CANUTE THE GREAT

995 (circa)-1035

AND THE RISE OF DANISH IMPERIALISM DURING

THE VIKING AGE

BY

LAURENCE MARCELLUS LARSON, PH.D.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

The Knickerbocker Press

1912

Heroes of the Nations

EDITED BY

Dr. W.C. Davis

FACTA DUCIS VIVENT, OPEROSAQUE
GLORIA RERUM-OVID, IN LIVIAM, 255.
THE HERO'S DEEDS AND HARD-WON
FAME SHALL LIVE

[Contents]

Canute and Emma—(The King and Queen are presenting a golden cross to Winchester Abbey, New Minster.) From a miniature reproduced in Liber Vitæ (Birch).

TO MY WIFE

LILLIAN MAY LARSON

FOREWORD

Toward the close of the eighth century, there appeared in the waters of Western Europe the strange dragon fleets of the Northmen, the "heathen," or the vikings, as they called themselves, and for more than two hundred years the shores of the West and the Southwest lived in constant dread of pillage and piracy. The viking invasions have always been of interest to the student of the Middle Ages; but only recently have historians begun to fathom the full significance of the movement. The British Isles were pre-eminently the field of viking activities. English historians, however, have usually found nothing in the invasions but two successive waves of destruction. As an eminent writer has tersely stated it,—the Dane contributed nothing to English civilisation, for he had nothing to contribute.

On the other hand, Scandinavian students, who naturally took great pride in the valorous deeds of their ancestors, once viewed the western lands chiefly as a field that offered unusual opportunities for the development of the dormant energies of the Northern race. That Christian civilisation could not fail to react on the heathen mind was clearly seen; but this phase of the problem was not emphasised; the importance of western influences was minimised.

Serious study of the viking age in its broader aspects began about fifty years ago with the researches of Gudbrand Vigfusson, a young Icelandic scholar, much of whose work was carried on in England. Vigfusson's work was parallelled by the far more thorough researches of the eminent Norwegian philologist, Sophus Bugge. These investigators both came to the same general conclusion: that Old Norse culture, especially on the literary side, shows permeating traces of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon elements; that the Eddic literature was not an entirely native product, but was largely built up in the viking colonies in Britain from borrowed materials.

Some years earlier, the Danish antiquarian, J.J.A. Worsaae, had begun to study the "memorials" of Norse and Danish occupation in Britain, and had found that the islands in places were overlaid with traces of Scandinavian conquest in the form of place names. Later Worsaae's countryman, Dr. J.C.H.R. Steenstrup, carried the research into the institutional field, and showed in his masterly work, Normannerne (1876-1882), that the institutional development among the Anglo-Saxons in the tenth and eleventh centuries was largely a matter of adapting and assimilating Scandinavian elements.

Studies that embodied such differing viewpoints could not fail to call forth much discussion, some of which went to the point of bitterness. Recently there has been a reaction from the extreme position assumed by Professor Bugge and his followers; but quite generally Norse scholars are coming to take the position that both Sophus Bugge and Johannes Steenstrup have been correct in their main contentions; the most prominent representative of this view is Professor Alexander Bugge. Where two vigorous peoples representing differing types or different stages of civilisation come into more than temporary contact, the reciprocal influences will of necessity be continued and profound.

The viking movement had, therefore, its aspects of growth and development as well as of destruction. The best representative of the age and the movement, when considered from both these viewpoints, is Canute the Great, King of England, Denmark, and Norway. Canute began as a pirate and developed into a statesman. He was carried to victory by the very forces that had so long subsisted on devastation; when the victory was achieved, they discovered, perhaps to their amazement, that their favourite occupation was gone. Canute had inherited the imperialistic ambitions of his dynasty, and piracy and empire are mutually exclusive terms.

It is scarcely necessary to say anything further in justification of a biographical study of such an eminent leader, one of the few men whom the world has called "the Great." But to write a true biography of any great secular character of mediæval times is a difficult, often impossible, task. The great men of modern times have revealed their inner selves in their confidential letters; their kinsmen, friends, and intimate associates have left their appreciations in the form of addresses or memoirs. Materials of such a character are not abundant in the mediæval sources. But this fact need not deter us from the attempt. It is at least possible to trace the public career of the subject chosen, to measure his influence on the events of his day, and to determine the importance of his work for future ages. And occasionally the sources may permit a glimpse into the private life of the subject which will help us to understand him as a man.

The present study has presented many difficulties. Canute lived in an age when there was but little writing done in the North, though the granite of the runic monument possesses the virtue of durability. There is an occasional mention of Canute in the Continental chronicles of the time; but the chief contemporary sources are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Encomium Emmæ, and the praise lays of the Norse and Icelandic scalds. The Chronicle was written by a patriotic Englishman who naturally regarded the Danes with a strong aversion. The Encomium, on the other hand, seems to be the product of an alien clerk, whose chief purpose was to glorify his patroness, Queen Emma, and her family. The lays of the scalds are largely made up of nattering phrases, though among them are woven in allusions to historic facts that are of great value.

The Anglo-Norman historians and the later monastic annalists in England have not very much to add to our information about Canute; but in their accounts they are likely to go to the other extreme from the Chronicle. Too often the monkish writers measured excellence by the value of gifts to churches and monasteries, and Canute had learned the value of donations properly timed and placed.

Adam of Bremen wrote a generation later than Canute's day, but, as he got his information from Canute's kinsmen at the Danish court, his notices of Northern affairs are generally reliable. There is no Danish history before the close of the twelfth century, when Saxo wrote the Acts of the Danes. It is evident that Saxo had access to a mass of sources both written and of the saga type. The world is grateful to the Danish clerk for preserving so much of this material; but sound, critical treatment (of which Saxo was probably incapable) would have enhanced the value of his work.

The twelfth century is also the age of the sagas. These are of uneven merit and most of them are of slight value for present purposes. However, the sources on which these are in a measure based, the fragments of contemporary verse that are extant and much that has not survived, have been woven into a history, the equal of which for artistic treatment, critical standards, and true historical spirit will be difficult to find in any other mediæval literature. Wherever possible, therefore, reference has been made in this study to Snorre's Kings' Sagas, commonly known as "Heimskringla," in preference to other saga sources.

In the materials afforded by archæology, the Northern countries are peculiarly rich, though, for the purposes of this study, these have their only value on the side of culture. An exception must be made of the runic monuments (which need not necessarily be classed with archæological materials), as these often assist in building up the narrative. More important, perhaps, is the fact that these inscriptions frequently help us to settle disputed points and to determine the accuracy of accounts that are not contemporary.

One of the chief problems has been where to begin the narrative. To begin in the conventional way with childhood, education, and the rest is not practicable when the place and the year of birth are unknown and the forms and influences of early training are matters of inference and conjecture. At the same time it was found impossible to separate the man from his time, from the great activities that were going on in the lands about the North Sea, and from the purposes of the dynasty that he belonged to. Before it is possible to give an intelligent account of how Canute led the viking movement to successful conquest, some account must be given of the movement itself. The first chapter and a part of the second consequently have to deal with matters introductory to and preparatory for Canute's personal career, which began in 1012.

In the writing of proper names the author has planned to use modern forms whenever such exist; he has therefore written Canute, though his preference is for the original form Cnut. King Ethelred's by-name, "Redeless," has been translated "Ill-counselled," which is slightly nearer the original meaning than "unready"; "uncounselled" would scarcely come nearer, as the original seems rather to imply inability to distinguish good from bad counsel.

