was following a precedent from Danish times.' But though it seems that Canute was obliged to legislate for the protection of his Danish officials and subjects in Norway, there is no good evidence for any cor- responding decree in England. A similar conclusion has been reached as to Canute's responsibility for the institution known as frankpledge. Tithing and surety, two Old Eng- lish institutions which were the roots of the later frankpledge, are mentioned in the laws of Canute ; but they were still distinct. The tithing, normally a group of ten, was charged chiefly with the duty of assisting in the pursuit of criminals; not until its members had been pledged to a duty of mutual suretyship, each being held responsible in certain respects for the behaviour of all his associates in the group, did the tithing develop into the pledge. ^ In Canute's empire there were at least two institutional systems, those of England and of the North. In some respects both had attained a high development. The question how far these systems influenced each other as the result of the union is a difficult one : the union of the crowns was of short duration and the institutional changes that seem to indicate borrowing may be due in large part to earlier contact through the Danelaw. ' Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 642; Leges Edwardi Confessoris, c. 16. ' On this subject see Morris, The Frankpledge System, c. i. The Empire of the North 281 With the Northmen came a new conception of personal honour and a new term for criminality of the most dishonourable type, the nithing name. Norse rules were introduced into court procedure. Administrative areas came to bear Norse appella- tions, as the wapentake in the Danelaw generally and the riding in Yorkshire." These facts, how- ever, belong in large measure to the earlier develop- ment, though it doubtless continued through the reign of Canute and longer. But though Scandinavian ideas of law had long flourished on English soil, it was not tUl Canute's day that they were formally accepted as a part of the Anglo-Saxon legal system. In penal legis- lation a new spirit appeared : there was less mercy and punishments became more severe — exile, mutilation, and forfeiture of life more common. If the ordeal should convict a man of a second offence, the penalty might be the loss of the hands or the feet, or of both. Still further mutilation was decreed if the criminal should continue to commit grave offences; "but let the soul be spared."'' The same penalties were not always provided for both sexes : a faithless husband might have to pay the ancient money fine for man- slaughter ; a sinning wife was to suffer the loss of all her property and her ears and nose. ^ Certain ' On this subject the most important work is Steenstrup's Danelag (Normannerne, iv.); see especially pp. 75-76, 85-92, 175 ff.; also Normannerne, iii., 366-368. ' II. Canute, c. 30, 5. ' Ibid., c. 50 ff. 282 Canute the Great institutions of Scandinavian origin took on a pe- culiar form during Canute's reign: for instance, the guard of housecarles in its English and later Danish form, and the ofQce of staller or the King's spokesman at the popular assemblies, which office seems to have been introduced into England in Canute's day.' It is still more difficult to determine what re- sults the tmion had for the institutional develop- ment of Denmark. On only one point have we clear evidence: Canute was the first Danish King to begin a systematic coinage of money. Coins were stricken in Denmark before his day, but there was no organised system of mints. Canute supplied this need, using the English pattern. He brought moneyers from his western kingdom and located them in the chief cities of Denmark ; coins have come down to us that were stricken by these moneyers in the cities of Roeskild, Ringsted, Odense, Heathby (Sleswick), and Lund. ^ On the other hand, Canute's Norwegian legis- lation shows clear traces of Anglo-Saxon influence. Of his three kingdoms, Norway, doubtless, had the least efficient constitution. In Norway there was much liberty, but also much disorder; emphasis was placed on personal rights, especially on those of the aristocracy; but such emphasis is too frequently subversive of good government. The Dane was a believer in strong, orderly administra- ■ Larson, The King's Household in England, c. 7. " Danmarks Riges Hislorie, i., 404-405. The Empire of the North 283 tion: it was his purpose to introduce European principles into the Norse constitution. Had he been personally in control he might have succeeded but his deputies at Nidaros were unequal to the task; discontent and rebellion were the result. For the laws that the new regents proclaimed in Norway, the Norsemen were inclined to lay all blame on Sweyn's mother, Elgiva (Alfiva, the Northmen called her), Canute's mistress of olden time. But there can be Httle doubt that in this matter she and her son merely carried out the King's instructions. The laws fall into three classes: revenue legislation, police and military ordinances, and a new definition of penalties. ' A new tax that apparently affected the entire population was the demand that at Christmas time every hearth should contribute certain "gifts " : a measure of malt, the leg of a full-grown ox, and as much unspun flax as coiald be held between the thumb and the middle finger. This reminds one somewhat of the English ferm, a contribution that was due from the various counties. It was also enacted that the franklins should assist in erecting buildings on the royal estates, and that merchants and fishermen and all who sailed to Iceland should pay certain dues to the King. A law that was clearly aimed at the ancient practice of blood feud provided that murder should entail the loss of lands as well as of personal pro- ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 239. 284 Canute the Great perty ; also that the King alone should take inherit- ance after an outlaw. In those same years Ca- nute decreed in England that whoever committed a deed of outlawry should forfeit his lands to the King. The new Norse laws also forbade any subject to leave the land without permission, on pain of outlawry. Parallel to this is the English law that ordered forfeiture for leaving one's lord, with the difference that in Norway the King him- self was the lord. It was also decreed that the testimony of a Dane should outweigh that of ten Norsemen, the purpose of which was clearly to secure the lives of Danish officials and soldiers. It was further provided that every male above the age of five years shoiild be counted one of seven to equip a soldier. It may be that this provision was suggested by the Old English custom of grouping five hides of land (originally the lands of five households) for similar purposes. Snorre believes that these laws were Danish in origin; but it is more likely that they grew out of Canute's experience with Anglo-Saxon custom and the principles of Continental feudalism, though it is possible that some of them had been introduced into Denmark earlier in the reign and came to Norway from the southern kingdom. RUNIC MONUMENT FROM UPLAND, SWEDEN (Shows blending of Celtic and Northern art.) CHAPTER XIII NORTHERN CULTURE IN THE DAYS OF CANUTE TO present an adequate discussion of the state of culture among Canute's subjects in the space of a single chapter would be impossible. So far as the western realm is concerned it would also be unnecessary, as the subject of Anglo-Saxon culture is an old study and discussions in English are readily accessible. This chapter will therefore be chiefly concerned with the civilisation of the Northern lands, and especially with the great transformations that came with the viking age and were becoming most evident toward its close. The two controlling types of civilisation in the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire, the English and the Norse, were both fundamentally Germanic; but English culture had for centuries been permeated with Christian thought, while in the North the ideals of heathendom were still a force to be taken into account. It is difficult to characterise Northern society in the earlier decades of the eleventh century: all the various regions were not in the same stage of development; all were not subject to the same modifying influences. But it 285 286 Canute the Great was a growing organism, showing change in almost every fibre. Scandinavian civilisation was gradu- ally approaching the European type. There is danger that we may place the Northman on a too high plane of culture; but the error is more fre- quently on the other side.' Measured by the standards of his own age, the Northman was not a barbarian. He had great energy of mind and much intellectual curiosity. He sailed every- where and frequently included European ideas in his plunder or merchandise. The population throughout Scandinavia was overwhelmingly rural ; cities were few and insigni- ficant, when we consider the number of houses and inhabitants, though it appears that the urban element was rapidly developing in the eleventh century. As early as the ninth century we find mention of Birca, an island city in Lake Maelar in eastern Sweden ; of Heathby near the modem city of Sleswick on the southern border of Denmark; and of Skiringshall in southern Norway. ^ These and other cities evidently originated in the need of definite market places. Roads were poor in the middle ages and the sea was often a dangerous highway; commerce was therefore largely limited to the more favourable seasons of the year, and ' See Montelius, Kidturgeschichte Schwedens, 251-252. ^ Birca is mentioned in an early life of Saint Ansgar {ca. 850); Langebek, Script. Rer. Danic, {., 444. Heathby and Skirings- hall are alluded to in King Alfred's Orosius (Journeys of Ottar and Wulfstan). Northern Culture in Days of Canute 287 hence the importance of periodic markets. These were often held in connection with the great sacri- ficial festivals and it is therefore not strange that the earlier cities grew up on or near the sites of the ancient sanctuaries.' In such localities grew up Odense on the island of Funen, Wisby on the island of Gotland, and Skiringshall on the great Bay. "^ Nidaros (Thrond- hjem) is said to have been founded by the first King Olaf, but its great importance dates from the canonisation of Saint Olaf whose bones were buried there. Kingscrag (Koniuigahelle) at the mouth of the Gaut River, and Tunsberg on the western shore of Folden Bay seem to have had their origin as landing places for merchants and vikings. On the other hand, Sarpsborg across the inlet from Tunsberg evidently grew up around a stronghold established in the days of Saint Olaf. Urban developments can also be traced in the western colonies: old cities in England, especially in the Danelaw, passed into the control of the Northmen; new cities rose on the shores of the Irish Sea. This commercial movement began to gather strength during the quiet decades of the tenth century but it must have progressed rapidly during the peaceful reign of Canute. From Novgorod in Russia to Bristol and Limerick in the British Isles ' Bugge, Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel, 4-5. ' Ibid. The great Bay (Folden Bay) is the modern Chris- tiania Firth. 288 Canute the Great the ships of the North sailed every summer laden with the products of all Northern Europe: furs from Norway and Russia; the teeth of the walrus from the Arctic waters ; cured fish from the Scan- dinavian seas; honey from the Baltic shores; Norwegian hawks for the English sportsmen; and numerous other products. In retiim for these the Northmen received the luxuries of the South, especially wine, wheat, and silk; but numerous thralls were also imported, particularly from the Celtic lands.' These foreign products were chiefly consumed in the homes of the Scandinavian aristocracy. In material comforts the Northmen were probably not far behind the corresponding classes elsewhere in Europe. When the god Righ came to the chieftain's house, Then the housewife thought of her arms, Smoothened her linen, pleated her sleeves. Broad was her headgear, a brooch on her breast; She wore trailing sashes and a blue-dyed sark. When her son was bom, "she swaddled him in silk"; and when her daughter-in-law came to the hall as a bride, ' ' she walked under the veil of fine linen. "^ The sudden consciousness of rare finery was not limited to the women; rich and highly coloured clothing also delighted the men. ' On the commerce of the viking age see Montelius. KuUur- geschichte Schwedens, 266 ff.; Olrik, Nordisk AandsUv, 52-53; Norges Historie, I., ii., 223 ff. (Bugge). " Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 239-241: "The Lay of Righ." Northern Culture in Days of Canute 289 The influence of alien culture was also shown in the entertainment provided for the visiting god: Then took Mother a marked' cover Of bleached linen and laid upon the board. Next she laid out the thinnest loaves Of wheaten flour on the white cover. She set the table with silver-mounted dishes Heaped with roasted birds and ham. The wine brightened the mounted beakers. They drank and talked till the day was done." "The Lay of Righ " was composed, it is believed, in the days of Canute's grandfather ; but the civili- sation that it describes was not new ; even a century earlier the ruling classes in the North had reached a high stage of culture, as we know from the large number of articles indicating a refined and cul- tivated taste that were found when the Oseberg ship was discovered and excavated a few years ago. 5 As in early Saxon times before the clergy had monopolised learning, the higher forms of cultured life saw their finest fruitage in the halls of kings and chiefs. The old Scandinavian house was a wooden structure of rectangular shape, its length being considerably greater than the width. In its general lines it doubtless bore close resemblance to the Anglo-Saxon dwelling of the same period. ' Embroidered with colours. ' "The Lay of Righ," 11., 1 14-122. ^Norges Historic, I., ii., 56-60. 19 290 Canute the Great In the number and arrangement of the rooms the individual houses showed some, though not great, variety ; but a large living-room seems to have been characteristic of all. In the middle of this room a long trough lined with stones was sunk into the floor; this served as fireplace, the smoke finding its way out through an opening in the roof. On either side of this long fireplace ran a row of pillars that served to support the roof; these also gave opportunities for the carver's art. Between the pillars and the wall stood the benches where the feasters sat with portable tables before them. The walls were ornamented with shields and weapons and with the trophies of the chase. At the middle of the long north wall, facing the entrance door on the opposite side, stood the high- seat of the lord of the hall. The size and splendour of the room would depend on the wealth and importance of the owner: some of the larger halls were planned for the entertainment of several hundred guests and henchmen. ' There were many other buildings besides the hall, the number depending on the needs of the estate. The king's garth probably differed very little from those of the wealthier chiefs. In England, too, even as late as the year 1000, the palace architecture must have been of the same modest type. In his homily on Saint Thomas, " For brief descriptions of the Northern halls in the viking age see Bugge, Vikingerne, ii., 156-157; Montelius, Kultur- geschichie Schwedens, 282-283; Olrik, Nordisk Aandsliv, 15-16. Northern Culture in Days of Canute 291 Alfric (who wrote his sermons in the decade of Canute's birth) tells the story of how the Apostle went to India to build a palace for a king, and, by the way, used the money for building churches : Then he examined the grounds where it was to be builded. And Thomas went about measuring the place with a yardstick, And said that he would build the hall first of all At the east end of the grounds, and the other buildings Behind the haU: bath house and kitchen And winterhouse and summerhouse and winsome bowers, — Twelve houses altogether with good arches — But such it is not customary to build in England And therefore we do not mention them particularly.' During the reign of Canute, however, there must have been material advancement in the direction of greater magnificence in the royal garth. The sagas testify to a splendour at Winchester that was greater than what was to be seen anywhere else. "^ The men of the viking age usually associated the royal hall with the thought of elaborate fes- tivities. The greatest moment in such an occasion was when the scald rose to sing the praises and recite the exploits of his host. It has been thought that the activities of the court poet show Celtic ' Alfric's Lives, ii., 404. ■ Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 130. 292 Canute the Great influence, ' and it may be that the scald had learned freely from the bard; but the institution itself is most probably of native origin. Like the Irish singer his chief theme was praise ; but we need not suppose that the scald confined himself wholly to contemporary themes: the gleeman in Beowulf sang of the great hero that sat beside the King; but he also told the tales of the Volsungs and the still older story of creation; before the onslaught at Stiklestead one of Saint Olaf's scalds recited the ancient Bjarkamal, the Old Norse version of Beowulf's last fight. The holy King seems to have enjoyed the inspiriting strains of heathen heroism ; he thanked the poet, as did all the host. Old Norse poetry had its beginnings in the ninth century; but its greater bulk belongs to the tenth and eleventh. It begins with a wonderful series of mythical poems, most of them belonging to the period of lull in the viking activities (900- 980). The series culminates in the Sibyl's Pro- phecy (Voluspa), one of the grandest monuments of mediaeval literary art and thought. It tells the story of the creation, the destruction, the regenera- tion of the world in heathen terms with heathen gods, giants, and demons as the actors. But it con- tains unmistakable Christian elements and the poet must have had some acquaintance with the faith that ruled in the Western Islands. The poem seems to have been composed a generation or two before the days of Canute; but it was doubtless ■ Bugge, Vesterlandenes Indflydehe paa Nordboernes Kullur, 65. 6 " ^ s Northern Culture in Days of Canute 293 widely current during the years of his kingship. That the later scalds knew and appreciated the poem is evident from the fact that it was quoted by Christian poets in the following century.' No doubt it was an important number in their repertoire of song and story, and perhaps we may believe that it was gladly heard by Canute and his henchmen in the royal hall at Winchester. The four decades that the Noms allotted to Canute (995?-i035) are a notable period in the history of Northern literatirre: it was the grand age of Old Norse poetry. The advance of Chris- tianity had made the myths impossible as poetic materials, but new themes were found in the deeds and virtues of the old Teutonic heroes and of the mighty war lords of the viking age. The saga materials of the heroic age, the stories of Helgi and Sigrun, of Sigurd and Brunhild, of Gudrun's grief and Attila's fury, had long been treasured by the Northern peoples. Just when each in- dividual tale was cast into the form that has come down to us is impossible to say; the probabilities are, however, that a considerable number of the heroic lays were composed in the age of Canute. When we come to the court poetry we are on firmer ground: unlike the other poems, the dirges and praise-lays are not anonymous and their dates can be determined with some definiteness. The scald fotmd the age great with possibilities. Those were the days of Hakon and Erik, of Sweyn and ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 193. 