In the preparation of the study assistance has been received from many sources; especially is the author under obligation to the libraries of the Universities of Illinois, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and of Harvard University; he is also indebted to his colleagues Dean E.B. Greene, Professor G.S. Ford, and Professor G.T. Flom, of the University of Illinois, for assistance in the form of critical reading of the manuscript.

L.M.L.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill., 1911.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
[THE HERITAGE OF CANUTE THE GREAT]
CHAPTER II
[THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND—1003-1013]
CHAPTER III
[THE ENGLISH REACTION AND THE NORSE REVOLT—1014-1016]
CHAPTER IV
[THE STRUGGLE WITH EDMUND IRONSIDE—1016]
CHAPTER V
[THE RULE OF THE DANES IN ENGLAND—1017-1020]
CHAPTER VI
[THE BEGINNINGS OF EMPIRE—1019-1025]
CHAPTER VII
[CANUTE AND THE ENGLISH CHURCH—1017-1026]
CHAPTER VIII
[THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS]
CHAPTER IX
[CANUTE AND THE NORWEGIAN CONSPIRACY—1023-1026]
CHAPTER X
[THE BATTLE OF HOLY RIVER AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO ROME—1026-1027]
CHAPTER XI
[THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY—1028-1030]
CHAPTER XII
[THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH]
CHAPTER XIII
[NORTHERN CULTURE IN THE DAYS OF CANUTE]
CHAPTER XIV
[THE LAST YEARS—1031-1035]
CHAPTER XV
[THE COLLAPSE OF THE EMPIRE—1035-1042]
[APPENDICES]
[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
[INDEX]

ILLUSTRATIONS

[CANUTE AND EMMA] Frontispiece
(The King and Queen are presenting a golden cross to
Winchester Abbey, New Minster.)
From a miniature reproduced in Liber Vitæ (Birch.)
[THE OLDER JELLING STONE (A)]
[THE OLDER JELLING STONE (B)]
[THE LARGER SONDER VISSING STONE]
[THE LATER JELLING STONE (A)]
[THE LATER JELLING STONE (B)]
[THE LATER JELLING STONE (C)]
[SCANDINAVIAN SETTLEMENTS, BRITAIN AND NORMANDY]
[THE LARGER AARHUS STONE]
[THE SJÆLLE STONE]
(Runic monument raised to Gyrth, Earl Sigvaldi's
brother.)
[THE TULSTORP STONE]
(Runic monument showing viking ship ornamented
with beasts' heads.)
[THE HÄLLESTAD STONE]
[ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS]
(Harl. MS. 603.)
[ANGLO-SAXON HORSEMEN]
(Harl. MS. 603.)
[ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS]
(From a manuscript in the British Museum, reproduced
in Norges Historie, i., ii.)
[THE RAVEN BANNER]
(From the Bayeux Tapestry.)
[VIKING RAIDS IN ENGLAND 980-1016]
[THE SOUTH BALTIC COAST IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY]
[THE VALLEBERGA STONE]
[THE STENKYRKA STONE]
(Monument from the Island of Gotland showing
viking ships.)
[AN ENGLISH BISHOP OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY]
(From the Bayeux Tapestry.)
[POPPO'S ORDEAL]
(Altar decoration from about 1100. Danish
National Museum.)
[HAMMERS OF THOR]
(From the closing years of heathendom.)
[THE TJÄNGVIDE STONE]
(Monument from the Island of Gotland. The
stone shows various mythological figures; see
[THE CHURCH AT URNES (NORWAY)]
(From about 1100.)
[RUNIC MONUMENT SHOWS HAMMER OF THOR]
[THE ODDERNESS STONE]
[ORNAMENTS (CHIEFLY BUCKLES) FROM THE VIKING AGE]
[ORNAMENTS (CHIEFLY BUCKLES) FROM THE VIKING AGE]
[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]
(Model of the Gokstad ship on the waves.)
[SCANDINAVIA AND THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY]
[STIKLESTEAD]
(From a photograph.)
[THE HYBY STONE]
(Monument from the first half of the eleventh
century; raised to a Christian as appears from
the cross.)
[RUNIC MONUMENT FROM UPLAND, SWEDEN]
(Showing blending of Celtic and Northern art.)
[SCANDINAVIAN (ICELANDIC) HALL IN THE VIKING AGE]
[THE VIK STONE]
(Illustrates the transition from heathendom to
Christianity; shows a mixture of elements, the
serpent and the cross.)
[THE RAMSUND ROCK]
(Representations of scenes from the Sigfried Saga.)
[PAINTED GABLE FROM URNES CHURCH]
(Norse-Irish ornamentation.)
[CARVED PILLAR FROM URNES CHURCH]
(Norse-Irish ornamentation.)
[THE HUNNESTAD STONE]
[THE ALSTAD STONE]
[ANGLO-SAXON TABLE SCENE]
(From a manuscript in the British Museum,
reproduced in Norges Historie, i., ii.)
[MODEL OF THE GOKSTAD SHIP]
(Longitudinal sections.)
[THE LUNDAGÅRD STONE]
(Shows types of ornamentation in Canute's day.)
[THE JURBY CROSS, ISLE OF MAN]
[THE GOSFORTH CROSS, CUMBERLAND]
[THE PALL OF SAINT OLAF]
(Initial in the Flat-isle Book.)

CANUTE THE GREAT

CHAPTER I

THE HERITAGE OF CANUTE THE GREAT

Among the many gigantic though somewhat shadowy personalities of the viking age, two stand forth with undisputed pre-eminence: Rolf the founder of Normandy and Canute the Emperor of the North. Both were sea-kings; each represents the culmination and the close of a great migratory movement,—Rolf of the earlier viking period, Canute of its later and more restricted phase. The early history of each is uncertain and obscure; both come suddenly forth upon the stage of action, eager and trained for conquest. Rolf is said to have been the outlawed son of a Norse earl; Canute was the younger son of a Danish king: neither had the promise of sovereignty or of landed inheritance. Still, in the end, both became rulers of important states—the pirate became a constructive statesman. The work of Rolf as founder of Normandy was perhaps the more enduring; but far more brilliant was the career of Canute.

Few great conquerors have had a less promising future. In the early years of the eleventh century, he seems to have been serving a military apprenticeship in a viking fraternity on the Pomeranian coast, preparatory, no doubt, to the profession of a sea-king, the usual career of Northern princes who were not seniors in birth. His only tangible inheritance seems to have been the prestige of royal blood which meant so much when the chief called for recruits.

But it was not the will of the Norns that Canute should live and die a common pirate, like his grand-uncle Canute, for instance, who fought and fell in Ireland[1]: his heritage was to be greater than what had fallen to any of his dynasty, more than the throne of his ancestors, which was also to be his. In a vague way he inherited the widening ambitions of the Northern peoples who were once more engaged in a fierce attack on the West. To him fell also the ancient claim of the Danish kingdom to the hegemony of the North. But more specifically Canute inherited the extensive plans, the restless dreams, the imperialistic policy, and the ancient feuds of the Knytling dynasty.[2] Canute's career is the history of Danish imperialism carried to a swift realisation. What had proved a task too great for his forbears Canute in a great measure achieved. In England and in Norway, in Sleswick and in Wendland, he carried the plans of his dynasty to a successful issue. It will, therefore, be necessary to sketch with some care the background of Canute's career and to trace to their origins the threads of policy that Canute took up and wove into the web of empire. Some of these can be followed back at least three generations to the reign of Gorm in the beginning of the tenth century.

In that century Denmark was easily the greatest power in the North. From the Scanian frontiers to the confines of modern Sleswick it extended over "belts" and islands, closing completely the entrance to the Baltic. There were Danish outposts on the Slavic shores of modern Prussia; the larger part of Norway came for some years to be a vassal state under the great earl, Hakon the Bad; the Wick, which comprised the shores of the great inlet that is now known as the Christiania Firth, was regarded as a component part of the Danish monarchy, though in fact the obedience rendered anywhere in Norway was very slight.

In the legendary age a famous dynasty known as the Shieldings appears to have ruled over Danes and Jutes. The family took its name from a mythical ancestor, King Shield, whose coming to the Daneland is told in the opening lines of the Old English epic Beowulf. The Shieldings were worthy descendants of their splendid progenitor: they possessed in full measure the royal virtues of valour, courage, and munificent hospitality. How far their exploits are to be regarded as historic is a problem that does not concern us at present; though it seems likely that the Danish foreworld is not without its historic realities.

Whether the kings of Denmark in the tenth century were of Shielding ancestry is a matter of doubt; the probabilities are that they sprang from a different stem. The century opened with Gorm the Aged, the great-grandfather of Canute, on the throne of Shield, ruling all the traditional regions of Denmark,—Scania, the Isles, and Jutland—but apparently residing at Jelling near the south-east corner of the peninsula, not far from the Saxon frontier. Tradition remembers him as a tall and stately man, but a dull and indolent king, wanting in all the elements of greatness.[3] In this case, however, tradition is not to be trusted. Though we have little real knowledge of Danish history in Gorm's day, it is evident that his reign was a notable one. At the close of the ninth century, the monarchy seems to have faced dissolution; the sources tell of rebellious vassals, of a rival kingdom in South Jutland, of German interference in other parts of the Jutish peninsula.[4] Gorm's great task and achievement were to reunite the realm and to secure the old frontiers.

Though legend has not dealt kindly with the King himself, it has honoured the memory of his masterful Queen. Thyra was clearly a superior woman. Her nationality is unknown, but it seems likely that she was of Danish blood, the daughter of an earl in the Holstein country.[5] To this day she is known as Thyra Daneboot (Danes' defence)—a term that first appears on the memorial stone that her husband raised at Jelling soon after her death. In those days Henry the Fowler ruled in Germany and showed hostile designs on Jutland. In 934, he attacked the viking chiefs in South Jutland and reduced their state to the position of a vassal realm. Apparently he also encouraged them to seek compensation in Gorm's kingdom. To protect the peninsula from these dangers a wall was built across its neck between the Schley inlet and the Treene River. This was the celebrated Danework, fragments of which can still be seen. In this undertaking the Queen was evidently the moving force and spirit. Three years, it is said, were required to complete Thyra's great fortification. The material character of the Queen's achievement doubtless did much to preserve a fame that was highly deserved; at the same time, it may have suggested comparisons that were not to the advantage of her less fortunate consort. The Danework, however, proved only a temporary frontier; a century later Thyra's great descendant Canute pushed the boundary to the Eider River and the border problem found a fairly permanent solution.

In the Shielding age, the favourite seat of royalty was at Lethra (Leire) in Zealand, at the head of Roeskild Firth. Here, no doubt, was located the famous hall Heorot, of which we read in Beowulf. There were also king's garths elsewhere; the one at Jelling has already been mentioned as the residence of Gorm and Thyra. After the Queen's death her husband raised at Jelling, after heathen fashion, a high mound in her honour, on the top of which a rock was placed with a brief runic inscription:

Gorm the king raised this stone in memory of Thyra his wife, Denmark's defence.[6]

The runologist Ludvig Wimmer believes that the inscription on the older Jelling stone dates from the period 935-940; a later date is scarcely probable. The Queen evidently did not long survive the famous "defence."

A generation later, perhaps about the year 980, Harold Bluetooth, Gorm's son and successor, raised another mound at Jelling, this one, apparently, in honour of his father. The two mounds stand about two hundred feet apart; at present each is about sixty feet high, though the original height must have been considerably greater. Midway between them the King placed a large rock as a monument to both his parents, which in addition to its runic dedication bears a peculiar blending of Christian symbols and heathen ornamentation. The inscription is also more elaborate than that on the lesser stone:

Harold the king ordered this memorial to be raised in honour of Gorm his father and Thyra his mother, the Harold who won all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christians.[7]

In one sense the larger stone is King Harold's own memorial. It is to be observed that the inscription credits the King with three notable achievements: the unification of Denmark, the conquest of Norway, and the introduction of Christianity. The allusion to the winning of Denmark doubtless refers to the suppression of revolts, perhaps more specifically to the annihilation of the viking realm and dynasty south of the Danework (about 950).[8] In his attitude toward his southern neighbours Harold continued the policy of Gorm and Thyra: wars for defence rather than for territorial conquest.

It is said that King Harold became a Christian (about 960) as the result of a successful appeal to the judgment of God by a zealous clerk named Poppo. The heated iron (or iron gauntlet, as Saxo has it) was carried the required distance, but Poppo's hand sustained no injury. Whatever be the truth about Poppo's ordeal, it seems evident that some such test was actually made, as the earliest account of it, that of Widukind of Corvey, was written not more than a decade after the event.[9] The importance of the ordeal is manifest: up to this time the faith had made but small headway in the Northern countries. With the conversion of a king, however, a new situation was created: Christianity still had to continue its warfare against the old gods, but signs of victory were multiplying. One of the first fruits of Harold Bluetooth's conversion was the Church of the Holy Trinity, built at Roeskild by royal command,[10]—a church that long held an honoured place in the Danish establishment. In various ways the history of this church closely touches that of the dynasty itself: here the bones of the founder were laid; here, too, his ungrateful son Sweyn found quiet for his restless spirit; and it was in this church where Harold's grandson, Canute the Great, stained and violated sanctuary by ordering the murder of Ulf, his sister's husband.

In the wider activities of the tenth century, Harold Bluetooth played a large and important part. About the time he accepted Christianity, he visited the Slavic regions on the south Baltic coasts and established his authority over the lands about the mouth of the Oder River. Here he founded the stronghold of Jomburg, the earls and garrisons of which played an important part in Northern history for more than two generations. The object of this expansion into Wendland was no doubt principally to secure the Slavic trade which was of considerable importance and which had interested the Danes for more than two centuries.[11] As the Wendish tribes had practically no cities or recognised markets, the new establishment on the banks of the Oder soon grew to be of great commercial as well as of military importance.

During the same period Harold's attention was turned to Norway where a difficult situation had arisen. Harold Fairhair, the founder of the Norse monarchy, left the sovereignty to his son Eric (later named Bloodax); but the jealousies of Eric's many brothers combined with his own cruel régime soon called forth a reaction in favour of a younger brother, Hakon the Good, whose youth had been spent under Christian influences at the English court. King Hakon was an excellent ruler, but the raids of his nephews, the sons of Eric, caused a great deal of confusion. The young exiles finally found a friend in Harold Bluetooth who even adopted one of them, Harold Grayfell, as his own son.[12]

The fostering of Harold Grayfell had important consequences continuing for two generations till the invasion of Norway by Canute the Great. With a force largely recruited in Denmark, the sons of Eric attacked Norway and came upon King Hakon on the island of Stord where a battle was fought in which the King fell (961). But the men who had slain their royal kinsman found it difficult to secure recognition as kings: the result of the battle was that Norway was broken up into a number of petty kingdoms and earldoms, each aiming at practical independence.