294 Canute the Great Canute, of Erling and Thurkil, — men who typified in their warlike activities the deified valour of the old faith. It was also a period of famous battles: Swald, Ringmere, Clontarf, Ashington, and Stikle- stead, to mention only the more prominent. About twenty scalds are known to have sung at the courts of the viking princes, but the composi- tions of some of them have been wholly lost or exist in mere fragments only. In the reign of Canute three poets stood especially high in the royal favour: Thorarin Praisetongue, Ottar the Swart, and Sighvat the Scald. The three were all Icelanders and were of a roving disposition as the scalds usually were. They all visited Canute's court, presumably at Winchester. Sighvat came to England on the return from a trading journey to Rouen in 1027, it seems, just after the King's return from his Roman pilgrimage, which the poet alludes to in his Stretch Song. Ottar seems to have visited Winchester the same year: his poem, the Canute's Praise, closes with a reference to the Holy River campaign in 1026. Thorarin Praisetongue had his opporttmity to flatter the King a year or two later, most likely in 1029: his Stretch Song deals with the conquest of Norway in 1028. Canute appears to have attached considerable importance to the literary activities of these Icelanders. When he learned that Thorarin had composed a short poem on himself, he became very angry and ordered him to have a complete lay Northern Culture in Days of Canute 295 ready for the following day; otherwise he should hang for his presumption in composing a short poem on King Canute. Thorarin added a refrain and eked the poem out with a few additional stanzas. The refrain, "Canute guards the land as the lord of Greekland [God] the kingdom of heaven," evidently pleased the King. The poet was forgiven and the poem rewarded with fifty marks of silver. Thorarin's poem came to be known as the Head Ransom. ' It is said that when Ottar came to the King's hall he asked permission to recite a poem, which the King granted. And the poem was delivered to a great gathering at the next day's moot, and the King praised it, and took a Russian cap off his head, broidered with gold and with gold knobs to it, and bade the chamberlain fill it with silver and give it to the poet. He did so and reached it over men's shoulders, for there was a crowd, and the heaped-up silver tumbled out of the hood on the moot-stage. He was going to pick it up, but the King told him to let it be. "The poor shall have it, thou shalt not lose by it." ^ Of the court poets of the time Sighvat was easily the chief. Canute recognised his import- ance and was anxious to enroll him among his henchmen. But Sighvat, who had already sworn fidelity to King Olaf, excused himself with the ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 172. ^ Corpus Poelicum Boreale, ii., 151. 296 Canute the Great remark that one lord at a time was sufficient. Canute did not press the matter but permitted the poet to depart with a golden arm-ring as the reward for his poem, the Stretch Song, whose ring- ing refrain, "Canute is the mightiest King under heaven, " is high praise from one who had travelled so widely and had probably visited all the more important courts in northern and western Europe. Did Canute also patronise Anglo-Saxon litera- ture? We do not know, but the chances are that he did not, as during his reign very little was produced in the Old English idiom that could possibly appeal to him. The Anglo-Saxon spirit was crushed; and out of the consciousness of failure and humiliation can come no inspiration for literary effort. Even that fierce patriot, Archbishop Wulfstan, accepted the conquest and came down from York to assist at the dedication of the church at Ashington where Saxon rule had perished. After the appearance of the splendid poem that tells the story of Byrhtnoth's death at Maldon in 991, the voice of Anglo-Saxon poetry is almost silent for nearly two centuries. Early in the eleventh century Saxon prose, too, entered upon its decline. Alfric's best work was done before the close of the tenth century; he seems to have written his last important work, a pastoral letter, just before the accession of Canute to the English throne.' In the English cloisters the monks were still at work and valuable manu- ' Cambridge History of English Literature, i., 127. Northern Culture in Days oj Canute 297 scripts were produced ; but Canute can hardly have taken much interest in grammars, glossaries, Biblical paraphrases, and pastoral letters. It seems evident that he did nothing to encourage the monastic annalist: the entries for Canute's reign in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are extremely meagre and disappointing; it seems probable that they were not written till after the King's death. The disappearance of Old English literature, both prose and poetic, dates from a time more than half a century earlier than the Norman conquest, — from the time when the Danish hosts filled the homes of Wessex with gloom and horror. The coming of the Normans did not put an end to literary production in the speech of the conquered English : it prevented its revival. It is not to be inferred, however, from this lack of literary originality and productiveness, that the age had lost all appreciation of the poet's art. Two of the greatest monuments of Old English cul- ture, the so-called Vercelli Book and the Exeter Codex, were apparently produced during the earlier decades of the eleventh century, possibly as late as the accession of Canute. In these manu- scripts the Anglo-Saxon scribes have preserved to us some of the earUest literary productions of the English race. The Vercelli Book takes us back in the writings of Cynewulf to the eighth century; the Exeter manuscript looks back even farther and introduces us to the singers of heathen or semi-heathen times. Canute may not have shared 298 Canute the Great the enthusiasm of the scribes for the Old EngHsh past ; but he seems to have appreciated the work of a skilled copyist. In those days the exchange of presents was an essential part of diplomatic negotiations; and good manuscripts made very acceptable presents. Mention has already been made of the beautiful codex, written with golden letters, that made a part of the gift that Canute is said to have sent to DtLke William of Aquitaine. As the Dtoke was renowned as a patron of the literary art, there can be no doubt that the present was properly appreciated. It will be remembered that Canute's gift to the church at Cologne was also in the form of manuscripts. One of the most important contributions of the West to Northern civilisation was the written book. Writing was not a new art in the Scan- dinavian lands; but neither the symbols nor the materials in use were such as did service in the Christian lands. The men of the North wrote on wood and stone ; they used characters that had to be chiseled into the tablet to be inscribed. These symbols were called runes ; and graven into granite the ninic inscriptions have defied the gnawing tooth of time. The large number of ninic monu- ments that have come down to us would indicate that the art of writing was widely known, though it also seems likely that it was the pectdiar pos- session of the "rune-masters," men of some educa- tion who knew the runes and were skilled in the art of inscribing. Northern Culture in Days of Canute 299 The nmes were of divine origin and were taught mankind by Woden himself. The term "run," which probably means "secret," reveals the atti- tude of the Germanic mind toward this ancient alphabet : thoughts were hidden in the graven lines, but that was not all : the characters were invested with magical properties. Graven on the sword hilt they were runes of victory; on the back of the hand, runes of love; on the palm, runes of help; the sailor cut sea runes into the rudder blade; the leech traced runes on "the bark and on the stock of a tree whose branches lean eastward. " ' There were also ale runes, speech runes, and mind runes, which " thou shalt know if thou wilt be wiser than all other men. "^ The runic alphabet was originally a common Germanic possession ; but among the Scandinavian peoples alone did its use become extensive and long-continued. Some of the Northern inscrip- tions are of a very early date, the earhest going back, perhaps, to the fourth century or possibly to the third. 3 They are of necessity terse and brief ; but to the student of ciilture and civilisation they give some valuable information. These runes reveal a time when all the Northern tribes spoke the same language and were one people, though clearly not organised into a single state. •• The inscriptions also show the rise of dialects and ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, :., 40-41. ' Ibid., 41. 3 von Friesen, Om runskriftens hdrkomst, 10-12. 1 Bugge, Vikingerne, i., 8. 300 Canute the Great the development of these into idioms, though this is a growth of the later centuries. Doubt- less the changes in language bear some relation to a parallel political development, a grouping of tribes into states, until in the tenth century three dynasties claimed kingship in the North. In that century the monuments begin to have great value for narrative history. Members of the Knytling djTiasty are mentioned on several important stones, as earlier pages of this volume have shown. The nmes that were in use in the tenth and eleventh centuries are the yoiinger series, an alphabet of sixteen characters selected and devel- oped from the older series of twenty-four. As the number of elementary sounds in the language was greater than the number of letters, several of the runes were used to represent more than one sotmd, a fact that has made reading and interpretation somewhat difficult. The runes were used especi- ally for monumental purposes : a large number of the many hundred extant medieeval inscriptions (Sweden alone has more than fifteen hiuidred) ' are epitaphs recording the death of some friend or kins- man. But the rtmes were also fovmd useful for other purposes. They were used in making calen- dars ; articles of value very often bore the owner's name in runic characters ; in early Christian times we find rtmic characters traced on church bells and baptismal fonts; in later centimes attempts were even made to write books in the runic alphabet. ' Montelius, KuUurgeschichte Schwedens, 355. PAINTED GABLE FROM URNES CHURCH (Norse-Irish ornamentation.) •^•^i^^^a. CARVED PILLAR FROM URNES CHURCH (Norse-Irish ornamentation.) Northern Culture in Days of Canute 301 Wherever Northmen settled in the middle ages, inscriptions of this type are still to be found ; some of the most interesting Scandinavian monuments were raised on the British Isles; even classic Piraeus once had its runic inscription. Sometimes the scribe did more than chisel the letters. Like the Christian monk who illumined his manuscript with elaborate initials and more or less successful miniatures, the rune-master would also try his hand at ornamentation. In the earlier middle ages, Northern art, if the term may be used, was usually a barbaric representation of animal forms, real and imaginary, the serpent and the dragon being favourite subjects. But in the western colonies the vikings were introduced to a new form of ornamentation, the Celtic style, which was based on the curving line or a combina- tion of curved interlocking lines that seemed not to have been drawn in accordance with any law of regularity or symmetry, but traced sinuously in and out as the fancy of the artist might direct.' This form was adopted by the Norse colonists and soon found its way to the mother lands. In the North it suffered an important modification: the Norse artists added an element of their own; the old motives were not entirely abandoned for the winding body of the serpent or the dragon readily fitted into the new combinations. It was this modified form of Irish ornamentation that ruled among the Northmen in the days of Canute ' Olrik, Nordisk Aandsliv, 58. 302 Canute the Great and later. It appears wherever decoration was desired: on runic monuments, on articles of per- sonal adornment, and even on the painted walls of the early Scandinavian churches. While these early efforts at pictorial representa- tion are frequently associated with runic inscrip- tions and incidental to them, such is not always the case. The Northern countries possess a number of "pictiured rocks, " on which the picture is the chief and often the only matter of importance. As many of these belong to the heathen period, the themes are often mythological or suggestive of warfare: the coming of the fallen warrior to Walhalla on the Tjangvide Stone'; viking ships on the Stenkyrka Stone. The comparatively new sport of hawking is represented on a stone at Alstad in Southern Norway.^ Themes from the heroic age seem to have attained an early popu- larity: especially do we find frequent pictorial allusions to the story of Wayland Smith and the adventures of the wonderful Sigfried. With Christianity came a wealth of new subjects that could be used in artistic efforts. One of Canute's contemporaries, the Norwegian woman Gunvor, raised (about 1050) a memorial rock bearing a series of pictures from the story of Christ's nativity. ^ The work rarely shows much original- ' The Tjangvide Stone probably dates from about the year 900. The warrior represented may be Woden on his eight-footed horse. Bugge, Vesterlandenes Indflydelse, 323. ' Bugge, Vikingerne, ii., 234. ' Norges Historie, I., ii., 322, 323. ttJ^ f/K' THE HUNNESTAD STONE THE ALSTAD STONE Northern Culture in Days of Canute 303 ity on the part of the artist, though frequently a surprising skill is displayed — surprising when the time and materials are taken into consideration. Many of the pictures are clearly copied from Western, perhaps Anglo-Saxon originals; in some instances the workman was evidently reproducing the embroidered figures on imported tapestries. The Sigfried pictures on the Ramsund rock in Southern Sweden seem to be of this type. ' But even though the art of the viking age does not testify to much creative imagination, it serves to prove that the men whom we think of as mere pirates were not wholly wanting in esthetic sense. Evidence of a cultivated taste is also seen in the large number of rich and elegant articles of personal adornment in the form of rings, necklaces, brooches, and the like that have come to Hght from time to time. It was long thought that these all repre- sented plunder or purchase from other lands; but recent opinion seems incUned to regard the larger part of them as articles of native manu- facture. ^ If this be correct, they reveal consider- able skill in the finer industrial arts and also suggest that certain forms of industry must have formed an important factor in the economic life of the people. The archffiologist has unearthed many varieties of jewelry, but the written sources tell chiefly ' Schiick, Studier i nordisk Litteratur- och Religionshistoria, i., 203 ff. ' Montelius, Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 296. 304 Canute the Great of rings, doubtless because of their ancient use for monetary purposes. Even in the days of Canute, the ring, especially the large arm-ring, was com- monly used in rewarding the kingsmen. Saint Olaf once stroked the arm of a henchman above the elbow to determine whether Canute had bribed him.' Canute's officials procured the allegiance of Bjom, Saint Olaf's spokesman, for English silver and two heavy gold rings. ^ Canute's ring gift to Sighvat has been noted elsewhere; Bersi, the poet's companion, received "a mark or more and a keen sword."' Northern industrial art of the later heathen age found its best and highest expression in the ship- builder's trade. Merchant ships as well as ships for warfare were buUt, but the builder's pride was the ship that the King sailed when he sought the enemy. The ships that bore Canute's warriors to England were no doubt mainly of the so-called long ship type, a form that was developed during the second half of the tenth century. The long ship was built on the same general plan as the dragon ship of the century before, of which type we have a remarkably well-preserved example in the ship that was found in a burial-mound at Gok- stad near Sandef jord in Southern Norway. The Gokstad ship is nearly eighty feet long from stem to stem, and a little less than one fourth as wide. The builders of the long ship increased the length ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 165. ^ Ibid., c. 185. ' Corpus Poelicum Boreale, ii., 133. Northern Culture in Days of Canute 305 of the dragon, but did not increase the width proportionally. Oak timbers and iron rivets were the materials used. It is likely that by the close of the viking age the shipbuilder's art was as highly developed in the North as anywhere else in Christian Europe. The long ship was built with pointed prow and stem. The gunwales generally ran parallel to the water line, but in the prow the timbers curved sharply upward to join the stem, which projected above the body of the ship and frequently termin- ated in some carved image like those described by the Encomiast. ' The stern was built in much the same fashion. The ribs were supported and held in place by strong cross-beams, which also served as supports for the deck. In the fore-end the deck was high; here stood the stem-men, the best warriors on board. From a similarly raised deck in the stern, the chief directed the movements of the ship and the men when battle was joined. But in the middle portion of the ship the deck was low; here the oarsmen sat, each on a chest containing his clothes and other belongings. The number of pairs of oars would usually indicate the size of the ship; fifteen or twenty pairs were the rule; but larger ships were sometimes built: the Long Serpent had thirty-four pairs. A rudder or "steering board" was fastened to the after-part of the vessel, on the side that has since been known as starboard. ' Encomium EmmcE, :., c. 4. 3o6 Canute the Great The long ship was also equipped with a mast and a sail. The mast was planted amidships, but in such a way that it could be lowered when not in use. The sails were generally made of coarse woollen stuff ; they often bore stripes, blue, red, or green, and such striped sails were counted highly ornamental. The ship was painted and the gun- wales frequently hung with shields, alternately yellow and red. An awning was provided to protect the vessel from rain and sunshine. ' The average long ship had, perhaps, eighty or ninety men on board, the oarsmen included. The num- ber varied, of course, with the size of the ship: the Long Serpent is said to have had a crew of three hundred men.^ In culture the later viking age was emphatically one of transition. The movement that trans- formed Northern into European civilisation cul- minated in the reign of Canute and was no doubt given great impetus by the fact of his imperial au- ■ For brief descriptions of Northern ships of the viking age, see Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 256-257, 318-322; Montelius, Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 260-264. ' English writers seem iucUned to estimate a ship's crew at not more than 50 or 60 on the authority of Heremannus, who wrote the "Miracles of Saint Edmund" toward the close of the eleventh century (Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, i., 72, 92). But on the question of viking ships and crews his statements cannot be used as evidence: his ships are merchant ships, not viking ships, and they are not Scandinavian. It should also be noted that one of the ships (c. 50) in addition to "nearly 60" passengers carried 36 beasts (heads of cattle?) and 16 horses heavily laden with merchandise. ■a m—* ANGLO-SAXON TABLE SCENE (From a manuscript in the British Museum reproduced in Norges Historie i. ii.) r— }■ i_U _l _L !j^ JlX-^- i. . 