A few years later there appeared at the Danish court a young, handsome, talented chief, the famous Earl Hakon whose father, Sigurd, earl in the Throndelaw, the sons of Eric had treacherously slain. The King of Denmark had finally discovered that his foster-son was anything but an obedient vassal, and doubtless rejoiced in an opportunity to interfere in Norwegian affairs. Harold Grayfell was lured down into Jutland and slain. With a large fleet the Danish King then proceeded to Norway. The whole country submitted: the southern shores from the Naze eastward were added to the Danish crown; the Throndelaw and the regions to the north were apparently granted to Earl Hakon in full sovereignty; the rest was created into an earldom which he was to govern as vassal of the King of Denmark.[13]

A decade passed without serious difficulties between vassal and overlord, when events on the German border brought demands on the earl's fidelity to which the proud Norseman would not submit. It seems probable that King Harold in a vague way had recognised the overlordship of the Emperor; at any rate, in 973, when the great Otto was celebrating his last Easter at Quedlingburg, the Danish King sent embassies and gifts.[14] A few weeks later the Emperor died and almost immediately war broke out between Danes and Saxons.

Hostilities soon ceased, but the terms of peace are said to have included a promise on Harold's part to introduce the Christian faith among his Norwegian subjects. Earl Hakon had come to assist his overlord; he was known to be a zealous heathen; but King Harold seized him and forced him to receive baptism. The earl felt the humiliation keenly and as soon as he had left Denmark he repudiated the Danish connection and for a number of years ruled in Norway as an independent sovereign.[15] King Harold made an attempt to restore his power but with small success. However, the claim to Norway was not surrendered; it was successfully revived by Harold's son Sweyn and later still by his grandson Canute.

Earl Hakon's revolt probably dates from 974 or 975; King Harold's raid along the Norse coasts must have followed within the next few years. The succeeding decade is memorable for two notable expeditions, the one directed against King Eric of Sweden, the second against Hakon of Norway. In neither of these ventures was Harold directly interested; both were undertaken by the vikings of Jom, though probably with the Danish King's approval and support. The Jomvikings were in the service of Denmark and the defeat that they suffered in both instances had important results for future history. The exact dates cannot be determined; but the battles must have been fought during the period 980-986.

In those days the command at Jomburg was held by Styrbjörn, a nephew of the Swedish King. Harold Bluetooth is said to have given him the earl's title and his daughter Thyra to wife; but this did not satisfy the ambitious prince, whose desire was to succeed his uncle in Sweden. Having induced his father-in-law to permit an expedition, he sailed to Uppland with a strong force. The battle was joined on the banks of the Fyris River where King Eric won a complete victory. From that day he was known as Eric the Victorious.[16]

Styrbjörn fell in the battle and Sigvaldi, the son of a Scanian earl, succeeded to the command at Jomburg. In some way he was induced to attack the Norwegian earl. Late in the year the fleet from the Oder stole northwards along the Norse coast hoping to catch the earl unawares. But Hakon's son Eric had learned what the vikings were planning and a strong fleet carefully hid in Hjörunga Bay lay ready to welcome the invader.

The encounter at Hjörunga Bay is one of the most famous battles in Old Norse history. During the fight, says the saga, Earl Hakon landed and sacrificed his young son Erling to the gods. The divine powers promptly responded: a terrific hailstorm that struck the Danes in their faces helped to turn the tide of battle, and soon Sigvaldi was in swift flight southwards.[17]

As to the date of the battle we have no certain knowledge; but Munch places it, for apparently good reasons, in 986. Saxo is probably correct in surmising that the expedition was inspired by King Harold.[18] As to the significance of the two defeats of the Jomvikings, there can be but one opinion: northward expansion of Danish power had received a decisive check; Danish ambition must find other fields.

The closing years of Harold's life were embittered by rebellious movements in which his son Sweyn took a leading part. It is not possible from the conflicting accounts that have come down to us to determine just why the Danes showed such restlessness at this time. It has been thought that the revolts represented a heathen reaction against the new faith, or a nationalistic protest against German influences; these factors may have entered in, but it is more likely that a general dissatisfaction with Harold's rule caused by the ill success of his operations against Germans, Swedes, and Norwegians was at the bottom of the hostilities. The virile personality of the young prince was doubtless also a factor. To later writers his conduct recalled the career of Absalom; but in this instance disobedience and rebellion had the victory. Forces were collected on both sides; battles were fought both on land and on sea. Finally during a truce, the aged King was wounded by an arrow, shot, according to saga, from the bow of Toki, the foster-father of Sweyn. Faithful Henchmen carried the dying King across the sea to Jomburg where he expired on All Saints' Day (November 1), probably in 986, the year of the defeat at Hjörunga Bay. His remains were carried to Roeskild and interred in the Church of the Holy Trinity.[19]

Of Harold's family not much is known. According to Adam of Bremen his queen was named Gunhild, a name that points to Scandinavian ancestry.[20] Saxo speaks of a Queen Gyrith, the sister of Styrbjörn.[21] On a runic monument at Sönder Vissing, not far from the garth at Jelling, we read that

Tova raised this memorial,
Mistiwi's daughter,
In memory of her mother,
Harold the Good
Gorm's son's wife.[22]

Tova might be a Danish name, but Mistiwi seems clearly Slavic. It may be that Harold was thrice married; it is also possible that Tova in baptism received the name Gunhild. Gyrith was most likely the wife of his old age. The question is important as it concerns the ancestry of Canute the Great. If Tova was Canute's grandmother (as she probably was) three of his grandparents were of Slavic blood.

Of Harold's children four are known to history. His daughter Thyra has already been mentioned as the wife of the ill-fated Styrbjörn. Another daughter, Gunhild, was the wife of an Anglo-Danish chief, the ealdorman Pallig. Two sons are also mentioned, Sweyn and Hakon. Of these Sweyn, as the successor to the kingship, is the more important.

The accession of Sweyn Forkbeard to the Danish throne marks an era in the history of Denmark. Harold Bluetooth had not been a weak king: he had enlarged his territories; he had promoted the cause of the Christian faith; he had striven for order and organised life. But his efforts in this direction had brought him into collision with a set of forces that believed in the old order of things. In Harold's old age the Danish viking spirit had awakened to new life; soon the dragons were sailing the seas as of old. With a king of the Shielding type now in the high-seat at Roeskild, these lawless though energetic elements found not only further freedom but royal favour and leadership.

It would seem that the time had come to wipe away the stain that had come upon the Danish arms at Hjörunga Bay; but no immediate move was made in that direction. Earl Hakon was still too strong, and for a decade longer he enjoyed undisputed possession of the Norwegian sovereignty. Sweyn did not forget the claims of his dynasty, but he bided his time. Furthermore, this same decade saw larger plans developing at the Danish court. Norway was indeed desirable, but as a field of wider activities it gave no great promise. Such a field, however, seemed to be in sight: the British Isles with their numerous kingdoms, their large Scandinavian colonies, and their consequent lack of unifying interests seemed to offer opportunities that the restless Dane could not afford to neglect.

The three Scandinavian kingdoms did not comprise the entire North: in many respects, greater Scandinavia was fully as important as the home lands. It is not necessary for present purposes to follow the eastward stream of colonisation that transformed the Slavic East and laid the foundations of the Russian monarchy. The southward movement of the Danes into the regions about the mouth of the Oder will be discussed more in detail later. The story of Sweyn and Canute is far more concerned with colonising movements and colonial foundations in the West. Without the preparatory work of two centuries, Canute's conquest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom would have been impossible.