3. J MODEL OF THE GOKSTAD SHIP Northern Culture in Days of Canute 307 thority in the Christian West. The seeds of the new culture had been gathered long before and in many lands : the German, the Frank, the Celt, and the Saxon had all contributed to the new fruit- age. But in the North as elsewhere in the middle ages, the mightiest of all the transforming forces was the mediseval Church. In one sense the po- etic activities of the tenth century had made the transition to Christian worship easier than in other lands : the author of the Sibyl's Prophecy had, un- intentionally, no doubt, bridged the gap between the contending faiths. The intelligent Northmen found in the teachings of Christianity conceptions very similar to those in the great poem, only in a different historical setting. In the outward sym- bolism, too, the Northman found similarities that made the step easier: he had already learned to pour water over the new-born infant; in the cross of Christ he may have seen a modification of Thor's hammer ; the Christian tree of life reminded him of the ash Yggdrasil that symbolised the unity of the worlds ; the Yule festival of midwinter tide was readily identified with the Christian celebra- tion of the Nativity on December 25th. Too much importance must not be assigned to these con- siderations, but they doubtless had their effect. But even the Church was not able to make its conquest of the North complete. The Scandina- vian peoples never entirely severed their connec- tion with the historic past. The bridge that was built by the Sibyl's Prophecy was never demol- 3o8 Canute the Great ished. The poet purged the old mythology of much that was revolting and absurd and thus made the old divinities and the old cosmic ideas attractive and more easily acceptable. Even when the new cvilt became compulsory and even fashionable, it was hard for the Northman to desert his gods. Hallfred Troublousscald, who flourished in the years of Canute's childhood, gives expression to this feeling in one of his poems : 'T is heavy to cherish hatred For Frigg's divine husband Now that Christ has our worship, For the scald delighted in Woden. But Olaf Trygvesson has commanded that the old faith be renounced and men have obeyed, though unwillingly : Cast to the winds all men have The kindred of mighty Woden ; Forced to renounce Njord's children I kneel to Christ in worship. After several verses of regretful and half-hearted renunciation the scald continues : I wiU call upon Christ with love words (I can bear the Son's wrath no longer; He rules the earth in glory) And God the Father in prayer. ' The gods continued to live in the popular im- agination as great heroic figures that had fiour- ■ Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 96-97. «*v, a C^' C^^l r+ THE LUNDAGARD STONE (Shows types of ornamentation in Canute's day.) Northern Culture in Days of Canute 309 ished in the earlier ages of the race. Much that belonged to the worship of the Anses was car- ried over into the Christian life. The Scandi- navian Christians on the Isle of Man evidently found nothing incongruous in placing heathen or- namentations on the cross of Christ. Sometimes the attributes of the ancestral divinities were trans- ferred to the Christian saints. The red beard with which Christian artists soon provided the strong and virile Saint Olaf was probably sug- gested by the flaming beard of the hammering Thor. r n t> * R K: 5K +.1 + h: t ^ r Y A futhork hnias tblm-r RUNIC ALPHABET CHAPTER XIV THE LAST YEARS IO3I-IO35 AFTER the passing of the Norman war-cloud and the failxire of the Norse reaction in 1030, Canute almost disappears from the stage of English history. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle which gives us so much information on his earlier career in England has but little to tell of his activities as king; for the closing years of the reign the summaries are particularly meagre. Evidently the entries for this reign were written from memory some years after the death of the great King; and the scribe recalled but little. It is also likely that the closing years in Britain were peaceful and quiet, such as do not give the annalist much to record. Of the larger European move- ments, of the Norse secession, of movements on the Danish border, and of the renewed compact with the Emperor, the cloister was probably not well informed. As the Chronicler thinks back upon the passing of a King who was still in his best and strongest 310 THE JURBY CROSS, ISLE OF MAN THE GOSFORTH CROSS, CUMBERLAND [1031-1035] The Last Years 311 years, there comes to him the memory of certain strange natural phenomena which suddenly take on meaning. In 1033, two years before the King's death, "appeared the wild fire," such as none could remember the like of. There could be no doubt as to the interpretation : it was an omen giving warnings of great changes to come, the end of alien rule, even as a fiery heaven announced its imminence in the days of the boy Ethelred. Later writers report that during the last years of his hfe Canute was afflicted with a long and severe iUness, and it has been inferred that this may account for the uneventful character of this period. There may be an element of truth in this, but he was not too ill to take an active interest in political affairs. His legislation evidently belongs to one of these years. In one of the manuscripts of Canute's code he is spoken of as King of Angles, Danes and Norwegians, a title that he could not claim before 1028. As he did not return from his expedition to Norway before the following year, the earliest possible date for the enactment of Ca- nute's laws is Christmas, 1029.' For they were drawn up at a meeting of the national assembly "at the holy midwinter tide in Winchester. " There are reasons for beheving, however, that the laws are of a still later date. Little need there was, it would seem, for extensive ecclesiastical legislation in those years when paganism was in ■ The author has discussed this subject further in the American Historical Review, xv., 741-742. 312 Canute the Great [1031- full retreat and Christianity had become fashion- able even among the vikings. Some condition must have arisen that made it necessary for the King to take a positive stand on the side of the EngUsh Church. Such a condition may have grown out of the canonisation of Saint Olaf in 1 03 1. He was the first native saint of the North and the young Scandinavian Church hailed him with a joy that was ominous for those who had pursued him to the grave. It may have been in the hope of checking the spread of the new cult in England that the witenagemot, the same that ratified Canute's legislation, canonised the impe- rious Archbishop who had governed the English Church two generations earlier. The method of canonisation was probably new; but the nobles and prelates of England were surely as competent to act in such a matter as the youthful church at Nidaros. Canute showed an interest in the welfare of the Church to the last months of his life. It was apparently in this period that he initiated the policy of advancing his own chapel priests to episcopal appointments: in 1032 Elfwine became Bishop of Winchester; the following year Duduc, another chapel priest, was promoted in the same manner.^ The church of York was remembered with a large gift of lands to Archbishop ALfric. ^ Gifts to some of the larger monasteries are also ' Larson, The King's Household in England, 141. ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaiicus, No. 749. 1035] The Last Years 313 recorded for these same years: to Sherburne, Winchester, Abingdon, and Croyland. ' These usually took the form of land, though ornaments and articles intended for use in the church service were also given. Abingdon received lands and bells and a case of gold and silver for the relics of "the most glorious martyr Vincent of Spain" whose resting place was in this church.^ It is worth noting that Abbot Siward who ruled at Abingdon during the last few years of the reign bore a Danish name. Canute's last recorded gift was to the Old Minster at Winchester in 1035, the year of his death. This comprised a landed estate, a bier for the relics of Saint Brice, a large image, two bells, and a silver candlestick with six branches. ^ It may be that he had premonitions of com- ing death, for in this abbey he chose to be buried. We do not know what efforts Canute may have made to improve the material conditions in his Anglo-Saxon kingdom, but it appears that such undertakings were not wholly wanting. The King showed great favour to the religious establish- ments in the Fenlands and was evidently impressed ' Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, Nos. 748, 750, 751, 1322. The Croyland charter is clearly a forgery, but Canute may have made the grant none the less as the forged charters frequently represent an attempt to replace a genuine document that has been lost or destroyed. » Chronicon Monaslerii de Abingdon, i., 443. 3 Annates Monastici, ii., 16. 314 Canute the Great [1031- with the difficulty of travel from abbey to abbey. An attempt was made to remedy this: and that same road through the marshes between Ramsey and the borough that is caUed King's Delf he caused to be improved that the danger of passing through the great swamps might be avoided. ' Matthew Paris, our authority for this statement, wrote nearly two centuries after Canute's day, but it is likely that he is reporting a correct tradition ; if the work had been done at the instance of one of the later kings, it is not probable that it would have been associated with the name of the Danish ruler. The Norwegian sources have little to say of Canute after the battle of Stiklestead; but they follow the troubles of the Norse regency in some detail. It was thought best, when Sweyn was sent to Norway, to give him the royal title; but as he was a mere youth, the actual power was in the hands of his mother, Elgiva, who was probably associated with Earl Harold of Jomburg, Hartha- canute's minister and guardian in Denmark, who seems to have acted as Canute's personal repre- sentative in his eastern kingdoms. ^ Mention has already been made of the opposition that soon arose to the Danish regime. It was not long before the dissatisfied elements formed an alliance with the partisans of the old dynasty who were ' Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, i., 509. ' Munch, Del norske Folks Historic, I., ii., 814. 1035] The Last Years 315 assiduously disseminating the belief that the fallen Olaf was a saint. All through the winter that followed the King's martyrdom stories were current of miracles per- formed by the holy relics : wounds had been healed and blindness removed by accidental contact with the royal blood. At the same time much ill- feeling developed against Bishop Sigurd who had shown such a partisan spirit on the eve of the tragedy at Stiklestead. Sigurd was a Dane who had served as chaplain at the English court' and had therefore a double reason for preferring Canute. Under the regency he had continued as chief of the Norwegian Church, but soon the murmur became so loud that the zealous prelate had to withdraw to England. Einar Thongshaker now came forward to lead the opposition to the regents. He was the first of the chiefs to express his belief in Olaf 's sanctity and many were ready to follow his lead. Bishop Grimkell, who since Olaf's flight in 1029 had re- mained in comparative quiet in the Uplands, was asked to come and investigate the current rumours of miraculous phenomena. The Bishop responded very promptly. On the way he visited Einar, by whom he was gladly welcomed. Later the prelate appeared at Nidaros and began extended investi- gations into the matter of the reported wonders. Einar was next summoned to conduct the negotia- ■ Taranger, Den angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske, 176. 3i6 Canute the Great [i03i- tions with the regency. The plans of the national faction seem to have been carefully laid; it was probably not accidental that the city suddenly was thronged by incoming Norsemen. Having secured permission from King Sweyn to act in the matter, Einar and Grimkell, followed by the multitude, proceeded to the spot where Olaf's remains were said to have been buried. According to the legend that Snorre in part follows, the coffin was found to have risen toward the surface and looked new as if recently planed. No change was observed in the remains except that the hair and nails showed considerable growth ; the cheeks were red as those of one who had just fallen asleep. But the Queen-mother was not easily convinced : "Very slowly do bodies decay in sand ; it would have been otherwise if he had lain in mould." Then the Bishop took a pair of shears and clipped off a part of the King's hair and beard, — he wore a long moustache, as custom was in those days. Then said the Bishop to the King and Alfiva: "Now is the King's hair and beard as long as when he died; but it has grown as much as you see I have cut off. " Then replied Alfiva : "I believe hair to be sacred if it is not consumed in fire; often have we seen whole and uninjured the hair of men who have lain in the earth longer than this man." So the Bishop placed fire in a censer, blessed it, and added the incense. Then he laid Olaf's hair in the fire. But when the incense was consumed, the Bishop took the hair from the fire, and it was wholly THE FALL OF SAINT OLAF (Initial in the Flat-isle Book.) 1035] The Last Years 317 unbumt. The Bishop showed it to the King and the other chiefs. Then Alfiva requested them to place the hair in unblessed fire; but Einar Tremblethong spoke up, bade her keep silence, and used many hard words. Then by the Bishop's decision, the King's consent, and the judgment of the entire assembly, it was decreed that King Olaf was in truth a holy man. ■ Whatever the procedure employed, there can be no doubt that King Olaf was canonised in the summer of 1031 (August 3d is the date given) by popular act; nor can it be doubted that Elgiva resisted the act — she must have seen that the canonisation meant her own and her son's undoing. For she must surely have realised that political considerations were an important element in the devotion of the Norsemen to their new patron. There was later a tradition among the monks of Nidaros that Canute at one time planned to establish a monastery in the northern capital.^ If such an attempt was made, it evidently failed; but it would not be strange if the King should try to establish an institution where loyalty to the empire might be nursed and which might assist in uprooting nationalistic tendencies. If the at- tempt was made, it was probably soon after the canonisation, when it became important to divert attention from the new cult. For the worship of Saint Olaf spread with ' Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 244. For the preliminary steps see cc. 239-243. " Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, v., 42. 31 8 Canute the Great [1031- astonishing rapidity not only through Norway but through the entire North and even farther. The Chiu-ch had saints in great number ; but here was one from the very midst of the Scandinavian people. Moreover, Saint Olaf was a saint whom the men of the day could appreciate: he was of their own type, with the strength of Thor and the wisdom of Woden ; they had seen him and felt the edge of his ax. So all along the shores that Olaf the Stout had plundered in his earlier heathen days churches arose dedicated to the virile saint of the North.' There were other difficulties, too, that the re- gents had to contend with. Hunger stalked over the land. The Norwegian people had always been accustomed to hold their kings responsible for the state of the harvest; they were to secure the favour of the gods ; a failure of crops meant that this duty had been shirked. The feeling lingered for some time after the disappearance of heathen- dom. Sweyn was only a youth and was not held responsible ; the blame fell upon the hated Queen- mother and the hard years of her rule were known as the " Alfiva-time. " The general discontent is expressed in a contemporary fragment attributed to Sighvat: Alfiva's time our sons will Long remember; then ate we Food more fit for oxen. Shavings the fare of he-goats. ' Daae, Norges Helgener, 48-60. 1035] The Last Years 319 It was not thus when the noble Olaf governed the Norsemen; Then could we all boast of Corn-filled bams and houses. ' And Thorarin Praise-tongue in the Shrine-song addressed to Sweyn the son of Canute urges the young regent to seek the favour of the new saint, "the mighty pillar of the book-language": Pray thou to Olaf that he grant thee (He is a man of God) all his land rights; For he can win from God himself Peace to men and good harvests.^ In 1033, a revolt broke out in Norway in the interest of one Trygve, a pretended son of Olaf Trygvesson and an English mother. The attempt failed; the Norse chiefs had other plans. In Russia was Magnus, the illegitimate son of the holy King, now about nine or ten years old; him had the chiefs determined upon as their future leader. Early the next year an embassy was sent to Russia led by the two magnates Einar and Kalf. Here oaths were sworn and plans were laid, and in the following spring (1035) Magnus Olafsson appeared in Norway as the foster son of Kalf who had led his father's banesmen at Stiklestead. From the moment when Magnus set foot on his native soil Norway was lost to the empire. Sweyn ' Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 144. ' Ibid., 161. 320 Canute the Great [I03i- was farther south in his kingdom when news came of revolt in the Throndelaw. He promptly- summoned the yeomanry, but feeling that their devotion to him was a matter of grave doubt, he gave up his plans of resistance and fled to his brother Harthacanute in Denmark, where he died less than a year later.' His mother Elgiva evidently withdrew to England, where the death of Canute the following November doubtless gave her another opportunity to play the politician. So far as we know, Canute made no effort to dislodge Magnus. It may be true that he was ill ; or perhaps the power of the Church restrained him : Magnus was the son of a saint ; would not the martyred King enlist the powers of heaven on the side of his son? But it was probably want of time and not lack of interest and purpose that prevented reconquest. There is an indication that Canute was preparing for important movements : at Whit- suntide, 1035, while the imperial court was at Bamberg, he was renewing his friendship with the Emperor and arranging for the marriage of his daughter Gunhild to the future Henry III.^ Perhaps we should see in this a purpose to secure the southern frontier in anticipation of renewed hostilities in the North. But whatever may have been Canute's plans, they were never carried out — the hand of death came in between. On Wednesday, November 12, ' Snorre, Saga of Magnus the Good, cc. 4, 5. ' Manitius, Deutsche Geschichte, 411-412. 1035] The Last Years 321 1035, the great Dane saw the last of earth at Shaftesbiiry, an old town on the Dorset border, a day's journey from the capital. The remains were brought to Winchester and interred in the Old Minster,' an ancient abbey dedicated to the chief of the Apostles, which Canute had remem- bered so liberally earlier in the year. We have already noted the tradition reported by both Norse and English writers that his death was preceded by a long and serious illness; one of the sagas states that the fatal disease was jaundice.^ There woiold be nothing incredible in this, but the evidence is not of the best. The fact that death came to him not in the residential city but in the neighbouring town of Shaftesbury seems to indicate that he was at the time making one of his regular progresses through the coun- try, as seems to have been his custom. ' In that case the illness could hardly have been a pro- tracted one. It is likely, however, that Canute was not phy- sically robust ; he died in the prime of manhood, having scarcely passed the fortieth year; and he seems not to have transmitted much virility to his children. Three sons and a daughter were bom to him, but within seven years of his own death they had all joined him in the grave. Sweyn, who seems to have been the oldest, died a few months ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1035; Encomium Emmie, iii., c. I. ' Knytlingasaga, c. 18. 3 Historia Rameseiensis, 135. 322 Canute the Great iio3i- after his father, perhaps in the early part of 1036. Gunhild followed in 1038; Harold in 1040; and Harthacanute in 1042. With Harthacanute passed away the last male representative of the Knytling family; after a few years the crown of Denmark passed to the descendants of Canute's sister Estrid, to the son of the murdered Ulf . None of Canute's children seems to have at- tained a real maturity: Harold and Harthaca- nute probably reached their twenty-fourth year; Sweyn died at the age of perhaps twenty- two; Gunhild could not have been more than eighteen when she laid down the earthly crown. There is no reason for thinking that any of them was degenerate with the exception of Harold Harefoot, and in his case we have hostile testimony only ; at the same time, they were all surely lacking in bodUy strength and vigour. Nor is there any reason for thinking that these weaknesses were maternal inheritances, for the women that Canute consorted with were evidently strong and vigorous and both of them survived him. We know little of the concubine Elgiva except that she was proud and imperious, on fire with ambition for herself and her sons. Emma was a woman of a similar type. Canute appar- ently found it inconvenient to have the two in the same kingdom, and when the mistress returned to England after the Norse revolt, we seem to see her hand in the consequent intrigues. Queen Emma survived her husband more than sixteen 1035] The Last Years 323 years; "on March 14 [1052], died the Old Lady, the mother of King Edward and Harthacanute, named Imme, and her body lies in the Old Min- ster with King Canute."' At the time of her death she must have been in the neighbourhood of seventy years of age. Of Canute's personality we know nothing. The portraits on his coins, if such rude drawings can be called portraits, give us no idea of his personal appearance. Nor is the picture in the Liber Vita likely to be more than an idealistic repre- sentation. Idealistic, too, no doubt, is the descrip- tion of Canute in the Knytlingasaga, composed two centuries or more after his time: Canute the King was large of build and very strong, a most handsome man in every respect except that his nose was thin and slightly aquiline with a high ridge. He was fair in complexion, had an abundance of fair hair, and eyes that surpassed those of most men both as to beauty and keenness of vision. ^ The writer adds that he was liberal in dealing with men, brave in fight, favoured of fortune, but not wise. Except for the details as to the nose, which give the reader the feeling that the writer may, after all, have had some authentic source of information at his disposal, this picture would describe almost any one of the heroic figures of the time. 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1052, '0.20. 324 Canute the Great [1031- On his own contemporaries Canute made a profound impression which succeeding generations have shared. In Britain he was called the Great ; in Scandinavia the Rich, the Mighty or the Powerfiil. The extent of his possessions, the splendour of his court, the size of his navy, his intimate relations with Pope and Emperor — all these things gave him a position and a prestige that was lanheard of in the Northlands. And it was indeed a marvellous achievement for a pirate chief from a nation just emerging from heathen- dom to gather into his power the realms and terri- tories that made up the Knytling empire. To analyse a character such as that of Canute is a difficult task, as character analysis always must be. There was so much that was derived from a heathen time and ancestry, and also so much that had been acquired by contact with Christian culture and influences, that the result could be only a strange composite out of which traits and characteristics, often contradictory and hostile, would come to the surface as occasion would suggest. Canute was a Christian, probably baptised in his youth by some German ecclesiastic, as the Christian name Lambert, which in harmony with custom was added to the one that he already possessed, seems distinctly German. But the new name was evidently not much employed, except, perhaps, on occasions when the King wished to emphasise his Christian character. He seems to have entered into some sort of fraternal relations 1035] The Last Years 325 with the monks of Bremen: in the book of our brotherhood, says Adam the monk, he is named Lambert, King of the Danes. ' The historians of Old EngHsh times, both Saxon and Norman, were ecclesiastics and saw the reign of Canute from their peculiar view-point. To them the mighty Dane was the great Christian King, the founder of monasteries, the giver of costly gifts and valuable endowments to the houses of God. To the undisputed traits of Christian liberality, they added those of piety and humil- ity, and told stories of the visit to the monks of Ely and of Canute's vain attempt to stem the tides and compel their obedience. The former is probably a true story ; there is no reason why the King, who seems to have taken great inter- est in the abbeys of the Fenlands, should not have visited the cloisters of Ely, and he may have been attracted by the chants of the monks, which is more doubtful. But the tale of how Canute had to demonstrate his powerlessness before his ad- miring courtiers is a myth too patent to need dis- cussion.'' There was nothing of the Oriental spirit in the Northern courts. That Canute was religious cannot be denied. Nor should we doubt that he was truly and 'tionestly so, as religion passed among the rulers ' Gesta, schol. 38. 'The story must have arisen soon after the Danish period; it is first told by Henry of Huntingdon who wrote two generations later. Historia Anglorum, 189. 326 Canute the Great [io3i- of the age. The time demanded defence and support of the priesthood, and this Canute granted, at least toward the close of his life. Perhaps in real piety, too, he was the equal of his contem- poraries whom the Church has declared holy: Saint Stephen of Hungary, Saint Henry of Ger- many, and Saint Olaf of Norway. Still, it becomes evident as we follow his career that at no period of his life, unless it be in the closing years of which we know so little, did Canute permit consideration for the Church or the Christian faith to control his actions or determine his policies. The moving passion of Canute's life was not a fiery zeal for the exaltation of the Church, but a yearning for personal power and imperial honours. In the Northern sources written by laymen, especially in the verses of the wandering scalds, we get a somewhat different picture of Canute from that which has been painted in the English cloisters. Little emphasis is here placed on Ca- nute's fidelity to the new faith; here we have the conqueror, the diplomat, the politician whose goal is success, be the means what they may. The wholesale bribery that he employed to the ruin of Saint Olaf, the making and breaking of promises to the Norwegian chiefs, and the treat- ment of his sister's family suggest a sense of honour that was not delicate, a passion for truth that was not keen. In his preference for devious ways, in the deliberate use that he made of the lower passions of men, he shows a characteristic that is 1035] The Last Years 327 not Northern. All was not honest frankness in the Scandinavian lands; but the pirates and their successors, as a rule, did not prefer bribery and falsehood to open battle and honest fight. Slavic ancestry. Christian culture, Anglo-Saxon ideas, and the responsibilities of a great monarchy did much to develop and modify a character which was fundamentally as much Slavic as Scandi- navian. Still, deep in his strong soul lay uncon- quered the fierce passions that ruled the viking age — pitiless cruelty, craving for revenge, consuming hatred, and lust for power. As a rule he seems to have been humane and merciful; he believed in orderly government, in security for his subjects; but when an obstacle appeared in the path of his ambitions, he had little scruple as to the means to be employed in removing it. The mutilation of the hostages at Sandwich, the slaughter and outlawry of earls and ethelings in the early years of his rule in England, the assassination of Ulf in Roeskild church suggest a spirit that could be terrible when roused. Something can be said for Canute in all these instances : Ulf was probably a traitor; the hostages represented broken pledges; the ethelings were a menace to his rule. But why was the traitor permitted to live tmtil he had helped the King in his sorest straits; and what was to be gained by the mutilation of innocent Englishmen ; and was there no other way to make infants harmless than to decree their secret death in a foreign land? 328 Canute the Great [1031- Canute possessed in ftill measure the Scandina- vian power of adaptation, the quality that made the Northmen such a force in Normandy and Naples. He grasped the ideals of mediaeval Christianity, he appreciated the value of the new order of things, and tmdertook to introduce it among the Northern peoples. But he did not permit the new circumstances and ideals to control him; only so long as they served his purpose or did not hinder him in the pursuit of that purpose did he bow to them. When other means promised to be more effective, he chose accordingly. The empire that he founded did not survive him; it had begun to crumble in his own day; the English crown was soon lost to the Danish dynasty. It wovild appear, therefore, as if the conqueror accompUshed nothing that was permanent. But the achievements of genius cannot be measured in such terms only: the great movement that culminated in the subjection of Britain was of vast importance for the North ; it opened up new fields for Western influences ; it brought the North into touch with Christian culture; it rebuilt Scandinavian civilisation. These are the more enduring results of the reign and the preceding expeditions to the West. At the same time, Canute's reign minimised the influence that was working northward from the German outposts. The connection with England was soon in- terrupted; but while it endured the leavening process made rapid spread and the Northern 1035] The Last Years 329 countries were enabled to absorb into their cul- ture much that has remained a native possession. To England Canute brought the blessings of good government. For nearly twenty years England had peace. Troubles there were on the Scotch and Welsh borders; but these were of slight importance compared with the earlier ravages of the vikings. It is true, indeed, that the Danish conquest paved the way for the later invasion by the Normans; but this was a result that Canute had not intended. It was not a part of his plan to have the sons of his consort educated in Normandy; at the same time, he was not in position to take such steps in their case as he may have wished, for they were the sons of his own Queen. In his early years Canute was a viking ; when he died the viking age had practically come to its close. Various influences contributed to this re- sult: the new creed with its new conceptions of human duty; new interests and wider fields of ambition in the home lands; and the imperial position of Canute. We do not know that Canute at any time issued any decree against the practice of piracy ; but he gained the same end by indirect means. The viking chiefs evidently entered his service in large numbers either in the English guard or in the government of the eastern domains. Furthermore, as the dominant ruler of the north- em shores, as the ally of the Emperor and the friend of the Norman duke, he was able to close 330 Canute the Great [1031-10351 fairly effectually the Baltic, the North, and the Irish Seas together with the English Channel to viking fleets; and the raven was thus forced to fly for its prey to the distant shores beyond Brittany. Piracy continued in a desultory way throughout the eleventh century; but it showed little vigour after Canute's accession to the Danish kingship._ CHAPTER XV THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE IO35-IO42 KING CANUTE was dead, but the great king- thought that he Uved for, the policy of his dynasty, their ambition to vinite the Northern peoples in the old and new homes tmder one sceptre persisted after his death. Historians have generally believed that Canute had realised the impossibility of keeping long united the three crowns that he wore in his declining years, and had made preparation for a division of the empire among his three sons. In the year of his death one son is found in England, one in Denmark, and one in Norway; hence it is believed that like Charlemagne before him he had executed some sort of a partition, so as to secure something for each of the three. Such a conclusion, however, lacks the support of documentary authority and is based on a mistaken view of the situation in the empire in 1035. We should remember in the first place that when Harthacanute and Sweyn received the royal title 331 332 Canute the Great [1035- (in 1028 and 1030), Canute cannot have been more than thirty-five years old, and at that age nilers are not in the habit of transferring their dominions to mere boys. In the second place, these two sons were sent to the North, not to exercise an independent sovereignty, but to repre- sent the royal authority that resided at Winchester. Finally, there is no evidence that Canute at any time intended to leave England or any other kingdom to his son Harold. The probabilities are that he hoped to make the empire a permanent creation ; perhaps he expected it to become in time wholly Scandinavian, as it already was to a large extent, except in the comparatively small area of Wessex. Canute's policy is revealed in the act at Nidaros, discussed in an earlier chapter, when in the pre- sence of lords from all his realms, he led Hartha- canute to the high seat and thus proclaimed him a king of his own rank. That Denmark was in- tended for the young King is undisputed. Eng- land was to be added later. The Encomiast tells us that when Harthacanute had grown up (evi- dently toward the close of Canute's reign) all England was bound by oath to the sovereignty of Harthacanute.' The early promise that Canute made to Queen Emma was apparently to be kept. Most likely, the loyalty that Godwin and other West Saxon magnates showed to the King's legitimate heir is to be explained, not by assuming ■ Encomium Emmcs, ii., c. 19. 1042] The Collapse of the Empire 333 a pro-Danish sentiment, but by this oath, surely taken in England, perhaps earlier at Nidaros. The situation in Norway, however, made it difficult to carry out Canute's wishes. On the high seat in the Throndelaw sat Magnus the son of Saint Olaf. To be the son of a saint was a great asset in the middle ages ; in addition Magnus had certain native qualities of the kingly type and soon developed into a great warrior. Knowing that war was inevitable, Magnus began hostilities and carried the warfare into Danish waters. ' It was this difficulty that prevented Harthacanute from appearing promptly in England in the winter of 1035-1036, when Harold Harefoot was planning to seize the throne. After the flight of her son Sweyn in the summer of 1035, Elgiva is almost lost to history. Appar- ently she retired to England, where she played the part of Queen-mother during the reign of her son Harold : in a will of Bishop Alfric we find the testa- tor giving two marks of gold to King Harold and one mark to my lady. ^ As we do not find that the King had either wife or children the presumption is that the lady was his mother, the woman from Northampton. We may then conjecture that the struggle for the English crown in the winter following Canute's death was at bottom a fight between the two women who bore Canute's children, each with a ' Snorre, Saga of Magnus the Good, c. 6. • Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus, No. 759, 334 Canute the Great [1035- son to place in the high seat, each with a party- devoted to her cause, each with a section of the country ready to follow her lead. Elgiva had her strength in the Danelaw; there were her kinsmen, and there her family had once been prominent. Queen Emma was strongest in the south; on her side were Earl Godwin and the housecarles. ' The sources that relate the events of these months are anything but satisfactory and their statements are sometimes vague or ambiguous. But it is clear that soon after the throne became vacant (thirteen days, if the Chronicler is accurate) ^ a meeting of the "wise men" was held at Oxford, the border city where Danes and Saxons had so frequently met in common assembly. At this meeting, as the Chronicle has it, the northern magnates led by Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and supported by the Danes in London, "chose Harold to hold all England, him and his brother Harthacanute who was in Denmark." To this arrangement Godwin opposed all his influence and eloquence; but though he was supported by the lords of Wessex, "he was able to accomplish nothing." It was finally agreed that Queen Emma and the royal guard should continue to hold Wessex for Harthacanute. ' The north was evidently turned over to Harold. ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1035. ' The Chronicle (Ann. 1039 [1040]) states that Harold died March 17, 1040, and that he ruled four years and sixteen weeks. This would date his accession as November 25, 1035. 3 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1036 [1035]. 10421 The Collapse of the Empire 335 The decision reached at Oxford has been vari- ously interpreted. At first glance it looks as if the kingdom was again divided along the line of the Thames valley. The statement of the Chronicler that Harold "was full King over all England" seems not to have been strictly contemporary but written after the King had seized the whole. What was done at Oxford was probably to establish an under-kingship of the sort that Canute had provided for Norway and Denmark. The over- lordship of Harthacanute may have been recog- nised, but the administration was divided. This did not necessarily mean to the Scandinavian mind that the realm was divided; in the history of the North various forms of joint kingship are quite common. For one year this arrangement was permitted to stand; but in 1037, Harold was taken to king over all England — the nation forsook Hartha- canute because he tarried too long in Denmark.' Emma was driven from the land, perhaps to satisfy the jealousy of her rival Elgiva. The cause for the revolution of 1037 is unknown; but we may conjecture that intrigue was at work on both sides. Possibly the appearance of Emma's son Alfred in England the year before may have roused a sense of fear in the English mind and may have hastened the movement. Sorrows now began to fall heavily upon England. In 1039, the Welsh made inroads and slew several ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1037. 