The same generation that saw the consolidation of the Norse tribes into the Norwegian kingdom also saw the colonisation of the Faroe Islands and Iceland. A century later Norsemen were building homes on the bleak shores of Greenland. Less than a generation later, in the year 1000, Vineland was reached by Leif the Lucky.[23] Earlier still, perhaps a century or more before the Icelandic migration, the Northmen had begun to occupy parts of the British Isles. The ships that first sought and reached North Britain probably sailed from two folklands (or shires) in Southwestern Norway, Hordaland and Rogaland, the territories about the modern ports of Bergen and Stavanger. Due west from the former city lie the Shetland Islands; in the same direction from Stavanger are the Orkneys. It has been conjectured that the earliest Scandinavian settlements in these parts were made on the shores of Pentland Firth, on the Orkneys and on the coast of Caithness. Thence the journey went along the north-western coast of Scotland to the Hebrides group, across the narrow straits to Ireland, and down to the Isle of Man.[24]

The Emerald Isle attracted the sea-kings and the period of pillage was soon followed by an age of settlement. The earliest Norse colony in Ireland seems to have been founded about 826, on the banks of the Liffey, where the city of Dublin grew up a little later, and for centuries remained the centre of Norse power and influence on the island. Other settlements were established at various points on the east coast, notably at Wicklow, Wexford, and Waterford, which names show clearly their Norse origin. About 860 a stronghold was built at Cork.[25]

Toward the close of the eighth century the vikings appeared in large numbers on the coasts of Northern England. Two generations later they had destroyed three of the four English kingdoms and were organising the Danelaw on their ruins. Still later Rolf appeared with his host of Northmen in the Seine Valley and founded the Norman duchy.

It must not be assumed that in these colonies the population was exclusively Scandinavian. The native elements persisted and seem, as a rule, to have lived on fairly good terms with the invaders. It is likely that wherever these energetic Northerners settled they became the dominant social force; but no feeling of contempt or aloofness appears to have been felt on either side after the races had learned to know each other. Intermarriage was frequent, not only between Dane and Angle, but between Celt and Norseman as well. In time the alien was wholly absorbed into the native population; but in the process the victorious element underwent a profound transformation which extended to social conventions as well as to race.[26]

The largest of these colonies was the Danelaw, a series of Danish and Norse settlements extending from the Thames to the north of England. According to an English writer of the twelfth century, it comprised York and fourteen shires to the south.[27] The area controlled was evidently considerably larger than the region actually settled; and in some of the shires the Scandinavian population was probably not numerous. Five cities in the Danelaw enjoyed a peculiar pre-eminence. These were Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester, and Stamford. It has been conjectured that these were garrison towns held and organised with a view to securing the obedience of the surrounding country.[28] If this be correct, we should infer that the population beyond the walls was largely Anglian. The Five Boroughs seem to have had a common organisation of a republican type: they formed "the first federation of boroughs known in this island, and in fact the earliest federation of towns known outside of Italy."[29] Part of the Danelaw must have contained a large Scandinavian element, especially the shires of Lincoln and York.[30] There were also Danish and Norwegian settlements in England outside the Danelaw in its narrower sense: in the north-western shires and in the Severn Valley, perhaps as high up as Worcestershire.[31]

Danish power in England seems to have centered about the ancient city of York. It would be more nearly correct to speak of Northumbria in the ninth and tenth centuries as a Norse than as a Danish colony; but the Angles made no such distinction. The population must also have contained a large English element. A native ecclesiastic who wrote toward the close of the tenth century speaks with enthusiasm of the wealth and grandeur of York.

The city rejoices in a multitude of inhabitants; not fewer than 30,000 men and women (children and youths not counted) are numbered in this city. It is also filled with the riches of merchants who come from everywhere, especially from the Danish nation.[32]

In some respects the Danelaw is the most important fact in the history of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy: it was the rock on which Old English nationality foundered. By the middle of the tenth century, Saxon England was practically confined to the country south of the Thames River and the western half of the Midlands, a comparatively small area surrounded by Scandinavian and Celtic settlements. If this fact is fully appreciated, there should be little difficulty in understanding the loss of English national freedom in the days of Sweyn and Canute. The English kings did, indeed, exercise some sort of suzerain authority over most of the neighbouring colonies, but this authority was probably never so complete as historians would have us believe.

It is worth noting that the scribe whom we have quoted above speaks of the Danes, not as pirates but as merchants. The tenth century was, on the whole, so far as piratical expeditions are concerned, an age of peace in the North. The word viking is old in the mediæval dialects, and Scandinavian pirates doubtless visited the shores of Christian Europe at a very early date. But the great viking age was the ninth century, when the field of piratical operations covered nearly half of Europe and extended from Iceland to Byzantium. The movement culminated in the last quarter of the century and was followed by a constructive period of nearly one hundred years, when society was being reorganised or built anew in the conquered lands. The Icelandic republic was taking form. The Norman duchy was being organised. The Northmen in the Danelaw were being forced into political relations with the Saxon kings. Trade began to follow new routes and find new harbours. The older Scandinavian cities acquired an added fame and importance, while new towns were being founded both in the home lands and in the western islands.

Scandinavian settlements, Britain and Normandy

This lull in the activities of the sea-kings gave the western rulers an opportunity to regain much that had been lost. In England the expansion of Wessex which had begun in the days of Alfred was continued under his successors, until in Edgar's day one lord was recognised from the Channel to the Forth. But with Edgar died both majesty and peace. About 980 the viking spirit was reawakened in the North. The raven banner reappeared in the western seas, and soon the annals of the West began to recount their direful tales. Among all the chiefs of this new age, one stands forth pre-eminent, Sweyn with the Forked Beard, whose remarkable achievement it was to enlist all this lawless energy for a definite purpose, the conquest of Wessex.

In 979 Ethelred the Ill-counselled was crowned king of England and began his long disastrous reign. If we may trust the Abingdon chronicler, who, as a monk, should be truthful, England was duly warned of the sorrows to come. For "in that same year blood-red clouds resembling fire were frequently seen; usually they appeared at midnight hanging like moving pillars painted upon the sky." The King was a mere boy of ten summers; later writers could tell us that signs of degeneracy were discovered in the prince as early as the day of his baptism. On some of his contemporaries, however, he seems to have made a favourable impression. We cannot depend much on the praises of a Norse scald who sang in the King's presence; but perhaps we can trust the English writer who describes him as a youth of "elegant manners, handsome features, and comely appearance."[33]

That Ethelred proved an incompetent king is beyond dispute. Still, it is doubtful whether any ruler with capabilities less than those of an Alfred could have saved England in the early years of the eleventh century. For Ethelred had succeeded to a perilous inheritance. In the new territorial additions to Wessex there were two chief elements, neither of which was distinctly pro-Saxon: the Dane or the half-Danish colonist was naturally hostile to the Saxon régime; his Anglian neighbour recalled the former independence of his region as Mercia, East Anglia, or Northumbria, and was weak in his loyalty to the southern dynasty. The spirit of particularism asserted itself repeatedly, for it seems unlikely that the many revolts in the tenth century were Danish uprisings merely.

It seems possible that Ethelred's government might have been able to maintain itself after a fashion and perhaps would have satisfied the demands of the age, had it not been that vast hostile forces were just then released in the North. These attacked Wessex from two directions: fleets from the Irish Sea ravaged the Southwest; vikings from the East entered the Channel and plundered the southern shores. It is likely that in the advance-guard of the renewed piracy, Sweyn Forkbeard was a prominent leader. We have seen that during the last years of Harold's reign, there were trouble and ill-feeling between father and son. These years, it seems, the undutiful prince spent in exile and piratical raids. As the Baltic would scarcely be a safe refuge under the circumstances, we may assume that those seven years were spent in the West.[34]

In the second year of Ethelred's reign the incursions began: "the great chief Behemoth rose against him with all his companions and engines of war."[35] In that year Chester was plundered by the Norsemen; Thanet and Southampton were devastated by the Danes. The troubles at Chester are of slight significance; they were doubtless merely the continuation of desultory warfare in the upper Irish Sea. But the attack on Southampton, the port of the capital city of Winchester, was ominous: though clearly a private undertaking it was significant in revealing the weakness of English resistance. The vikings probably wintered among their countrymen on the shores of the Irish Sea, for South-western England was again visited and harried during the two succeeding years.

For a few years (983-986) there was a lull in the operations against England. The energies of the North were employed elsewhere: this was evidently the period of Styrbjörn's invasion of Sweden and Sigvaldi's attack on Norway with the desperate battles of Fyris River and Hjörunga Bay. But, in 986, viking ships in great numbers appeared in the Irish Sea.[36] Two years later a fleet visited Devon and entered Bristol Channel. It is probable that Norman ships took part in this raid; at any rate the Danes sold English plunder in Normandy.

In 991, the attack entered upon a new phase. Earlier the country had suffered from raids in which no great number of vikings had taken part in any instance; now they came in armies and the attack became almost an invasion. That year a fierce battle was fought near Maldon[37] in Essex where one of the chief leaders of the vikings was an exiled Norwegian prince, Olaf Trygvesson, who four years later restored the Norwegian throne. It is likely, therefore, that the host was not exclusively Danish but gathered from the entire North.

The fight at Maldon was a crushing defeat for the English and consternation ruled in the councils of the irresolute King. Siric, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and two ealdormen were sent as an embassy to the viking camp to sue for peace. A treaty was agreed to which seems to imply that the host was to be permitted to remain in East Anglia for an undefined time. The vikings promised to defend England against any other piratical bands, thus virtually becoming mercenaries for the time being. In return Ethelred agreed to pay a heavy tribute and to furnish provisions "the while that they remain among us."[38] Thus began the Danegeld which seems to have developed into a permanent tax in the reign of Canute.

The next year King Ethelred collected a fleet in the Thames in the hope of entrapping his new allies; but treason was abroad in England and the plan failed.[39] The following year the pirates appeared in the Humber country; here, too, the English defence melted away. After relating the flight of the Anglian leaders, Florence of Worcester adds significantly, "because they were Danes on the paternal side."[40]

The next year (994) King Sweyn of Denmark joined the fleet of Olaf and his associates and new purposes began to appear. Instead of seeking promiscuous plunder, the invaders attempted to reduce cities and strongholds. Once more the English sued for peace on the basis of tribute.[41] Sweyn evidently returned to Denmark where his presence seems to have been sorely needed. For two years England enjoyed comparative peace. The energies of the North found other employment: we read of raids on the Welsh coast and of piratical expeditions into Saxony; interesting events also occurred in the home lands. To these years belong the revolt of the Norsemen against Earl Hakon, and perhaps also the invasion of Denmark by Eric the Victorious.

Thirty years of power had developed tyrannical passions in the Norwegian Earl. According to the sagas he was cruel, treacherous, and licentious. Every year he became more overbearing and despotic; every year added to the total of discontent. Here was Sweyn Forkbeard's opportunity; but he had other irons in the fire, and the opportunity fell to another. About 995 a pretender to the Norse throne arrived from the West,—Olaf Trygvesson, the great-grandson of Harold Fairhair.

Our earliest reliable information as to Olaf's career comes from English sources; they tell of his operations in Britain in 991 and 994 and the circumstances indicate that the intervening years were also spent on these islands. While in England he was attracted to the Christian faith, a fact that evidently came to be known to the English, for, in the negotiations of 994, particular attention was paid to the princely chieftain. An embassy was sent to him with Bishop Alphege as leading member, and the outcome was that Olaf came to visit King Ethelred at Andover, where he was formally admitted to the Christian communion, Ethelred acting as godfather.[42]

At Andover, Olaf promised never to come again to England "with unpeace"; the Chronicler adds that he kept his word. With the coming of spring he set out for Norway and never again saw England as friend or foe. We do not know what induced him at this time to take up the fight with Hakon the Bad; but doubtless it was in large measure due to urging on the part of the Church. For Olaf the Viking had become a zealous believer; when he landed in Norway he came provided with priests and all the other necessaries of Christian worship. It is not necessary to tell the story of the Earl's downfall,—how he was hounded into a pig-sty where he died at the hands of a thrall. Olaf was soon universally recognised as king and proceeded at once to carry out his great and difficult purpose: to christianise a strong and stubborn people (995).[43]

As to the second event, the invasion of Sweyn's dominions by the King of Sweden, we cannot be so sure, as most of the accounts that have come down to us are late and difficult to harmonise. Historians agree that, some time toward the close of his reign, King Eric sought revenge for the assistance that the Danish King had given his nephew Styrbjörn in his attempt to seize the Swedish throne. The invasion must have come after Sweyn's accession (986?) and before Eric's death, the date of which is variously given as 993, 995, 996.[44] If Eric was still ruling in 994 when Sweyn was absent in England, it is extremely probable that he made use of a splendid opportunity to seize the lands of his enemy. This would explain Sweyn's readiness to accept Ethelred's terms in the winter of 994-995.[45]

After the death of King Eric, new interests and new plans began to germinate in the fertile mind of Sweyn the Viking. Late in life the Swedish King seems to have married a young Swedish woman who is known to history as Sigrid the Haughty. Sigrid belonged to a family of great wealth and prominence; her father Tosti was a famous viking who had harvested his treasures on an alien shore. Eric had not long been dead before wooers in plenty came to seek the hand of the rich dowager. So importunate did they become that the Queen to get rid of them is said to have set fire to the house where two of them slept. Olaf Trygvesson was acceptable, but he imposed an impossible condition: Sigrid must become a Christian. When she finally refused to surrender her faith, the King is said to have stricken her in the face with his gauntlet. The proud Queen never forgave him.

Soon afterwards Sigrid married Sweyn Forkbeard who had dismissed his earlier consort, Queen Gunhild, probably to make room for the Swedish dowager. We do not know what motives prompted this act, but it was no doubt urged by state-craft. In this way the wily Dane cemented an alliance with a neighbouring state which had but recently been hostile.[46]

The divorced Queen was a Polish princess of an eminent Slavic family; she was the sister of Boleslav Chrobri, the mighty Polish duke who later assumed the royal title. When Gunhild retired to her native Poland, she may have taken with her a small boy who can at that time scarcely have been more than two or three years old, perhaps even younger. The boy was Canute, the King's younger son, though the one who finally succeeded to all his father's power and policies. The only information that we have of Canute's childhood comes from late and not very reliable sources: it is merely this, that he was not brought up at the Danish court, but was fostered by Thurkil the Tall, one of the chiefs at Jomburg and brother of Earl Sigvaldi.[47] The probabilities favour the accuracy of this report. It was customary in those days to place boys with foster-fathers; prominent nobles or even plain franklins received princes into their households and regarded the charge as an honoured trust. Perhaps, too, a royal child would be safer among the warriors of Jomburg than at the court of a stepmother who had employed such drastic means to get rid of undesirable wooers. The character of his early impressions and instruction can readily be imagined: Canute was trained for warfare.