336 Canute the Great [1035- of the Mercian lords. A "great wind" scattered destruction over the land. A remarkable mor- tality appeared among the bishops, four dying in 1038 and one more in 1039. The following year died Harold, whose unkingly and un-Christian behaviour was no doubt regarded as the cause of these calamities. He died at Oxford and was buried at Westminster. The same year Hartha- canute joined his mother at Bruges, whither she had fled when exikd from England. ' It was neither listless choice nor lack of kinglike interest that had detained Harthacanute in Den- mark; it was the danger that threatened from Norway. HostiLties seem to have begun in the spring of 1036 and to have continued for about two years. The war was finally closed with an agreement at the Brenn-isles near the mouth of the Gaut River in south-western Sweden. Accord- ing to this the two young kings became sworn brothers, and it was stipulated that if the one should die leaving no heirs, the other should succeed him. ^ It was not so much of a treaty on the part of the kings as of the chief men of the kingdoms, as both peoples were evidently tiring of the warfare. Perhaps that which most of aU determined the Danes to seek peace was the news that Harold had seized the government of all England the previous year. This must have happened late ■ Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1039 [1040]. ' Snorre, Saga of Magnus the Good, c. 6. 1042] The Collapse of the Empire 337 in the year, as the Chronicler tells us that Queen Emma was driven out of England "without pity- to ward the stormy winter. " In Norway there was no party that still favoured the Knytlings; the situation in England looked more favourable. Evidently Harthacanute's counsellors had con- cluded that his inherited rights in Britain should be claimed and defended. Harthacanute came to Bruges with a small force only; but it was probably the plan to use Flanders as a base from which to descend upon England. Nothing seems to have been done in 1039, however, except, perhaps, to prepare for a campaign in the coming spring. But for this there was no need: before the winter was past, Harold lay dead at Oxford. History knows little about the fleet-footed Prince ; but from what has been recorded we get the impression of a violent, ambitious youth, one to whom power was sweet and revenge sweeter. So far as we know, govern- ment in his day was poor both in state and church. Oxford, it seems, was his residential city. After Harold's death messengers came from England to Bruges to summon Harthacanute. The succession was evidently not settled without some negotiations, for Harthacanute must have waited two months or more before he left Flanders. No doubt the chiefs who had placed his half-brother on the throne were unwilling to submit without guarantees ; their behaviour had not been such as to render their future secure. Just before mid- 338 Canute the Great 11035- summer Harthacanute finally arrived in England with sixty ships; he was crowned probably on June 1 8th. ' For two years he ruled the coiintry but "he did nothing kinglike. "^ Partly as a punishment, perhaps, he made England pay for the expedition that he had just fitted out, and consequently forfeited what favour he had at the very beginning. Harthacanute is described as a sickly youth, and a Norman historian assures us that on account of his ill-health he kept God before his mind and reflected much on the brevity of human life. ' He seems to have been of a kindly disposition, as appears from his dealings with his half-brother Edward. His sudden death at a henchman's wedding is not to be attributed to excesses but to the ailment from which he suffered. But the drunken laugh of the bystanders'" indicates that the world did not fully appreciate that with Harthacanute perished the dynasty of Gorm. Three men now stood forth as possible candi- dates for the throne of Alfred : Magnus the Good, now King of Denmark and Norway, Harthaca- nute's heir by oath and adoption; Sweyn, the son of Canute's sister Estrid, his nearest male relative and the ranking member of the Danish house, a prince who was probably an Englishman by birth, " Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 421. ' Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1040. 5 Duchesne, Scriptores, 179 (William of Poitiers). ^Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1042. 1042] The Collapse of the Empire 339 and whose aunt was the wife of Earl Godwin ; and Edward, later known as the Confessor, who strangely enough represented what national feeling there might be in England, though of such feel- ing he himself was probably guiltless. It may be remarked in passing that all these candi- dates were sons of men whom Canute had deeply wronged, men whom he had deprived of life or hounded to death. There is no good evidence that Edward was ever formally elected King of England. Harthacanute died at Lambeth, only a few miles from London. "And before the King was buried all the folk chose Edward to be King in London, ' ' says one manuscript of the Chronicle. If this be true, there could have been no regular meeting of the magnates. The circumstances seem to have been somewhat in the nature of a revolution headed no doubt by the anti-Danish faction in London. That Edward was enabled to retain the crown was due largely, we are told, to the efforts of Canute's two old friends. Earl Godwin and Bishop Lifing. ' The situation was anything but simple. The election of Magnus would restore Canute's empire, but it might also mean English and Danish revolts. To elect Sweyn would mean war with Magnus, Sweyn claiming Denmark and Magnus England. At the time the Danish claimant was making most trouble, for Sweyn seems to have arrived in England soon after Edward was pro- ' Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 196-197. 340 Canute the Great [1035-1042] claimed. All that he secured, however, was the promise that he should be regarded as Edward's successor.' It was doubtless well known among the English lords that the new King was inclined to, and probably pledged to a celibate life. We do not know whether Englishmen were at this time informed of the ethelings in Hungary. To most men it must have seemed likely that Alfred's line would expire with Edward; under the cir- cumstances Sweyn was the likeliest heir. With the accession of Edward, the Empire of the North was definitely dissolved. Fundament- ally it was based on the union of England and Denmark, a union that was now repudiated. Still, the hope of restoring it lingered for nearly half a century. Three times the kings of the North made plans to reconquer England, but in each instance circumstances made successful operations impossible. After the death of Magnus in 1047, the three old dynasties once more controlled their respective kingdoms, though in the case of both Denmark and Norway the direct lines had perished. The Danish high seat alone remained to the Knyt- lings, now represented by Sweyn, the son of Estrid and the violent Ulf for whose tragic death the nation had now atoned. ' Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 74. APPENDICES I. — Canute's proclamation of 1020' 1 . Canute the King sends friendly greetings to his archbishops and sufEragan bishops and to Thurkil the Earl and all his earls and to all his subjects in England, nobles and freemen, clerks and laymen. 2. And I make known to you that I will be a kind lord and loyal to the rights of the Church and to right secular law. 3. I have taken to heart the word and the writing that Archbishop Lifing brought from Rome from the Pope, that I should everywhere extol the praise of God, put away injustice, and promote full security and peace by the strength that God should give me. 4. Now I did not spare my treasures while un- peace was threatening to come upon you; with the help of God I have warded this off by the use of my treasures. 5. Then I was informed that there threatened us a danger that was greater than was well pleasing to us ; and then I myself with the men who went with me departed for Denmark, whence came to you the greatest danger; and that I have with God's help forestalled, so that henceforth no unpeace shall come ' Liebermann, Geselze der Angelsachsen, i., 273-275. For an earlier translation see Stubbs, Select Charters, 75-76. 341. 342 Canute the Great to you from that country, so long as you stand by me as the law commands, and my life lasts. 6. Now I give thanks to God Almighty for His aid and His mercy in that I have averted the great evil that threatened us; so that from thence we need fear no evil, but may hope for full aid and deliverance if need be. 7. Now I will that we all humbly thank Almighty God for the mercy that He has done to our help. 8. Now I command my archbishops and all my suffragan bishops that they take due care as to the rights of the Church, each one in the district that is committed to him ; and also my ealdormen I command, that they help the bishops to the rights of the Church and to the rights of my kingship and to the behoof of all the people. 9. Should any one prove so rash, clerk or layman, Dane or Angle, as to violate the laws of the Church or the rights of my kingship, or any secular statute, and refuse to do penance according to the instruction of my bishops, or to desist from his evil, then I re- quest Thurkil the Earl, yea, even command him, to bend the offender to right, if he is able to do so. 10. If he is not able, then will I that he with the strength of us both destroy him in the land or drive him out of the land, be he of high rank or low. 1 1 . And I also command my reeves, by my friend- ship and by all that they own and by their own lives, that they everywhere govern my people justly and give right judgments by the witness of the shire bishop and do such mercy therein as the shire bishop thinks right and the community can allow. 12. And if any one harbour a thief or hinder the Canute's Proclamation of 1020 343 pursuit, he shall be liable to punishment equal to that of the thief, unless he shall clear himself before me with full purgation. 13. And I will that all the people, clerks and lay- men, hold fast the laws of Edgar which all men have chosen and sworn to at Oxford ; 14. for all the bishopssay that the Church demands a deep atonement for the breaking of oaths and pledges. 15. And they further teach us that we should with all otu" might and strength fervently seek, love, and worship the eternal merciful God and shun all un- righteousness, that is, slaying of kinsmen and murder, perjury, familiarity with witches and sorceresses, and adultery and incest. 16. And further, we command in the name of Almighty God and of all His saints, that no man be so bold as to marry a nun or a consecrated woman ; 17. and if any one has done so, let him be an out- law before God and excommunicated from all Christ- endom, and let him forfeit all his possessions to the King, unless he quickly desist from sin and do deep penance before God. 18. And further still we admonish all men to keep the Sunday festival with all their might and observe it from Saturday's noon to Monday's dawning; and let no man be so bold as to buy or sell or to seek any court on that holy day. 19. And let all men, poor and rich, seek their church and ask forgiveness for their sins and earnestly keep every ordained fast and gladly honour the saints, as the mass priest shall bid us, 20. that we may all be able and permitted, through 344 Canute the Great the mercy of the everlasting God and the intercession of His saints, to share the joys of the heavenly kingdom and dwell with Him who liveth and reigneth for ever without end. Amen. II. — Canute's charter of 1027' Canute, King of all England and Denmark and of the Norwegians and of part of the Slavic peoples,^ to Ethelnoth the Metropolitan and Alfric of York, and to all bishops and primates, and to the whole nation of the English, both nobles and freemen, wishes health. I make known to you that I have lately been to Rome, to pray for the redemption of my sins, and for the prosperity of the kingdoms and peoples subject to my rule. This journey I had long ago vowed to God, though, through affairs of state and other impedi- ments, I had hitherto been unable to perform it; but now I humbly return thanks to God Almighty for having in my life granted to me to yearn after the blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, and every sacred place within and without the city of Rome, which I could learn of, and according to my desire, personally to venerate and adore. And this I have executed chiefly because I had learned from wise men that the holy apostle Peter had received from the Lord the great power of binding and loosing, and was key- bearer of the celestial kingdom; and I, therefore, ' This translation (with slight changes) is that of Benjamin Thorpe: Lappenberg, History of Etigland, ii., 212-215. "The original has Swedes; but see above p. 152. The state- ment that Canute was King of tlie Norwegians is doubtless an addition by the chronicler; Norway was not conquered before 1028. Canute's Charter of I02y 345 deemed it extremely useful to desire his patronage before God. Be it now known to you, that there was a great assembly of nobles at the Easter celebration, with the Lord Pope John, and the Emperor Conrad, to wit, all the princes of the nations from Mount Gargano to the nearest sea, who all received me honourably, and honoured me with magnificent presents. But I have been chiefly honoured by the Emperor with divers costly gifts, as well in golden and silver vessels as in mantles and vestments exceedingly precious. I have therefore spoken with the Emperor and the Lord Pope, and the princes who were there, concerning the wants of all my people, both Angles and Danes, that a more equitable law and greater security might be granted to them in their journeys to Rome, and that they might not be hindered by so many barriers, nor harassed by unjust tolls; and the Emperor and King Rudolf, who has the greater number of those barriers in his dominions, have agreed to my demands ; and all the princes have engaged by their edict, that my men, whether merchants or other travellers for objects of devotion, should go and return in security and peace, without any constraint of barriers or tolls. I then complained to the Lord Pope, and said that it greatly displeased me, that from my archbishops such immense simis of money were exacted, when, according to usage, they visited the apostolic see to receive the pall ; and it was agreed that such exactions should not thenceforth be made. And all that I have demanded for the benefit of my people from the Lord Pope, from the Emperor, from King Rudolf, and from the other princes, through whose territories our way lies to 346 Canute the Great Rome, they have freely granted, and also confirmed their cessions by oath, with the witness of four arch- bishops and twenty bishops, and an innumerable multitude of dukes and nobles, who were present. I therefore render great thanks to God Almighty that I have successfully accomplished all that I de- sired, as I had proposed in my mind, and satisfied to the utmost the wishes of my people. Now then, be it known to you, that I have vowed, as a suppliant, from henceforth to justify in all things my whole life to God, and to rule the kingdoms and peoples subjected to me justly and piously, to maintain equal justice among all; and if, through the intemperance of my youth, or through negUgence, I have done aught hitherto contrary to what is just, I intend with the aid of God to amend all. I therefore conjure and enjoin my counsellors, to whom I have intrusted the counsels of the kingdom, that from henceforth they in no wise, neither through fear of me nor favour to any powerful person, consent to, or suffer to increase any injustice in my whole kingdom; I enjoin also all sheriffs and reeves of my entire kingdom, as they would enjoy my friendship or their own security, that they use no unjust violence to any man, either rich or poor, but that every one, both noble and freeman, enjoy just law, from which let them in no way swerve, neither for equal favour, nor for any powerful person, nor for the sake of collecting money for me, for I have no need that money should be collected for me by iniquitous exactions. I, therefore, wish it to be made known to you, that, returning by the same way that I departed, I am go- ing to Denmark, for the purpose of settling, with the Canute's Charter of 1027 347 counsel of all the Danes, firm and lasting peace with those nations, which, had it been in their power, would have deprived us of our Hfe and kingdoms; but were unable, God having deprived them of strength, who in His loving-kindness preserves us in our kingdoms and honour, and renders naught the power of our enemies. Having made peace with the nations round us, and regulated and tranquillised all our kingdom here in the East, so that on no side we may have to fear war or enmities, I propose this summer, as soon as I can have a number of ships ready, to proceed to England; but I have sent this letter beforehand, that all the people of my kingdom may rejoice at my prosperity; for, as you yourselves know, I have never shrunk from labouring, nor will I shrink therefrom, for the necessary benefit of all my people. I therefore conjure all my bishops and ealdormen, by the fealty which they owe to me and to God, so to order that, before I come to England, the debts of all, which we owe according to the old law, be paid; to wit, plough-alms, and a tithe of animals brought forth during the year, and the pence which ye owe to Saint Peter at Rome, both from the cities and villages; and in the middle of August, a tithe of fruits, and at the feast of Saint Martin, the first-fruits of things sown, to the church of the parish, in which each one dwells, which is in Enghsh called church-scot. If, when I come, these and others are not paid, he who is in fault shall be punished by the royal power severely and without any remission. Farewell. BIBLIOGRAPHY Aarboger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og liistorie, udg. af det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab. 1866-1885. 2. Rcckke, 1886-. Copenhagen. Continuation of Annaler. ^■•Elfric's Lives of Saints, ed. W. W. Sl^eat. 2 vols. London, 1881-1900. (Early English Text Society.) Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. Benjamin Thorpe. 2 vols. London, 1861. RoUs Series, No. 23. Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed og liistorie, udg. af det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab. 1 836-1 863. Copen- hagen, 1836-1S65. These volumes and the Aarboger are of great value for the study of Scandinavian culture in the Middle Ages; for the career of Canute, however, they are of slight importance. Annates CambricB, ed. J. W. ab Ithel. London, i860. Rolls Series, No. 20. Annates Monastici, ed. H. R. Luard. 5 vols. London, 1864- 1869. Rolls Series, No. 36. Baltische Studien, herausgcgeben von der Gesellschaft fur pommersche Geschichte und Alterthumskunde. 1835-1892. Stettin. Especially important are Nos. 7, 13, and 25: articles on the early relations of the Danes and the Wends. Bihliothek der Angelsdchsisehen Poesie, ed. C. W. M. Grein (revised edition by R. P. Wiilker). 3 vols. Cassel, 1 883-1 898. BjORKMAN, Erik, Nordische Personennamen in England in alt- und fruhmiltel-englischer Zeit. HaUe, 1910. (Morsbach's Studien zur engtischen Phitotogie, xxxvii.) Bremen, Adam of, Cesta Hammenburgensis Ecclesics Pontificum, ed. J. M. Lappenberg. Hanover, 1846. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, ^-ii.) 349 350 Canute the Great Bresslau, H., Jahrbticher des Deutschen Reichs unter Konrad II, Leipsic, 1 879-1 884. BuGGE, Alexander, et al., Norges Historic fremsHllel for del norske Folk. To be published in 6 volumes. Vol. i., part ii, (Christiania, 1910) deals with Norwegian history to 1030. Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel. Chris- tiania, 1899. Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes og sdrlig Nord- mandenes ydre Kultur, Levescet, og Samfundsforhold i Vikinge- tiden. Christiania, 1905. -Vikingerne. 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1904-1906. A series of brilliant essays on Scandinavian colonisation and culture in the western islands (Britain). Cambridge History of English Literature. Edited by A. W. Ward and A. R. Waller. (In process of publication.) I. Cam- bridge, 1907. Canterbury, Gervase of, The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, ed. William Stubbs. 2 vols. London, 1879-1880. Rolls Series, No. 73. Chabannes, Ad^mar de, Historiarum Libri Hi, ed. G. Waitz. Hanover, 1841. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, iv.) Chrojiicon Abbatice de Evesham ad Annum 1418, ed. W. D. Macray. London, 1863. Rolls Series, No. 29. Chronicon Abbatice Rameseiensis, ed. W. D. Macray. London, 1886. Rolls Series, No. 83. Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon, ed. Joseph Stevenson. 2 vols. London, 1858. Rolls Series, No. 2. Cirencester, Richard of. Speculum Hisloriale de Gestis Regum Anglice, ed. J. E. B. Mayor. 2 vols. London, 1863- 1869. Rolls Series, No. 30. Cnutonis Regis Gesta sive Encomium EmmcE, ed. G. H. Pertz. Hanover, 1866. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, xix.) Collingwood, W. G., Scandinavian Britain. London, 1908. Corpus Poeticum Boreale. Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell. 2 vols. Oxford, 1883. Daae, Ludvig, Norges Helgener. Christiania, 1879. DiCETO, Ralph of, Opera Historica, ed. William Stubbs. 2 vols. London, 1876. Rolls Series, No. 68. Duchesne, Andr^ (editor). Histories Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui. Paris, 1619. Bibliography 351 Durham, Simeon of, Opera Omnia, ed. Thomas Arnold. 2 vols. London, 1882-1885. Rolls Series, No. 75. Encomium EmmcE. See Cnutonus Regis Gesta. Eulogium Historiarum, ed. F. S. Haydon. 3 vols. London, 1858-1863. Rolls Series, No. 9. Fagrskinna, ed. Finnur J6nsson. Copenhagen, 1902-1903. Brief saga of the Norwegian kings. Earlier edition by P. A. Munch and C. R. Unger (Christiania, 1847). Flateyarbok. Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson and C. R. linger. Christiania, i860. The Flat-isle Book is a late and not very reliable collection of sagas, but it cannot be whoUy ignored. Flom, George T., Scandinavian Influence on Southern Lowland Scotch. New York, 1900. (Columbia University Germanic studies, i.. No. I.) Freeman, E. A., History of the Norman Conquest of England. 6 vols. New York, 1873. Friesen, Otto von, Historiska Runskrifter. (FomvSnnen, 1909.) Om Runskriftens Hdrkomst. (Sprokvetenskapliga SaUs- kapets ForhandUnger, 1904-1906.) GiESEBRECHT, W. VON, Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiserzeit. 3 vols. Brunswick and Leipsic, 1855-1868. HiLDEBRAND, B. E., Anglosochsiska Mynt i svenska Kongliga Myntkabinettet funna i Sveriges Jord. Stockholm, 1881. HiLDEBRAND, Hans O. H., Svenska Folket under Hednatiden. Stockholm, 1886. Historians of the Church of York and its A rchbishops, ed. James Raine. 3 vols. London, 1879-1894. Rolls Series, No. 71. HoDGKiN, Thomas, The History of England from the Earliest Times to the Norman Conquest. London, 1906. (Hunt-Poole, Political History of England, i.) Hunt, William, The English Church, A.D. 597-1066. London, 1899. (Stephens- Hunt, A History of the English Church, i.) Huntingdon, Henry of, Historia Anglorum, ed. Thomas Arnold. London, 1879. RoUs Series, No. 74. Jomsvlkingasaga oh Knytlinga, ed. C. C. Rafn. Copenhagen, 1828. Jumifeges, William of, Historice Nomannorum Libri viii, ed. Andr^ Duchesne. Paris, 1619. (Hist. Norm. Scriptores.) 352 Canute the Great Kemble, J. M., Codex Diplomaticus Mvi Saxonici. 6 vols. London, 1839-1848. (Eng. Hist. See.) Knytlingasaga. See Jomsvikingasaga. KoBKE, P., Om Runerne i Norden. Copenhagen, 1890. A brief popular account of the runes; valuable for its translation of important inscriptions. Lang, Andrew, A History of Scotland. 4 vols. Edinburgh, 1903-1907- Langebek, Jacob (editor), Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii Mot. 9 vols. Copenhagen, 1 772-1878. Lappenberg, J. M.., History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings. Translated by Benjamin Thorpe. 2 vols. London, 1845. Larson, Laurence M., The King's Household in England before the Norman Conquest. Madison, 1904. (Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin.) The Political Policies of Cnut as King of England. Ameri- can Historical Review, xv.. No. 4 (July, 1910). Lavisse, Ernest, Histoire de France depuis les originesjusqu'd, la revolution. 9 vols. Paris, 1903-1911. Liebermann, F., Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen. 2 vols. Halle, 1898-1899. Ungedriickte anglo-normannische Geschichtsquellen. Stras- burg, 1879. Liber Monasterii de Hyda, ed. Edward Edwards. London, 1866. Rolls Series, No. 45. Liber Vitce: Register and Martyrology of New Minster and Hyde Abbey, ed. W. de Gray Birch. London, 1892. (Hampshire Record Society.) Lives of Edward the Confessor, ed. H. R. Luard. London, 1858. Rolls Series, No. 3. Malmesbury, William of, De Geslis Pontificum Anglorum Libri Quinque, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton. London, 1 870. Rolls Series, No. 52. De Gestis Regum Anglorum Libri Quinque, ed. William Stubbs. 2 vols. London, 1 887-1 889. Rolls Series, No. 90. Manitius, M., Deutsche Geschichte unter den sdchsischen und salischen Kaisern. Stuttgart, 1889. (BibUothek deutscher Geschichte.) Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, ed. Thomas Arnold. 3 vols. London, 1 890-1 896. Rolls Series, No. 96. Bibliography 353 Merseburg, Thietmar of, Chronicon, ed. J. M. Lappenberg. Hanover, 1839. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, iii.) MiGNE, J. P., Patrologim Ciirsus Complelus. Series Latina. 221 vols. Paris, 1 844-1 864. Vol. cxli. contains the sermons of Ademar and the letters of Fulbert. MoNTELlus, Oscar, Kulturgeschichte Schwedens von den alteslen Zeiten bis zum elflen Jahrhundert nach Chrislus. Leipsic, 1906. An excellent account of Northern antiquity based largely on archeological evidence. Morris, William A., The Frankpledge System. New York, 1910. (Harvard Historical Series, xiv.) Munch, P. A., Vet norske Folks Hislorie. 8 vols. Christiania, 1852-1863. Napier, A. S., and Stevenson, W. H. (editors). The Crawford Collection of Early Charters and Documents. Oxford, 1895. Olafs Saga hins Helga. Edited by R. Keyser and C. R. Unger. Christiania, 1849. A saga of Saint Olaf ; largely legendary. Olrik, Axel, Nordisk Aandsliv i Vikingetid og tidlig Middel- alder. Copenhagen, 1907. An excellent popular discussion of medieval culture in Scandinavia. Oman, C. W. C, England Before the Norman Conquest. New York, 1910. (Oman, History of England in Seven Volumes, i.) Origines IslandiccE. Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell. 2 vols. Oxford, 1905. Palgrave, Francis, History of Normandy and England. 4 vols. London, 1851-1864. Paris, Matthew, Chronica Majora, ed. H. R. Luard. 7 vols. London, 1 872-1 883. Rolls Series, No. 57. Pertz, G. H., et al. (editors), Monumenta Germanics Historica, Scriptores. 30 vols. Hanover, 1 826-1 896. Poitiers, William of, Gesta Willelmi Duds Normannorum et Regis Anglice, ed. Andr^ Duchesne. Paris, 1619. (Hist. Norm. Scriptores.) Pollock, F., and Maitland, F. W., The History of the English Law Before the Time of Edward I. 2 vols. Cambridge, 1895. Ramsay, J. H., The Foundations of England. 2 vols. London, 1898. Raoul Glaber, Les cinq livres de ses histoires, ed. M. Prou. Paris, 1886. (Collection de Textes, No. I.) 23 354 Canute the Great Saga Book of the Viking Club, vi., part i. London. January, 1909. Saga Olafs Konungs ens Helga. Edited by P. A. Munch and C. R. Unger. Christiania, 1853. The so-called "Historical Saga" of Saint Olaf. St. John, James A., History 0} the Four Conquests of England. 2 vols. London, 1862. Extremely uncritical. Saxo Grammaticos, Gesta Danorum, ed. A. Holder. Stras- burg, 1886. ScHUCK, Henrik, Studier t nordisk Litteratur- och Religions- historia. 2 vols. Stockholm, 1904. Snorre. See Sturlason. Sproglige og historiske Afhandlinger viede Sophus Bugges Minde. Christiania, 1908. Historical and philological essays by various authors. Cited as Afhandlinger, etc. Steenstrup, Johannes C. H. R., et al., Danmarks Riges Historie. 6 vols. Copenhagen, 1896-1906. The great co-opera- tive history of Denmark. Vol. i. is by Steenstrup. — — Normannerne. 4 vols. Copenhagen, 1876-1882. (See Foreword.) Venderne og de Danske for Valdemar den Stores Tid. Copenhagen, 1900. A study of Danish expansion on the south Baltic shores. Stephens, George, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England. 4 vols. London and Copenhagen, 1 866-1901. Of great value for the inscriptions that the author has collected and reproduced; the interpretations, however, are not always reliable. Vol. iv. is by S. O. M. Soderberg and J. S. F. Stephens. Stubbs, William, Registrum Sacrum A nglicanum. O.xf ord, 1 897. Sturlason, Snorre, Heimskringla: Noregs Konunga Sogur, ed. Finnur Jonsson. 4 vols. Copenhagen, 1893-1901. Sam- fundet til Udgivelse af Gammel Nordisk Litteratur. Cited as Snorre. This is the chief source of information as to Canute's ambitions for empire in the North. SvENO Aggonis, Historia Legum Castrensium Regis Canuti Magni, ed. Jacob Langebek. Copenhagen, 1774. (Script. Rer. Danic, iii.) Taranger, a.. Den angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske. Christiania, 1890. (Norske Historiske Forening.) Bibliography 355 Turner, Sharon, History of the Anglo-Saxons. 3 vols. London, 1823. ViTALis, Ordericus, HistoHa Ecclesiastica, ed. Auguste le Provost. 5 vols. Paris, 1838-1855. (Soci6t6 de I'Histoire de France.) Wharton, Henry (editor), Anglia Sacra. 2 vols. London, 1691. Wimmer, Ludvig F. a., De danshe Runemindesmmrker. 4 vols. Copenhagen, 1895-1908. Die Runenschrift. Ubersetzt von Dr. F. Holthausen. Berlin, 1887. Wipo, Vita Chuonradi Regis. Hanover, 1854. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, xi.) Worcester, Florence of, Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. Ben- jamin Thorpe. 2 vols. London, 1 848-1 849. (Eng. Hist. Soc.) WoRSAAE, J. J. A., Minder am de Danske og Nordmcendene i England, Skotland, og Irland. Copenhagen, 1 85 1. Translation: An Account of the Danes and Norwegians in England, Scotland, and Ireland. London, 1852. INDEX Abingdon, monastery of, 176, 193. 313 Adam of Bremen cited, 14, 35 n., 154, 161, 185,193,194, 272, 273, 325 et passim Ad^mar de Chabannes cited, 165 n., 264, 265 Agdir, district in southern Norway, 238 Alain, Duie of Brittany, 254 Aldgyth, wife of Edmund Iron- side, 71, 125 Alfiva, 316-318; see Elgiva Alfred, King of England, 23, 24, 45, 79, 85, 105, 126, 158, 181, 338-340 Alfred, son of Ethelred, 53, 127, 253-256, 335 Alfric, Archbishop of York, 312, 344 Alfric, Bishop, 333 Alfric, English ealdorman, 95 Alfric, ealdorman, and naval commander, 27 n. Alfric, old English author, 291, 296 Algar, English magnate, 88 All, housecarle, 135 Almar Darling, English mag- nate, 88 Alphabet, runic, 299, 300 Alphege, Archbishop, 29, 44, 147, 172, 173, 176 Alstad Stone, the, 302 America, discovery of, 17 and Andover, 29 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle cited, 27, 29, 79, 80, 92 n., 128, 211, 215, 220, 221, 232, 297, 310, 334-339 et passim Anglo-Saxon kingdom, 16, 21- 24, 58, 84, 85 Anglo-Saxon legal system, the, 281 Anglo-Saxon literature, 296, 297 Anses, the, old Northern di- vinities, 163, 182, 183, 198, 309 Anund Jacob, King of Sweden, 207, 208, 213, 216-220, 225 Aquitaine, 74, 264, 265, 298 Arne, Norwegian magnate, 200, 245 Amgrim, magnate in the Dane- law, 70 Arnungs, Norwegian noble family, 199, 200, 245 Art, Celtic and Northern, 301 ff. Asbjom, Norwegian warrior, 199, 200 Ashington, battle of, 89, 93- 96, 99-101, 109, 115, 117, 294; dedication at. III, 169, 296 Asia Minor, 266 Aslak Erlingsson, Norwegian chieftain, 207 AttUa, 293 Avon River, 191 Aylesford, 92 357 358 Index B Bamberg, 320 Bark-isle, 200 Barwick, Swedish harbour, 218 Benedict, Pope, 270 Beowulf, 36, 292 Bergen, 17 Bergljot, sister of Earl Erik, 69 Bemhard, Bishop in Norway, 193 Bemhard, Bishop in Scania, 190 Bemicia, old English king- dom, 140 Bersi, Norse traveller, 304 Bessin, the, district in Nor- mandy, 19 n. Birca, old Swedish town, 286 Bison, the, St. Olaf's longship, 213 Bjarkamdl, old Norse poem, 292 Bjame, scald, 247 Bjor, warrior, 237 Bjorn, King Olaf's spokesman, 304 Bleking, district in modem Sweden, 218 Bohemia, 153 Boleslav, Duke and King of Poland, 31, 126, 160, 268 Books, old English, 296, 297 Brage, old Norse divinity, 187 Bremen, 55, 160, 190, 271-273, 325 Brenn-isles, the, agreement of, 336 Brentford, skirmish at, 90, loi Bristol, 287 British Isles, the, Scandinavi- ans in, 16, 17; commerce of , 287; inscriptions in, 301 Brittany, 62, 254, 330 Bruges, 336, 337 Brunhild, saga heroine, 293 Buckinghamshire, 79 Bugge, Alexander, Norse his- torian, cited, 17 n., 18 n., 33 n., 195 Bugge, Sophus, Norse philolo- gist, cited, 183 n. Burgundy, 227, 228, 264 Burhwold, Bishop, 176 Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Es- sex, 26 n., 296 Byzantium, 22, 149 C Caithness, 18 Canonisation, of St. Dunstan, 312; of St. Olaf, 312, 315 fit. Canterbury, city and see of, 27, 44, 165, 166, 172, 174, 176, 190, 194, 211, 272; siege of, 44 Canute the Great, King of England, Denmark, and Nor- way: inheritance of, 2, 3; ancestry of, 4, 15, 56, 262, 327; fostered by ThurkU the Tall, 32, 76, 116, 117, 241; joins in King Sweyn's attack on England, 46, 49 ; in charge of the camp at Garris- borough, 50; succeeds to the English pretensions of Sweyn, 54, 58, 60, 61 ; is driven out of England, 63, 64; renews the attack, 16, 22, 66, 68, 72 ff., 304; methods of warfare of, 76; marches into northern Eng- land, 78 ff., 85; is recognised as king in the south, 86; lays siege to London, 86 ff., pil- lages Mercia and East Ang- lia, 91, 93; wins the victory at Ashington, 94; treats with Edmund Ironside, 96-99; is recognised as king of all England, 104 ff,, 116, 296, 327; difficulties of, in 1016 and 1017, 92, 93, 107, 108; early English policy of, 108; chief counsellors of, no ff., 120 ff., 150, 151; royal resi- dence of, 112, 261; rewards his Scandinavian followers, 1 13 ff. ; re-organises the Eng- Index 359 Canute the Great — Continued lish earldoms, 114 ff., 136; attempts to establish a new aristocracy in England, 121, 122; shows his preference for Northmen and distrust of the Saxons, 122 ff., 146, 151; executes rebellious nobles, 122-125, 327; sends Edmund's sons to Poland, 125, 126, 327; marries Queen Emma, 38, 127-129, 332; organises his guard of house- carles, 130-135; suppresses piracy on the English shores, I35i 136; develope new policy of reconciliation, 137 ff.; becomes king of Den- mark, 138 ff., 267; issues Proclamation of 1020, no, III, 142-146, 168, 341- 344 ; has difficulties with Scot- land, 139-142, 329; agrees to the cession of Lothian, 141; journeys to Denmark of, 142 ff., 167, 168, 175, 207, 214 ff., 229, 243; exiles Thurkil the TaU, 117, 118, 146, 147; extent of empire of, 152, 205, 206, 233, 234, 258, 259, 344; makes an ex- pedition to Wendland, 157 ff., 202, 203, 211, 267; Slavic possessions of, 158, 258, 260; enters into alliance with the Emperor, 160, 161, 267, 268, 273, 310, 320, 324; acquires the Mark of Sleswick, 160, 161, 268, 269; ecclesiastical policy of, 162 ff., 274 ff., 311, 312, 326; legislation of, 164, 274 ff-, 311, 312, 342, 343; baptism of, 164, 165, 324; benefactions of, 168 ff., 174 ff., 226 ff., 312, 313, 321, 325; consecrates church at Ashington, 169; rebuilds the shrine of St. Edmund's, 169, 170; honours the English saints, 171 ff., 312; trans- lates the relics o£ St. Alph- ege, 172, 173; provides bish- ops for the Danish church, 190, 191, 195; enters into relations with the see of Hamburg-Bremen, 191, 271 ff. ; plans to seize Norway, 103, 194, 203; conspires with the Norwegian rebels, 202, 203, 207, 225, 249; sends an embassy to King Olaf, 203 ff., 254; Scotch possessions of, 205, 206; diplomacy of, 206 ff., 219, 220, 256, 264 ff.; sends an embassy to Sweden, 208; bribes the Norse lead- ers, 209, 210, 234-236, 304, 326; makes war on Norway and Sweden, 175, 214, 216 ff., 294; trapped at Holy River, 217, 218; orders the murder of Ulf, 221-223; loves dice and chess, 223; atones for the murder, 223 ff. ; makes a pilgrimage to Rome, 210, 221, 224 ff., 233, 265, 269, 270, 294, 344; assists at the imperial coro- nation, 227, 269; presents complaints at the Lateran synod, 228, 229, 345, 346; Charter of, 228-230, 344 ft. ; honoured by Pope and Em- peror, 229, 230, 345; con- quers Norway, 231 ft., 269, 294; receives the submission of the Scotch king, 232-234; submission of the Norsemen to, 238 ff., 311; chosen king at the Ere- thing, 239, 240; holds an imperial assembly at Nidaros, 240-242; an- nounces his imperial policy, 240 ff., 259-261, 331, 332; secures the allegiance of the Norse chiefs, 242 ff. ; returns to Denmark and England, 243, 244, 255; gives the leadership in Norway to Kalf Arnesson, 246, 247; 36o Index Canute the Great — Continued plans to depose Earl Hakon, 247, 248; relations with Nor- mandy, 253, 254, 265, 266; is Emperor of the North, 255 ff. ; position in Europe of, 257; vassal states of, 259; appoints Harthacanute his successor, 260; court and household of, 261-263; offi- cial appointments of, 263, 264 continental relations of, 264 ff.; sends embassies to Aqui- taine, 264, 265; forms an alliance with the Church, 269 ff.; relations of, with papacy, 270, 324; episcopal appointments of, 270, 271, 274, 312; is friendly to the archbishops of Hamburg- Bremen, 272-274; is hostile toward heathen practices, 274-276; provides for Chris- tian education, 275, 276; secular laws of, 276-278; reputation of, as a lawgiver, 279, 280; financial legisla- tion of, 277, 278, 283; Norse legislation of, 280, 282-284; provides coinage for Den- mark, 282; patronises scalds and copyists, 293^298; is interested in material im- provements, 313, 314; loses Norway to Slagnus Olafs- son, 260, 263, 310, 314, 315, 319 ff.; probable plans of (1035)1 320; last illness and death of, 311, 320, 321, 331; children of, 321; personality of, 321-323; character of, 324 ff. ; legends about, 133, 325; English (ecclesiastical) view of, 325, 326; Norse (scaldic) view of, 326-327; as ruler and statesman, 327 ff. ; plans of, for the future of his empire, 331 ff.; other mention of, 81, 100, 119, 120, 181, 281, 282, 289, 292-294, 302, 306, 319, 329, 339 et passim Canute's Praise, the, 109, 294 Carham, battle of, 141, 151, 233 Celts, influence of, in old Northern culture, 291, 292, 301. 