When the young prince became king of England Thurkil was exalted to a position next to that of the ruler himself. After the old chief's death, Canute seems to have heaped high honours on Thurkil's son Harold in Denmark. We cannot be sure, but it seems likely that this favour is to be ascribed, in part, at least, to Canute's affection for his foster-father and his foster-brother.

In those same years another important marriage was formed in Sweyn's household: the fugitive Eric, the son of Earl Hakon whose power was now wielded by the viking Olaf, had come to Denmark, where Sweyn Forkbeard received him kindly and gave him his daughter Gytha in marriage. Thus there was formed a hostile alliance against King Olaf with its directing centre at the Danish court. In addition to his own resources and those of his stepson in Sweden, Sweyn could now count on the assistance of the dissatisfied elements in Norway who looked to Eric as their natural leader.

It was not long before a pretext was found for an attack. Thyra, Sweyn's sister, the widow of Styrbjörn, had been married to Mieczislav, the Duke of Poland. In 992, she was widowed the second time. After a few years, perhaps in 998, Olaf Trygvesson made her queen of Norway. Later events would indicate that this marriage, which Olaf seems to have contracted without consulting the bride's brother, was part of a plan to unite against Sweyn all the forces that were presumably hostile,—Poles, Jomvikings, and Norsemen.[48]

The saga writers, keenly alive to the influence of human passion on the affairs of men, emphasise Sigrid's hatred for Olaf and Thyra's anxiety to secure certain possessions of hers in Wendland as important causes of the war that followed. Each is said to have egged her husband to the venture, though little urging can have been needed in either case. In the summer of 1000, a large and splendid Norwegian fleet appeared in the Baltic. In his negotiations with Poles and Jomvikings, Olaf was apparently successful: Sigvaldi joined the expedition and Slavic ships were added to the Norse armament. Halldor the Unchristian tells us that these took part in the battle that followed: "The Wendish ships spread over the bay, and the thin beaks gaped with iron mouths upon the warriors."[49]

Sweyn's opportunity had come and it was not permitted to pass. He mustered the Danish forces and sent messages to his stepson in Sweden and to his son-in-law Eric. Sigvaldi was also in the alliance. Plans were made to ambush the Norse King on his way northward. The confederates gathered their forces in the harbour of Swald, a river mouth on the Pomeranian coast a little to the west of the isle of Rügen. Sigvaldi's part was to feign friendship for Olaf and to lead him into the prepared trap. The plan was successfully carried out. A small part of King Olaf's fleet was lured into the harbour and attacked from all sides. The fight was severe but numbers prevailed. Olaf's own ship, the famous Long Serpent, was boarded by Eric Hakonsson's men, and the King in the face of sure capture leaped into the Baltic.[50]

The victors had agreed to divide up Norway and the agreement was carried out. Most of the coast lands from the Naze northwards were given to Earl Eric. The southern shores, the land from the Naze eastwards, fell to King Sweyn. Seven shires in the Throndhjem country and a single shire in the extreme Southeast were assigned to the Swedish King; but only the last-mentioned shire was joined directly to Sweden; the northern regions were given as a fief to Eric's younger brother Sweyn who had married the Swede-king's daughter. Similarly Sweyn Forkbeard enfeoffed his son-in-law Eric, but the larger part he kept as his own direct possession.[51]

The battle of Swald was of great importance to the policies of the Knytlings. The rival Norse kingdom was destroyed. Once more the Danish King had almost complete control of both shores of the waterways leading into the Baltic. Danish hegemony in the North was a recognised fact. But all of Norway was not yet a Danish possession—that ambition was not realised before the reign of Canute. And England was still unconquered.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta Danorum, 321.

[2] The saga writers call the members of the Danish dynasty the Knytlings, from its foremost representative Canute (Knut).

[3] Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 318.

[4] Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 71-72.

[5] Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 293.

[6] Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 15.

[7] Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 28-29.

[8] Ibid., 72.

[9] Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 335-336. Saxo, Gesta Danorum, 338. Saxo places the ordeal in the reign of Harold's successor.

[10] Adamus, Gesta Hammenburgensis Ecclesicæ Pontificum, ii., c. 26.

[11] Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 322-324.

[12] Snorre, Saga of Hakon the Good, cc. 3, 4, 5, 10.

[13] Snorre, Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, c. 15. See also Munch, Del norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 53.

[14] Thietmar, Chronicon, ii., c. 20.

[15] Snorre, Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, cc. 24, 26-28.

[16] Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 340-341.

[17] Snorre, Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, cc. 35-52.

[18] Gesta Danorum, 327.

[19] Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 26. Saxo, Gesta, 332.

[20] Gesta, ii., cc. 3, 26.

[21] Gesta, 325.

[22] Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 78 ff.

[23] The American shores were evidently too far distant for successful colonisation; but the visits to the far West clearly did not cease with the journeys of Leif and his associates. Vineland is mentioned in a runic monument from the eleventh century which records an expedition to the West that seems to have ended disastrously:

"They came out [upon the ocean] and over wide stretches [of land] and in need of dry clothes for changes and of food toward Vineland and over icy wastes in the wilderness. Evil may deprive one of good fortune so that death comes early."

This inscription, which is the earliest document that mentions the New World, was found at Hönen in South-eastern Norway. The original has been lost, but copies are extant. The translation is from Bugge's rendering into modern Norse. (Norges Historie, I., ii., 285.)

[24] Bugge, Vihingerne, i., 135 ff.

[25] "All along the Irish coast from Belfast to Dublin and Limerick there still remains an unbroken series of Norse place names, principally the names of firths, islands, reefs, and headlands, which show that at such points the fairway has been named by Northmen." Norges Historie, I., ii., 87; see also pp. 73-76. (Bugge.)

[26] Of this process and its results Normandy furnishes the best illustration. The population of Rollo's duchy soon came to be a mixture of races with French as the chief element, though in some sections, as the Cotentin and the Bessin, the inhabitants clung to their Scandinavian speech and customs for a long time. Steenstrup, Normannerne, i., 175-179.

[27] Simeon of Durham, Opera Omnia, ii., 393. The area varied at different periods; but the earlier Danelaw seems to have comprised fifteen shires. See Steenstrup, Normannerne, iv., 36-37.

[28] Steenstrup, Normannerne, iv., 40-43.

[29] Saga Book of the Viking Club, VI., i., 23 (Bugge). See also Collingwood, Scandinavian Britain, 109. The federation was later enlarged till it included Seven Boroughs. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1015.

[30] The Danish antiquarian Worsaae found more than four hundred Norse place names in Yorkshire alone. While his list cannot be regarded as final, it will probably be found to be fairly correct. The subject of English place names has not yet been fully investigated. Recent studies are those by F.M. Stenton, The Place Names of Berkshire (Reading, 1911), H.C. Wyld and T.O. Hirst, The Place Names of Lancashire (London, 1911), and F.W. Moorman, The Place Names of the West Riding of Yorkshire (Leeds, 1910).

[31] Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 228.

[32] Historians of the Church of York, i., 454.

[33] Historians of the Church of York, i., 455. For a fragment of a lay in praise of Ethelred see Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., iii.

[34] Saxo gives the period as seven years (Gesta, 337). But his account is confused and unreliable; seven must be taken as a round number. Still, the period between the renewal of the raids in England and Sweyn's accession covers nearly seven years.

[35] Historians of the Church of York, i., 455.

[36] Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 221.

[37] The English were led by the East Anglian ealdorman Byrhtnoth, whose valour and death are told in what is perhaps the finest poem in Old English literature. See Grein-Wülker, Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie, i., 358-373.

[38] For the treaty see Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 220-225.