307 Chabannes, Ad^mar de, see Ad^mar Charlemagne, 153, 331 Charter, Canute's, 152, 168, 228 ff., 344-347 Chartres, 227 Chess games, 222, 223 Chester, 25 Christiania Firth, 3, 287 Christianity, introduced into Denmark, 7, 8; introduced into Norway, 29, 103; pro- gress of, in the North, 162, 163, 180, 192, 198, 201, 271, 308, 309; Celtic, 185; influ- ence of, on old Northern poetry and art, 293, 302, 303 Church, English, relations of, with Canute, 162, 165 ff., 274 ff.; Canute's message to, 168, 224, 228 ff., 344 ff.; legislation for, 274 ff. Church dues, 191, 192, 228, 230, 270, 276, 347 Cirencester, 144 Cities, Scandinavian, 286, 287 Clontarf, battle of, 60, 61, 233, 294 Coinage, 278, 282 Coins, English and Danish, 235. 236, 282, 323 Coldstream, 141 Cologne, 227, 298 Commerce, Scandinavian, 286 ff. Conrad II, Emperor, 16, 227- 230, 267-269, 273, 320, 345 Consiliatio Cnuti, 278 Cork, 18 Coronation, imperial, 225, 227, 228, 269 Corvey, Widukind of, see Widukind Index 361 Cotentin, district in Nor- mandy, 19 n., 254 Court at Winchester, 261-263 Court poetry, old Norse, 293 ff. Coventry, 177 Crediton, 167, 168, 229 Cricklade, 78 Cross, the, of Winchester, 174, 175 Croyland, abbey of, 313 Culture, old Northern, 285 ff., 328 Cynewxdf, old English poet, 297 D Danegeld, 27, 28, 38, 44, 45, 62, 97, 98, 113, 150, 210 Danelaw, established by the vikings, 18, 19; extent of, 19, 20, 69, 71; importance of, in English history, 2 1 ; Scan- dinavian elements in, 39, 59, 114, 193, 264, 273, 280; spared by Sweyn and Ca- nute, 50, 83; heathendom in, 275; administrative areas in, 281; cities in, 287; sup- ports Elgiva, 334; other mention of, 102, 107 Danes, become Christians, 7; interested in Wendland, 9, 16, 152 ff., 260; as colonisers, 19 ff., 27, 39, 61, 84, 258; as merchants, 21, 22; as vik- ings, 25, 26, 41, 43, 97; kill St. Alphege, 44, 172; attack London, 51, 86; proclaim Canute king, 58, 59; in Eng- land, 70, 71, 92 ff., 96, III, 115. 139. 146, 192, 262; rule of, in England, 104 ff. ; pre- ferred by Canute for impor- tant offices, 120 ff., 146, 169, 263, 280; show opposition to Canute, 240; in Norway, 252, 284; other mention of, 3, 5. II. 13. 231. 311, 325. 334. 336, 347 et passim Danework, 5, 7 Deerhurst, agreement of, 97, 99, 106; monastery of, 172 Deira, old English kingdom, 128 Denmark, extentof, 3, 4, 10-12, 35, 160, 161, 268, 269; impe- rial ambitions of, 27, 28, 33; hegemony of, 35, 36, 56; invasion of England from, 45 ff.; Harold king of, 58, 138; return of Canute and the viking chiefs to, 64, 67, 68, 72 ff.; Canute king of, III, 138, 258, 267; return of the host to, 130, 141; Ca- nute's journeys to, 142 ff., 158, 167, 175, 207, 214 ff., 229, 231, 243; importance of union of, with England, 144, 145, 328, 329; extended to the Eider, 160, 161, 268, 269; progress of Christianity in, 163, 190, 195, 271, 272; viceroys of, 159, 211, 314; rebellion in, 212, 214; Harth- acanute king of, 242, 260, 331. 334. 335; expansion of, into Slavic lands, 258, 267; institutional development of, 282; cities in, 286, 287; Mag- nus king of, 338; claimed by Sweyn Ulfsson, 339; union of, with England dissolved, 340; other mention of, 7, 48, 98, 129, 130, 211, 226, 240, 333. 341. 344; see Danes, Canute, and Scandinavia Derby, 20 Devon, 26, 40, 52, 125, 166, 167 Dol, castle of, 62 Domesday Book, 134 Dorchester, 95 Dorset, 75, 88, 321 Dragon ship, see Ships Drammen Firth, 242 Dublin, 18, 61, 233, 259 Duduc, Bishop, 312 Diina River, 158 Durham, 140, 141, 172, 177 362 Index E Eadric, Mercian Earl, slays Sigeferth and Morcar, 70; Earl of Mercia, 71, 79, 115, 118, 120, 122; jealous dispo- sition of, 72; deserts to Ca- nute, 77, 78; in the battle of Sherstone, 88, 89; makes peace with Edmund, 89, 91; quarrels with Edmund, 92; plays the traitor at Ashing- ton, 94, 96, 100; suspected of causing Edmund's death, 100; position of, in Canute's councils, no; Ethelred's son- in-law, 115, 117; executed, 118, 122-124 Eadult Cudel, Northumbrian Earl, 120, 140, 141 Eagmargach, see Jehmarc Eanham, assembly of, 42 Earl, office of, 114 Earldoms in England, 114, 115 East Anglia, 24, 27, 41, 43, 45, 66, 67, 97, 104, 115, 138 Eddie poems, 183 Edgar, King of England, 23, 84, 139, 164, 171, 343 Edith, wife of Thurkil, 117, 118, 146 Edmund Ironside, English King, marries Aldgyth, 71 ; assumes leadership in the Danelaw, 72, 77, 78; har- ries the western shires, 79; with the army in London, 83; is chosen king, 86, 104; raises the south-west, 87-88; fights at Penselwood, Sher- stone, and Brentford, 87, 90; raises Wessex, 90; attacks the Danes at Otford, 91, 92; quarrels with Eadric, 92; defeated at Ashington, 93- 95; retires to the Severn VaUey, 96; makes terms and enters into fraternal rela- tions with Canute, 97, 98; death of, 99, 100, 125; career and character of, 100- 102; sons of, 106, 125, 126; buried at Glastonbury, 174 Edmund, son of Edmund Iron- side, 125 Edward, son of Edmund Iron- side, 125 Edward, son of Ethelred, 53, 59, 60, 127, 193, 253-256, 338-340 Edwy, son of Ethelred, 125 Eglaf, see Eilif Eider River, 6, 160, 268 Eikunda-sound, 235, 236, 238, 239 Eilif, viking chief and Earl va. England, 43, 67, 68, 102, 118, 119, 121, 136, 149, 215, 220 Einar Thongshaker, Norse magnate, guardian of Earl Hakon, 69; defeated at the Nesses, 80, 81, 201 ; in oppo- sition to King Olaf, 201, 202, 213; accepts the rule of Canute, 242 ; disappointed in his ambitions, 246, 249, 250; leads in the revolt of the Norsemen, 315-317, 319 Eindrid, son of Einar, 242 Elbe River, 153 Elfhelm, ealdorman, 128 Elfward, Abbot, Canute's cou- sin, 175 Elf wine, Bishop, 170 Elfwine, king's priest and Bishop, 312 Elgiva, Canute's mistress, 128, 322; at Jomburg, 159; in Norway, 260, 283, 314; opposes the canonisation of St. Olaf, 316, 317; unpopular in Norway, 318, 319; with- draws to England, 320, 322 ; later activities of, 333-335 Elmham, 170 Ely, monastery of, 170, 325 Emma, Queen of England, marries Ethelred, 38, 124, 126, retires to Normandy, 53; marries Canute, 38, 127- Index 363 Emma, Queen — Continued 130, 146, 332; character of, 128, 322; makes a gift to St. Edmund's, 170; assists at the translation of St. Alphege, 173; intrigues of, 212; diffi- culties of, after Canute's death, 333-337; death of, 323; other mention of, 87, 193, 266 Empire, the, 48, 160, 264-269, 310, 320, 330 Empire of the North, 255 ff.; extent of, 258 ff., 324; de- cline of, 258, 258, 328; capi- tal of, 261; institutional sys- tems in, 280 ff. ; civilisation of, 285 ff. ; Canute's plans for the future of, 331-333; collapse of, 331 ff., 339, 340 Encomiast, Canute's biograph- er, cited, 46, 47, 49, 54, 64, 65, 72, 73, 88, 91, 96, 100, 117, 123, 129, 226, 260, 332 England, Scandinavian settle- ments in, 18 ff. ; vikings in, 22 ff., 27-30, 44, 45; Danish conquest of, 37 if., 46 ff., 49, 66 ff. ; part of, friendly to Danes, 47, 50; revolts against Canute, 58 ff. ; is attacked by Canute, 66 ff., 75 ff. ; civil strife in, 69 ff., 77 ff. ; exhaustion of, 96; di- vided at Deerhurst, 97; Ca- nute king of, 100, 106, 152, 205, 258-260, 272, 327, 329, 344; Danish rule in, 104 ff.; reorganised by Canute, 114 ff. ; church of, in Canute's day, 162 ff.; debt of North- ern churches to, 190, 261, 272; Norwegian conspira- tors in, 202, 203; threatened with Norman invasion, 254; heathendom in , 277; institu- tional influence of Scandi- navians in, 28 off.; Northern scalds in, 294 ff.; Harold Harefoot king of, 334, 335; Harthacanute king of, 332, 337i 338; other mention of, 3, 7, 82, 83, 86, 129, 214, 229, 231, 232, 243, 248, 280, 282, 320, 347 et passim Ere-thing, the, 239, 240, 242 Eric, King of Denmark, 191 Eric Bloodax, King of Nor- way, 9, 10; sons of, 181 Eric Hakonsson, Earl in Nor- way and England, fights at Hjorunga Bay, 12; marries Canute's sister, 33, 56; fights at Swald, 34, 35, 82, 116; Earl in Norway, 35,110, 197, 200, 201, 245; summoned to assist Canute in England, 65, 68, 69, 72; Earl of North- umbria, 80, 81, 83, 115, 118, 120, 121, 140, 142; raids Mercia, 91; character of, no, 148, 149; death of, 147, 148, 150, 202; other mention of, 102, 119, 222, 293 Eric the Victorious, King of Sweden, 11, 12, 28-31, 56 Eric's Praise, the, 91 n. Erling, son of Earl Hakon, 13 Erling Skjalgsson, power and influence of, 199-201, 294; in Canute's service, 213, 235, 239; death of, 243, 244; sons of, 207, 250 Essex, 26, 93, 97 Esthonians, 158 Estrid, Canute's sister, 119, 121, 223, 253, 254, 266, 322, 338, 340 , Ethelmer, ealdorman, 52 Ethelnoth the Good, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, 165, 166, 173, 174, 190, 194, 344 Ethelred the Ill-counselled, King of England, accession and inheritance of, 23, 25; character of, 23, 24, 84; treats with the vikings, 27, 29, 30; attacks the North- men in Cumberland and Man, 37, 38; marries Emma 364 Index Ethelred — Continued of Normandy, 38; orders massacre of St. Brice's day, 39, 40; prepares a fleet, 42, 1 01; resists Sweyn, 51; flees to Normandy, 53, 54; is re- called and expels Canute, 59, 62 ; objects to Edmund's marriage, 71; illness and death of, 77, 83, 86; sons and daughters of, 53, 105, 117, 124-127, 146, 253, 254, 256, 266; legislation of, 42, 139, 164, 194 Ethelric, Bishop, 223 Ethelstan, King of England, 181 Ethelward, English noble, 95 Ethelwerd, Earl, 120 Ethics of Norse heathendom, 183 ff. Evesham, monastery of, 171, 175, 176, 191 Exeter, 41, 175 Exeter Codex, 297 Faroe Islands, 17, 259 Penlands, the, 79, 313, 325 Perm, English, 284 Festivals, old Northern, l86-i88 Fife, 206, 234 Finnvid Found, ancestor of the Amungs, 199 "Five Boroughs," the, 20, 50 "Five hide system," the, 284 Flanders, 190, 226, 261, 264, 337 Fleet (described), 49, 73, 214, 238; see Ship Florence of Worcester, cited, 27, 72, 92 n., 97-99, 106, 126, 209, 247, 249 Forest laws, 279 Forth, Firth of, 139, 232 France, 264, 266 Frankpledge, 280 Franks, 307 Frey, old Northern divinity, 182, 183, 185, 187, 199 Friesen, Otto von, Swedish runologist, cited, 113, 114 n. Frigg, old Northern goddess, 308 Fulbert, Bishop, 227 Punen, Danish Island, 190, 287 "Fyrd," the, 77 n. Pyris River, battle of, 12, 26 Gainsborough, Danish camp at, 50, 52, 54, 58, 59, 128 Garth, the royal, 290, 291 Gaul, 74 Gaut River, 287, 336 Gautland, 208 Gemot, at Eanham, 42; at London, 44, 105, 125; recalls Ethelred, 59; at Oxford, 69, 70, 139, 164, 166, 334, 335; elects Edmund, 86; other, elects Canute, 86; at Ciren- cester, 144; at Winchester, 312 Gerbrand, Bishop, 190, 191, 272 Germans in South Jutland, 4; in Slavic lauds, 153, 154; influence of, on Northern culture, 307, 328 Germany, 48, 158, 189, 226, 236, 269 Gillingham, 88 Gisela, Empress, 227 Giski, Isle of, 199 Glastonbury, 174, 192 Gleeman, 292 Gloucestershire, 96, 172 Godebald, Bishop of Scania, 192 Godescalc, Slavic prince, 263 Godric, English Earl, 120 Godwin, Ealdorman, 95 Godwin, Earl of Wessex, early history of, 119-121; impor- tant position of, 133, 150- 152; accompanies Canute on his expeditions to the east, Index 365 Godwin — Continued 159. 236, 237; supports Harthacanute against Har- old, 332, 334; secures the crown for Edward, 339 Gokstad, ship found at, 304 Gorm, King of Denmark, 3-7, lA, 205, 241, 338 Gotland, 287 Greenland, 17, 259 Greenwich, 54, 61, 86 Grimkell, Norse bishop, 193, 194. 273. 315. 316 Gudrun, saga heroine, 293 GunhUd, Canute's daughter, 129, 160, 268, 320, 322 Gunhild, Canute's niece, 247, 249 Gunhild, Canute's sister, 262, 263 Gunhild, Harold Bluetooth's Queen, 14, 15 Gunhild, Harold Bluetooth's daughter, 15, 39 Gunhild, Sweyn's Queen, Ca- nute's mother, 31, 56, 65, 156 Gunnor, Emma's mother, 129 Gunvor, Norwegian woman, 302 Gyrith, Harold Bluetooth's Queen, 14, 15; see Gunhild Gytha, Canute's sister, 33, 56, 121 H Hakon the Bad, Earl of Nor- way, 3, 10, II, 16, 28, 29, 118, 121, 149, 197, 293 Hakon Ericsson, Earl in Nor- way, 69, 80, 120, 251, 264; driven out by Olaf the Stout, 74; Earl in England, 75, 119, 149, 150, 202, 203; viceroy in Norway, 241, 242; re- called by Canute, 247 ; death of, 248, 250 Hakon the Good, King of Nor- way, 9, 10, 181, 192 Hakon of Stangeby, 214 Hakon, viking prince, 15 Hall, old Northern, 289 ff. Halldor the Unchristian, scald, cited, 34 Hallestad Stone, the, 76, 77 n. Hallfred Troublousscald cited, 82, 308 Hamburg-Bremen, see of, 55, 160, 19b, 191, 271-273 Hampshire, 167 Harek of Tjotta, Norwegian magnate, 200, 239, 245, 250 Harold, Earl, son of God- win, 152 Harold, Earl, son of Thurkil the Tall, 32, 117, 147, 211, 241, 249, 252, 314 Harold Bluetooth, King of Denmark, 6-8, 13-15, 25, 155. 156, 158 Harold Fairhair, King of Nor- way, 9, 28, 80 Harold Grajrfell, Norwegian King, 9, 10 Harold Harefoot, Canute's son, 128, 129, 211, 322; King of England, 333-336; death of, 336, 337; character of, 337 Harold Sweynsson, King of Denmark, Canute's brother, 48, 56, 58, 64, 65, 108, 138 Harthacanute, Canute's son, present at the translation of St. Alphege, 173, 211 ; regent and King of Denmark, 129, 208, 211, 212, 214, 215, 241, 242, 260, 314, 320, 331 ff.; King of England, 129, 133, 332 ff. ; compact of, with Mag- nus, 98, 99; probably chosen to succeed Canute, 260, 332, 333; death of, 322, 339; character of, 338 Hastings, battle of, 267 Hawking, 302 "Head Ransom," the, old Norse poem, 295 Heathby, Danish city, 282, 286 Heathendom in England, 139, 147, 163, 277; among the Slavs, 154; in the North, 163, 366 Index HeaiheviAo'La— Continued i8o ff., 197, 201, 285, 302; Canute's legislation against, 177-179, 274 ff., 343 Hebrides Islands, 18, 25 Helgi, saga hero, 293 Heming, Thurkil the Tail's brother, 43, 67, 68 Heming, Thurkil's grandson, 249 Henry I, King of France, 255, 266 Henry II, Emperor, 48, 160, 267, 326 Henry III, Emperor, 160, 268, 320 Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, 5, 268 Henry of Huntingdon cited, 89 Heorot, 6 "Here, " the, viking host, 77 n. Hereford, 94 Heroic poetry, old Northern, 293 Hildebrand, 270 Hjorunga Bay, battle of, 12- 14, 16, 26, 68, 116 Holy River, battle of, 167, 216 ff., 220, 222, 224, 235, 265, 294 Holy Trinity, Church of the, 8, 14, 57, 222 Home, Scandinavian, 288, 289 Honen, runic monument at, 17 n. Honour, Northern ideas of, 281 Hordaland, district in Nor- way, 17 Hornel-mount, the, 238 Hostages, 50, 63, 64, 147, 238, 242, 327 House, old Northern, 289 ff. Housecarles, Canute's, 131- 135, 173. 237, 261, 282, 334 Hugo, Norman commander at Exeter, 41 Humber River, 27, 49, 75, 79 Hungary, 126, 340 Hude Register, 56 Iceland, 17, 22, 259, 283 India, 291 Industrial arts. Northern, 304 ff. Inscriptions, see Runic inscrip- tions Instituta Cnuti, 278 Ireland, Scandinavians in, 18, 60, 61 Irish Sea, viking rendezvous, 24-26, 37, 45, 60; cities near, 287, 330 Italy, 48, 229, 267 Ivar White, Canute's house- carle, 222 Jffideren, district in Norway, 199 Jehmarc, vassal of Canute, 232, 233 Jelling, royal residence in Jut- land, 4-6, 14 Jelling Stones, runic monu- ments, 6, 7 Jemteland, district in Sweden, 258 Jersey, Island of, 254 Jewelry, old Northern, 303 John XIX, Pope, 230, 270, 345 Jom, see Jomburg Jomburg, city and stronghold in Wendland, 8, 12, 14, 32, 40, 154 ff. 158, 159, 241, 248- 250, 258, 260, 314 Jomvikings, attack Sweden and Norway, 12, 13, 26; take part in the battle of Swald, 33, 34; attack England, 42 ff., 157; enter English service, 44-46, 48, 54; hositle to the Dan- ish kings, 156; saga of, 66; tactics of, 77 and n.; organi- sation of, 132, 155, 156 Julin, see Jomburg Jumifeges, William of, see Wil- liam Index 367 Jumneta, see Jomburg Justiciar, Norman official, in Jutland (and Jutes), 3-5, 10, 158, 163, 180, 212, 214, 241, 267 Kalf Amesson, Norwegian magnate, 245-247, 250, 251, 319 Kent, 49, 75, 92 Kingscrag, city in modern Sweden, 208, 213, 287 King's Delf, 314 Kingship, joint, 335 Knytlingasaga, 323 Knytlings, dynasty of Canute, 2, 35, 300, 322, 324, 337, 340 Kurisches Haff, 158 Lakenheath, 170 Lambert, Canute's Christian name, 164, 165, 325 Lambeth, 339 Lateran synod (1027), 228 Law, Scandinavian ideas of, 281, 282 "Laws of Edward," the, 278- 280 "Lay of Righ," the, old Northern poem, 288, 289 Legislation, English, 139, 164, 172, 274 ff., 342, 343 Leicester, 20 Leif the Lucky, Icelandic ex- plorer, 17 Leofric, Earl of Mercia, 151, 334 Leofwine, Earl of Mercia, 120, 121, 124, 150-152 Lethra (Leire), 6 Libentius, Archbishop of Ham- burg-Bremen, 273, 274 Liber Vitce, 323; see Hyde Register Liebermann, P., German his- torian, cited, 278 Liffey River, 18 Lifing, Archbishop, 166-169, 270, 341 Lifing, Bishop of Crediton, 166-168, 176, 229, 339 Lime Firth, 214, 216, 236-238 Limerick, 287 Lincoln, 20, 61, 79 Lindsey, 50, 61, 95 Lister, district in Norway, 238 "Lithsmen's Song," the, old Norse poem, 87, 91 Lithuanians, 153 Lombardy, 268 London, resists the Danes, 51, 52, 83; thingmen in, 53, 66, 67; sieges of, 62, 86 ff., 93, 135; held by Canute, 97-99, 105; opposes translation of St. Alphege, 172, 173; sup- ports Harold Harefoot, 334; accepts Edward, 339 London Bridge broken by Olaf the Stout, 51 Long Serpent, the, Olaf Try- gvesson's longship, 35, 305, 306 Longships, see Ships Lorraine, 226, 261, 268 Lothian, ceded to the Scotch, 139-142, 151, 233, 258 Louis the Pious, Emperor, 163 Lund, Scanian see, 282 M Macbeth, 233, 234 Maelar, Lake, 286 Maelbeathe, Canute's vassal, 232. 233 Magnus Olafsson, King of Norway and Denmark, 98, 99, 319, 320, 334, 336, 338- 340 Malcolm, King of Scotland, 139, 141, 232-234 Maldon, battle of, 26, 296 Malmesbury, 71, 88 Malmesbury, WiUiam of, see William 368 Index Man, Isle of, i8, 309 Manna, Sweyn's housecarle, 135 Marriage in Canute's day, 277; laws relating to, 281, 282 Matthew Paris, English chron- icler, cited, 314 Medway River, 91 Mercia, old English kingdom, 24, 70, 71, 79, 83, 91, 97, 102, 115, 118, 120, 122-124, 150, 334. 336 Merseburg, Thietmar of, see Thietmar Midlands, the, 50, 83, 89, 151 Mieczislav, Duke of Poland, 33 Mieczislav, King of Poland, 126, 160 Mints, 282 Miracles attributed to St. Olaf, 252, 315 Mistiwi, 14 Monasticism, in Denmark, 191; in Norway, 317 Moneyers in Denmark, 282 Moray Firth, 233 Morcar, magnate in the Dane- law, 70 Munch, P. A., Norse historian, cited, 13, 30 n., 109 n., 233, 234 "Murdrum fine," 279, 280 N Naples, Northmen in, 328 Navarre, 264 Navy, EngHsh, 27, 42 Naze, the, 10, 35, 199, 239, 243 Nesses, the, battle of, 80, 81, 102, 201 New Minster, Winchester, 175 Niard, 187; see Njord Nid River, 238, 239 Nidaros, capital of Norway, 102, 103, 237, 239, 250, 259, 260, 283, 287, 312, 315, 317, 332. 333 "Nithing name," 281 Njord, 308 ; see Niard Norfolk, 43 Norman conquest, effect of, on old English literature, 297; hastened by Canute's conquest, 329 Norman officials in the North- ern churches, 262, 264 Normandy, foundation of, 2, 18, 19 n., 22, 328; as a vik- ing rendezvous, 38, 41 ; Ethelred's relations with, 38, 53, 59; Canute's relations with, 127-130, 253, 254, 264, 265, 330; ethelings in, 127, 128, 200, 254, 329; famine in, 266 North, the, 1-3, 22, 26, 28, 38, 48,58, 68, 98, 105,122,131, 162, 180, 182, 189, 191, 198, 215, 224, 225, 257, 263, 280, 288, 300, 305, 307, 318 et passim Northampton, 128 Northman, Mercian noble, 124 Northmen, Norsemen, Nor- wegians, the, at war with the Danes, 13, 33 fi., 208, 211 ff., 217 ff., 236 ff., 333, 336; in the Scandinavian colonies, 17-20, 70, 118, 150, 185, 248, 259, 287, 301 ; in rebellion against Earl Hakon, 28; de- feated in Ireland, 60, 61; as earls and officials in Eng- land, 120 ff., 141 ; religion of, 182 ff., 307; oppose King Olaf, 197 ff., 326; accept the rule of Canute, 237, 252, 311, 344; at Canute's court, 262; oppose Elgiva and Sweyn, 283, 318, 319; civilisation of, 285 if.; commerce of, 288; canonise St. Olaf, 316 ff.; repudiate Canute's king- ship, 319; see Norway Northumbria, 24, 50, 74, 78, 79.83,97, no, 115, 118,121, 139. 149, 150 Norway, controlled by the Danes, 3, 7, 9, 10, 48, 65, Index 369 Norway — Continued 107, 231 ff.; attacked by the Jomvikings, 12, 13, 26; Olaf Trygvesson king of, 29 ff.; Eric and Sweyn, earls in, 35, 69, no, 197; Olaf the Stout king of, 74, 75, 81, 102, 119 et passim missionary opera- tions in, 29, 103, 163, 172, 181, 192-194, 271, 273, 274; at war with Denmark, 119, 151, 215 ff., 263, 333, 336; dissatisfaction in, 163, 164, 195, 196, 198, 199, 209; bribery in, 209, 210, 230, 234 £[., 246, 326; Canute king of, 152, 244, 258, 259; Hakon viceroy of, 241, 242, 246-248; Elgiva and Sweyn regents of, 128, 129, 314 ff., 331; rebellious movements in, 260, 262, 263, 266, 310, 319, 320, 333; Canute's leg- islation for, 280, 282-284; cities and commerce of, 286- 288; Magnus Olafsson king of. 319. 333. 336; other men- tion of, 16, 17, 56, 69, 98, 212 el passim; see also North- men Nottingham, 20, 79 Novgorod, 287 O Oddemess Stone, runic monu- ment, 194 n. Odense, 190, 191, 282, 287 Oder River, 8, 9, 12, 16, 42, 154. 155. 158, 258, 267 Odo, Count of Chartres, 53, 62 Olaf, King of Sweden, 48, 68 Olaf Haroldsson (the Stout), King of Norway, viking ac- tivities of, 43, 46, 51, 52, 62, 74, 109, 318; in English and Norman service, 51, 52, 62, 63; baptism of, 62, 181; re- turns to Norway and seizes Earl Hakon, 73-75, 119; wins a victory at the Nesses, 80, 81; King of Norway, 63, 80, 102, 103, 108, 199 et passim missionary activi- ties of, 43, 163, 192, 195, 197 ff., 224, 225, 272, 273; opposition to, 163, 164, 196- 199, 201-203, 221, 236, 255; character of, 184, 197, 209, 255. 326; purposes of, 197, 198; defies Canute, 204-207; forms an alliance with the Swedish king, 207, 208, 213; raises the host of Norway and harries the Danish coast, 213, 215, 216; traps Canute at Holy River, 216 ff.; retreat to Norway, 219, 220; loses his kingdom to Canute, 231 ff.; deserted by his chiefs, 237, 238; tries to resume his rule, 242-244; flees to Russia, 244; is re- called to Norway, 250; falls at Stiklestead, 74, 163, 201, 252, 292, 319; miracles at- tributed to, 252; canonisa- tion and worship of, 287, 312, 315-319; and his scalds, 292, 295; other mention of, 226, 246, 304, 309, 333 Olaf Trygvesson, King of Nor- way, early life of, 28; viking activities of, 26, 27, 37, 52, 319; becomes a Christian, 29, 172, 181; King of Nor- way, 28, 29, 199; wooes Sig- rid the Haughty, 31; mar- ries Thyra, 33; falls at Swald, 34, 35, 69, 76, 82; missionary work of, 192, 272, 308; founder of Nidaros, 287 Old Minster, Winchester, 176, 321,323 Olney, compact of, 98, 104 Olvi of Egg, Norwegian mag- nate, 200, 245 Omens, 23, 140, 311, 336 Ordeal, 7, 281 Orkney Islands, 17, 18, 232, 248, 259 370 Index Ornamentation, styles of, 301 flf. Orwell River, 91 Osbern, biographer of St. Alphege, cited, 173 Oslo Firth, 238, 242, 243 Otford, skirmish at, 92, loi Ottar the Swart, scald, cited, 63, 109, 234, 294, 295 Otto the Great, Emperor, 11 Ottos, dynasty of the, 48, 267 Oxford, 43, 50, 69, 100, 164, 166, 334-337. 343 Palace, royal, 189, 291 Pallig, ealdorman, 15, 39, 40, 175 Pallium, cost of the, 228, 345 Palna Toki, archer and viking, 14, 40, 155 Papacy, state of, 270 Paris, Matthew, see Matthew Penal laws in England, 281 Penselwood, battle of, 88, loi Pentland Firth, 17, 248, 249 Peterborough, 53 Peter's pence, 191, 192, 228, 270, 276, 347 "Pictured rocks," 302, 303 Pilgrims, complaints of the, 228, 345 Pirasus, 301 Poetry, old Northern, 292 ff. Poland, 31, 33, 48, 65, 153, 264, 268 Pomerania, 2, 34 Pope, 48, 264, 270, 341 Poppo, Danish clerk, 7 "Praise lays," 261, 293 Proclamation of 1020, Ca- nute's, no. III, 142,144-147, 166, 168, 177-179. 341-343 Prussia, 3, 258 Quadripartitus, 278 Quedlingburg, II Ragnarok myth, 188, 189 Ramsey, abbey of, 95, 171, 223, 314 Ramsund rock, pictures on the, 303 Ranig, Scandinavian Earl in England, 120, 149 Raven banner, the, 94, 117 Reginbert, Bishop of Funen, 190 Religion, old Northern, 181 S.., 276, 277, 293, 318; origin of, 182; divinities of, 182, 183; ethics of, 183, 184, 277; ritual and sacrifices of, 185 ff.; festivals of, 186 ff. Repingdon, 171 Reric, Danish city in Wend- land, 153 Rhine River, 193 Rhone River, 226 Richard of Cirencester, chronicler, cited, 210 Richard, Duke of Normandy, 38, 40, 53, 62, 266 Ridings in Yorkshire, 281 Riga, 258 Righ, old Northern divinity, 288, 289 Ringmere, battle of, 43, 294 Ring-realm, district in Nor- way, 243 Rings, Scandinavian, 296, 303, 304 Ringsted, Danish city, 282 Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, 62 Robert, King of France, 62 Robert the Devil, Duke of Normandy, 130, 253-255, 266, 267 Roeskild, capital of Denmark, 8, 14, 15, 45, 57, 190-192, 221, 260, 261, 282, 327 Roeskild Firth, 6 Rogaland, district in Norway , 17 RoU, founder of Normandy, I, Index 371 Rome, 148, 152, 166, 167, 202, 211, 221, 224, 227-229, 234, 252, 262, 265, 269, 270, 341, 345, 346 Rouen, 62, 127, 181, 254, 255, 262, 266, 294 Route of the Danes to the west, 49, 226 Rudolf, Bishop in Norway, 193 Rudolf, King of Burgundy, „ 227. 345 Riigen, Island of, 34 "Rune-masters," 298, 301 Runes, 298 ff. Runic art, see Art Runic inscriptions, 6, 7, 14, 17 n., 30 n., 35 n., 42 n., 76, 113. 134. 135. 151. 194 1., 237, 299 fiE., 302 Russia, 16, 244, 250, 287, 288, 319 Sacrifices, old Northern, 185, 186 Saga materials in old North - em poetry, 293 St. Alphege, see Alphege" St. Ansgar, missionary to the North, 163 St. Benet Hulme, monastery of, 170, 175 St. Bertin, monastery of, 226 St. Brice, 313 St. Brice's day, massacre of, 39. 40, 42 St. Clemens, church of, 103 St. Cuthbert, 172, 176 St. Dunstan, 172, 176, 312 St. Edith, 171 St. Edmund, 55, 95, 169, 170, 172, 176 St. Felix, 171, 176 St. Frideswide, church of, 70 St. Henry, see Henry II St. Mary Devon, church of, 175 St. Olaf, see Olaf Haroldsson St. Omer, 226 St. Paul, 344 St. Paul's, church of, 172 St. Peter, 225, 344, 347 St. Stephen, see Stephen St. Thomas, 290, 291 St. Vincent, 313 St. Wistan, 171, 175 Saints, 318 Salop, 79 Sandefjord, town in Norway, 304 Sandwich, 43, 49, 63, 327 Santslaue (Santslave) , Ca- nute's sister, 57, 262; see Svantoslava Sarpsborg, city in Norway, 208, 220, 243, 287 Saxo, Danish chronicler, cited, 13, 14. 25 n., 132, 215, 216 Saxony, 28, 154 Scalds, 43, 122, 261, 291 flf., 326 Scandinavia, 16, 22, 28, 48, 60, 72, 180, 231, 233, 257 flf., 285, 286, 288, 299, 307, 318, 324, 327 et passim Scandinavian colonies, 16 fl., 25, 60, 83, 84, 104, 118, 139, 150, 234, 277, 301, 332 Scania, 3, 4, 12, 121, 135, 180, 190, 192, 214, 216 Schlei, inlet in Sleswick, 5, 268 Scone, 232 Scotland, 139-142, 205, 232- 234. 258, 259, 264, 329 Secular laws of Canute, 276 ff. Seine River, 18 Semland, 258 "Seven Boroughs," the, see "Five Boroughs" Severn VaUey, 21, 39 n., 96, 136, 202 Shaftesbury, 32 1 Shakespeare, 233 Sheppey, Danish camp at, 91- 93 Sherburne, 313 Sherstone, battle of, 88, loi, 117 Shetland Islands, 17, 259 372 Index Shield, legendary Danish king, 3 Shieldings, legendary Danish dynasty, 3, 4, 6 Ship as numerical term, 77 Ships, Scandinavian, 304, 305 Short Serpent, the, long-ship, 82 "Shrine Song," the, old Norse poem, 319 Sibyl, the, of the Eddas, 188 "Sibyl's Prophecy," the, old Northern poem, 292, 293, 307; see Voluspd Sigeferth, magnate in the Danelaw, 70, 125 Sigfrid, Bishop in Norway, 192 Sigfried, 293, 302, 303 Sighvat the Scald cited, 206, 226, 234, 252, 262, 294-296, 304, 318, 319 Sigrid, wife of Kalf Arnesson, 245 Sigrid the Haughty, Canute s stepmother, 31, 57, 65, 66, 163 Sigrun, saga herome, 293 Sigurd, Bishop, see Sigfrid Sigurd, Earl Hakon's court bishop, 251, 264, 315 Sigurd, Norwegian earl, 10 Sigurd, saga hero, see Sigfried Sigvaldi, Earl at Jomburg, 12, 26, 32, 34, 42, 156, 157 Simeon of Durham, English chronicler, cited, 80, 141, 142 Siric, Archbishop of Canter- bury, 26, 27 Si ward , Abbot of Abingdon ,313 Siward the Strong, Earl of Northumbria, 121 Skartha, Danish housecarle, 30 n., 56 Skene, W. F., Scotch histor- ian, cited, 233 Skiringshall, city in Norway, 286 Skjalg Erlingsson, Norwegian chief, 207 Skogul Tosti, see Tosti Slavic lands and peoples, 3, 8, 9, 14, IS, 34, 126, 151 flf., 160, 258, 260, 272, 327, 344 Sleswick, 3, 160, 268, 269, 282, 286 Slesswick, massacre at, 66, 96 Snorre, Icelandic historian, cited, 35, 51, 63, 98, 99, 202, 203, 206, 215, 217, 218, 220, 222, 246, 247, 316, 317 el passim Sogn Firth, 199 SoH, Erling's garth, 199, 209, 235, 239 Sonder Vissing, runic monu- ment at, 14 "Song of the High One," the, old Northern poem, 183, 184 Sortilege in the old Northern religion, 187, 188 Sound, the, 192, 216, 220, 237 Southampton, 25, 86 South Jutland, 4 Southwark, 51, 173 Spain, 264 Spey River, 232 Stadt, Cape, 199, 238, 239 Staffordshire, 79 Staller, Scandinavian oSicial, 282 Stamford, 20 Stangeberg, battle of, 216 Stavanger, 17, 199 Steenstrup, j. C. H. R., Dan- ish historian, cited, 19 n., 30 n., 57 n., 109 n., 157 Stenkyrka Stone, pictured rock, 302 Stephen, King of Hungary, 126, 326 Stigand, Anglo-Danish priest, 169 Stiklestead, battle of, 163, 245, 250-252, 292, 294, 314, 315, 319 Stockholm, 113 Stord, battle of, 10 Storm, Gustav, Norwegian historian, cited, 43 n. Index 373 Strathclyde, 140 "Stretch Song," the, old Northern poem, 294, 296 Styrbjorn, Earl at Jomburg, 12, 14, 15, 26,30 Suflfolk, 91 Surety, old English, 280 Sussex, 49 Svantoslava, 57; see Santslaue Sveno, Danish chronicler, cited, 131 Swald, battle of, 34-36, 42, 68, 69, 76, 82, 116, 192, 242, 294 Swart, lord of the fire- world ,188 Sweden, 11, 12, 26, 30, 33-35, 48, 81, 130, 134, 152, 167, 180, 185, 186, 192, 201, 202, 204, 207, 208, 211, 237, 264, 271, 286, 303, 336 Swelchie, the, of Pentland Firth, 249 Sweyn, son of Canute and El- giva, 128; Earl in Wend- land, 159, 241; regent in Denmark, 211; regent in Norway, 248-250, 252, 260, 263, 283, 314, 318-320, 331, 332; flees to Denmark, 320, 333; death of, 320-322 Sweyn, Danish housecarle, 135 Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark, in rebellion against his father, 13, 14, 156; King of Denmark, 15 ff., 192; plans of, 16; viking activities of, 23, 25-28, 37, 293; family of, 31, 56, 57; attacks King Olaf and ac- quires part of Norway, 33- 35, 65; has designs on Eng- land, 38, 40, 45 ff. ; conquers England, 49-53, 59. 64, 79; death of, 54-58, 60, 66, 170; character and personality of, 55. 56, 163 Sweyn Hakonsson, Norwegian Earl, 35, 69, 80, 81, 197 Sweyn IJlfsson, King of Den- mark, Canute's nephew, 223, 224, 338-340 Tavistock, abbey of, 125, 167 Tees River, 120 Thames River and valley, 19, 42,43,50,52,59,78,87,93, 95. 105, 335 Thanet, Isle of, 25, 43 Thegns, king's, 236, 261 Thetford, 41 Thietmar of Merseburg, Ger- man chronicler, cited, 57 n., 87. 135. 136 Thingmen, Danish mercena- ries in England, 66-68, 131 Thor, old Northern divinity, l8i, 182, 185, 201, 307, 309, 318 Thor the Dog, Norwegian magnate, 200, 239, 245, 250 Thora, Arne's wife, 200 Thorarin Praise-tongue, scald, 238, 241,294,295, 319 Thord, thingman, 67 Thoretus, Earl in England, lOI ThorgUs Sprakaleg, Swedish magnate, 119, 121 Thorir, Norwegian chief, 245 Throndelaw, district in Nor- way, 10, 80, 201, 204, 244, 249, 250, 320, 333 Throndhjem, 102, 103, 239, 287 ; iee Nidaros Thrym, viking, 44 Thurbrand, Uhtred's banes- man, 80 Thurgot, Danish warrior, 135 ThurkU, son of Nafena, chief in the Danelaw, 79, 81-83 ThurkU Mareshead, 43 Thurka Nefja, 82; see Thurkil, son of Nafena Thurkil the Tall, viking chief, Canute's foster father, 32, 76, 116, 117, 241; leads Jom- vikings in England, zp, 52, 113, 114, 116, 157, 174; chief of the viking mercena- ries in England, 45-47, 51,61, 374 Index Thurkil the Tsl)!— Continued 62, 66, 67; deserts to Ca- nute, 68, 116; fights at Pen - selwood and Sherstone, 88, 89; fights at Ashington, 96; Canute's chief counsellor and viceroy in England, i lo-l 12 , 138, 177,342; Earl of East Anglia, 115, 116, 138, 170; marries Ethelred's daughter, 117, 118, 146; exiled from England, 117, 118, 146, 147, 150. 157; reconciled to Ca- nute, 118, 147, 158, 211; viceroy in Denmark, 118, 159, 208, 21 1 ; death of, 159, 211 Thurkil, grandson of Thurkil the Tall, 249 Thyra, Queen of Denmark, 5- 7 Thyra, Queen of Norway, Ca- nute's aunt, 12, 15, 33 Tithing, 280 Tjangvide Stone, pictured rock, 302 Tjotta, Isle of, 200 Toki, see Palna Toki Tosti, Swedish viking, 113, 114 n. Tova, Queen of Dermiark, 14, 15 Treene River, 5 Trent River, 50, 52, 61 Trygve, Norwegian pretender, 319 Tunsberg, city in Norway, 204, 208, 243, 287 Tweed River, 139-141 U Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria, 50, 78-81, 114, 115, 120, 140 Ulf, Canute's brother-in- law, one of Canute's gen- erals, 102; Earl in England, 119, 121; Earl in Jomburg, 159; viceroy in Denmark, 159, 208, 212; treason of, 212-215, 220, 327; rescues Canute at Holy River, 218, 222; murder of, 8, 221, 222, 322, 327, 340; character of, 211, 212, 221, 222 Ulf, Swedish viking, 113, 114 Ulfkellsland, 66, 95 Ulfketel, Earl of East Anglia, 41, 43, 66, 67,95, "4. 115 Ulfrun, Elgiva's mother, 128 Unwan, Archbishop of Ham- burg-Bremen, 160, 191, 272- 274 Uplands, the, district in Nor- way, 315 Uppland, region in Sweden, 12, 113, 134 Upsala, Swedish sanctuary at, 185, i86 Vandals, 159 Varangians, Scandinavian guard at Byzantium, 149 Vercelli Book, the, 297 Viborg, Danish sanctuary at, 212 Vikings, the, 15, 18, 22-27, 44. 49. 61, 75, 76, 84, 94, 113, 135. 136, 180, 184, 277, 285, 286, 291, 293, 294, 303, 306, 327. 329. 330 Vineland, 17 Vistula River, 153, 158, 258, 267 Volsungs, the, saga heroes, 292 VoluspS, 292; see Sibyl's Prophecy W Wales, 28, 136, 329, 335 Walhalla, 302 Wallingford, 52 Waltheof, Earl of Northum- bria, 140 Wapentake, 281 Warwick, 78 Waterford, 18 WatHng Street, 50 Index 375 Wayland Smith, saga hero, 302 Wendland, 3, 34, 82, 129, 153, 158-160, 199, 267; see Slavic lands Wessex, expansion of, 23; at- tacked and plundered by the Danes, 24, 45, 49, 59, 297; submits to Canute, 78, 83, 104, 105; given to Ed- mund at Deerhurst, 97; Danegeld levied in, 98; under Canute's rule, 112, 115, 261; retains Saxon character, 332 ; supports claims of Harthacanute, 334 Westminster, 336 Wexford, 18 ^ ^ Wick, the, district in Nor- way, 3, 204, 241, 252 Wicklow, 18 Widukind, of Corvey, chroni- cler, cited, 8 Wight, Isle of, 53, 85, 157 Wiht, Wihtland, see Witland William, Bishop of Roeskild, 261, 262 WiUiam the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, 107, 113, 253, 267, 279, 280 William the Great, Duke of Aquitaine, 264, 265, 298 WQliam of Jumieges, Norman chronicler, 254 WiUiam of Malmesbury, Nor- man-EngUsh historian, cited, 45, loi, 167, 168, 171 Wiltshire, 78, 88 Wimmer, Ludvig, Danish run- ologist, cited, 6 Winchester, capital of Eng- land, 25, 50; Canute's resi- dential city, 112, 164, 190, 194, 203, 245, 260, 261, 291, 293, 332; see of, 169, 312; Canute's gifts to monaster- ies of, 175, 176, 313; scalds at the court of, 294; Canute buried in, 32 1 ; other mention of, 166, 172 Wisby, 287 Witenagemot, 312; see Gemot Witigern, Slavic prince, 247, 263 Witland, 157, 158, 258 Woden, old Northern divin- ity, 94, 182, 183, 185, 201, 299. 3.08, 318 Wollin, island and village near the mouth of the Oder, 154, 155 Worcester, Florence of, see Florence Worcestershire, 21, 119 Worsaae, J. J. A., Danish anti- quarian, cited, 20 n. Writing, runic, 298 Wrytsleof, Slavic prince, 263; see Witigern Wulfstan, Archbishop of York, 112, 169, 296 Wulfstan, English traveller, Wyrtgeom, see Witigern Yggdrasil, mythical ash tree, 307 York, 19, 21, 57, 79, 81, 85, 176, 177, 281, 296, 312, 344 Yule festival, old Northern, 186, 187, 275, 307 Zealand, 6, 190, 213, 215, 220 Ji Selection from the Catalogue of G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Complete Catalogues aent on application Heroes of the Nations A Series of biographical studies of the lives and work of a number of representative historical char- acters about whom have gathered the great traditions of the Nations to which they belonged, and who have been accepted, in many instances, as types of the several National ideals. With the life of each typical character is presented a picture of the National con- ditions surrounding him during his career. The narratives are the work of writers who are recognized authorities on their several subjects, and while thorouglily trustworthy as history, pre- sent picttiresque and dramatic " stories " of the Men and of the events connected with them. To the Life of each " Hero " is given one duo- decimo volume, handsomely printed in large type, provided with maps and adequately illustrated ac- cording to the special requirements of the several subjects. For full list of volumes see next page. HEROES OF THE NATIONS NELSON. By W. Clark RusselL GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. By C. R. L. FIetch«r. PERICLES. By Evelyn Abbott. THEODORIC THE GOTH. By Thomas Hodgkin. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By H. R. Fox -Bonnie. JULIUS C^SAR. By W. Warde Fowler. WYCLIF. By Lewis Sergeant. NAPOLEON. By W. O'Connor Morris. HENRY OF NAVARRE. By P. F. Willert. CICERO. By J. L. Str»chan- David£on. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Noah Brooks. PRINCE HENRY (OF PORTU- GAL) THE NAVIGATOR. By C. R. Beazley. JULIAN THE PHILOSOPHER. By Alice Gardner. LOUIS XIV. By Arthur Hassall. CHARLES XII. By R. Nisbet Bain. LORENZO DE' MEDICI. By Edward Armstrong. JEANNE D'ARC. By Mrs. OH- phant. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. By Washington Irvine. ROBERT THE BRUCE. By Sli Herbert Maxwell. HANNIBAL. By W. O'Connor Morris. ULYSSES S. GRANT. By William Conant Church. ROBERT E. LEE. By Henry Alexander White. THE CID CAMPEADOR. By H Butler Clarke. SALADIN. By Stanley Lane Poole. BISMARCK. By J. W. Headlam. ALEXANDER THE GREAT. By Benjamin I. Wheeler. CHARLEMAGNE. By H. W. C Davis. OLIVER CROMWELL. By Charles Firth. RICHELIEU. By James B.Perkini, DANIEL O'CONNELL. By Rob- ert Dunlop. SAINT LOUIS (Louis IX. of France). By Frederick Perry. LORD CHATHAM. By Wallord Davis Green. OWEN GLYNDWR. By Arthur G. Bradley. HENRY V. By Charles L. Kings- ford. EDWARD I. By Edward Jenks, AUGUSTUS C^SAR. By J. B. Firth. HEROES OF THE NATIONS rREDERICK THE GREAT. By W. F. Reddaway. WELLINGTON. By W. O'Connor Morris. CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. By J. B. Firth. MOHAMMED. By D.S.MargoUouth. CHARLES THE BOLD. By Ruth Putnam. WASHINGTON. By J. A. Harrison. WILLIAM THE CONQTJERER. By F. B. Stanton. FERNANDO CORTiS. By F. A. MacNutt. WILLIAM THE SILENT. By Ruth Putnam. BLUCHER. By E, F. Henderson. ROGER THE GREAT. By E. Curtis. CANUTE THE GREAT. By L. M. Larson. Other volumes in preparation are: By C. T. At. MARLBOROUGH, Icinson. MOLTKE. By James WardelL ALFRED THE GREAT. By Ber- tha Lees. New York— G. GREGORY VII. By F. Urquliart. JUDAS MACCABiEUS. By Israel Abrahams. FREDERICK IL By A. L. Smith. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, Publishers— London The Story of the Nations In the story form the current of each National life is distinctly indicated, and its picturesque and note- worthy periods and episodes are presented for the- reader in their philosophical relation to each othei as well as to universal history. It is the plan of the writers of the different volumes to enter into the real life of the peoples, and to bring them before the reader as they actually lived, labored, and struggled — as they studied and wrote, and as they amused themselves. In carrying out this plan, the myths, with which the history of all lands be- gins, are not overlooked, though they are carefully distinguished from the actual history, so far as the labors of the accepted historical authorities have resulted in definite conclusions. The subjects of the different volumes have been planned to cover connecting and, as far as possible, consecutive epochs or periods, so that the set when completed will present in a comprehensive narrative the chief events in the great Story of the Nations: but it is, of course, not always practicable to issue the several volumes in their chronological order. For list of volumes see next page. IHE STORY OF THE NATIONS GREECE. Prof. Jas. A. Harrison. ROME. Arthur Oilman. THE JEWS. 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