[39] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 992, 993. As the betrayer, Alfric, had a part in the treaty-making of the year before, he may have looked on the new plans as dishonourable.

[40] Chronicon, i., 150-151.

[41] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 994.

[42] Taranger, Den angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske, 125.

[43] Snorre, Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, cc. 47-50.

[44] Steenstrup favours the earlier date (Danmarks Riges Historie, i., 371); Munch sees reasons for a later year (Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 102).

[45] That serious business was awaiting Sweyn in his own country is evident from two runic inscriptions that have been found in the Jutish borderland: the Heathby (or Vedelspang) Stone and the Danework Stone. The former was raised by "Thorolf, Sweyn's housecarle" in memory of a companion "who died when brave men were besieging Heathby." The second was raised by Sweyn himself in memory of Skartha, his housecarle, "who had fared west to England but now died at Heathby." The expedition to the West may have been the one that Sweyn undertook in 994. One stone mentions the siege of Heathby, but Heathby was destroyed shortly before 1000. The siege therefore probably dates from 995 or one of the following years; but whether the enemy was a part of Eric's forces cannot be determined. For the inscriptions see Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 113, 117.

[46] Snorre, Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, cc. 43, 60-61, 91.

[47] Flateyarbók, i., 203.

[48] Snorre tells us (Olaf Trygvesson's Saga, c. 92) that Thyra had fled from her husband, who is mistakenly called Boleslav, and had come as a fugitive to Olaf's court. So attractive did she prove to the sympathetic King that he promptly married her. The account is evidently largely fiction; there seems to have been a good understanding between Olaf and Boleslav when the Norse Beet came south in 1000. In the account given above I have followed Bugge (Norges Historie, I., ii., 271).

[49] Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 101 (Vigfusson's translation).

[50] The chief authorities on the battle of Swald are Snorre and Adam of Bremen. There seems also to be an allusion to the fight in an inscription on a runic monument, the Aarhus Stone, which was raised by four men, presumably warriors, in memory of a comrade "who died on the sea to the eastward when the kings were fighting." Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 133

[51] Norges Historie, I., ii., 285-286.

CHAPTER II

THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND—1003-1013

During the five years of rivalry between Olaf and Sweyn (995-1000), England had enjoyed comparative peace. Incursions, indeed, began again in 997; but these were clearly of the earlier type, not invasions like the movements led by Olaf and Sweyn. Who the leaders were at this time we do not know; but the Northern kings were in those years giving and taking in marriage and busily plotting each other's destruction, so we conclude that the undertakings continued to be of the private sort, led, perhaps, by Norse chiefs who had found life in Norway uncongenial after King Olaf had begun to persecute the heathen worshippers.

The English had now come to realise the importance of the upper Irish Sea as a rendezvous for all forms of piratical bands; and the need of aggressive warfare at this point was clearly seen. Accordingly, in the year 1000, Ethelred collected a fleet and an army and harried the Norse settlements in Cumberland and on the Isle of Man. The time was opportune for a movement of this sort, as no reinforcements from the North could be expected that year. The expedition, however, accomplished nothing of importance; for the fleet that Ethelred had hoped to intercept did not return to the western waters but sailed to Normandy.[52] Ethelred was angry with Duke Richard of Normandy for sheltering his enemies, and proceeded to attack his duchy with his usual ill success.[53]

Nevertheless, the hostilities terminated favourably for Ethelred, as the Norman duke offered his beaten enemy not only peace, but alliance. Recent events in the North may have caused Richard to reflect. The diplomacy of Sweyn, culminating in the partition of Norway, had made Denmark a state of great importance. Sweyn's designs on England were probably suspected; at any rate, Normandy for the moment seemed willing to support England. In early spring, 1002, the bond was further strengthened by a marriage between Ethelred and Duke Richard's sister Emma, who later married her husband's enemy, the Danish Canute. That same year England was once more rid of the enemy through the payment of Danegeld.[54]

The prospects for continued peace in England were probably better in 1002 than in any other year since the accession of Ethelred. But toward the end of the year, all that gold and diplomacy had built up was ruined by a royal order, the stupidity of which was equalled only by its criminality. On Saint Brice's Day (November 13), the English rose, not to battle but to murder. It had been planned on that date to rid the country of all its Danish inhabitants. How extensive the territory was that was thus stained with blood, we are not informed; but such an order could not have been carried out in the Danelaw. In justification of his act, Ethelred pleaded that he had heard of a Danish conspiracy, directed not only against his own life, but against the lives of the English nobility as well.

It is likely that, when England bought peace earlier in the year, a number of the vikings remained in the land, intending, perhaps, to settle permanently; such arrangements were by no means unusual. The massacre of Saint Brice's may, therefore, have had for its object the extermination of the raiders that came in 1001. But these were not the only ones slain: among the victims were Gunhild, King Sweyn's sister, and her husband, the ealdorman Pallig.[55] It is probable that Pallig, though a Saxon official, was a Dane living among the Danes in some Scandinavian settlement in South-western England.[56] We are told that Ethelred had treated him well, had given him lands and honours; but he did not remain faithful to his lord; only the year before, when the vikings were in Devon, he joined them with a number of ships. Pallig no doubt deserved the punishment of a traitor, but it would have been politic in his case to show mercy. If he was, as has been conjectured from the form of his name, connected with the family of Palna Toki, the famous Danish archer and legendary organiser of the Jomburg fraternity, he was bound to Sweyn by double ties, for Palna Toki was Sweyn's reputed foster-father.[57]

Sweyn Forkbeard at once prepared to take revenge for the death of his kinsfolk. The next year (1003), his sails were seen from the cliffs of the Channel shore. But before proceeding to the attack, he seems to have visited his Norman friend, Duke Richard the Good. For some reason, displeasure, perhaps, at the shedding of noble Scandinavian blood on Saint Brice's Day, the duke was ready to repudiate his alliance with his English brother-in-law. The two worthies reached the agreement that Normandy should be an open market for English plunder and a refuge for the sick and wounded in the Danish host.[58] Evidently Sweyn was planning an extended campaign.

Having thus secured himself against attacks from the rear, Sweyn proceeded to Exeter, which was delivered into his hands by its faithless Norman commander Hugo.[59] In the surrender of Exeter, we should probably see the first fruit of the new Danish-Norman understanding. From this city the Danes carried destruction into the southern shires. The following year (1004), East Anglia was made to suffer. Ulfketel, the earl of the region, was not prepared to fight and made peace with Sweyn; but the Danes did not long observe the truce. After they had treacherously attacked Thetford, the earl gathered his forces and tried to intercept Sweyn's marauding bands on their way back to the ships; but though the East Anglians fought furiously, the Danes escaped. The opposition that Sweyn met in the half-Danish East Anglia seems to have checked his operations. The next year he left the land.[60]

The forces of evil seemed finally to have spent their strength, for the years 1007 and 1008 were on the whole comparatively peaceful. Those same years show considerable energy on the part of the English: in the Pentecostal season, May, 1008, the King met his "wise men" at Eanham, and a long legislative enactment saw the light.[61] It was hoped that by extensive and thorough-going reforms the national vigour might be restored. Among other things provisions were made for an extensive naval establishment, based on a contribution that grew into the ship money of later fame. A large number of ships were actually assembled; but the treacherous spirit and the jealous conduct of some of the English nobles soon ruined the efficiency of the fleet; the new navy went to pieces at a moment when its service was most sorely needed. For in that year, 1009, a most formidable enemy appeared in the Channel: the vikings of Jom had left their stronghold on the Oder and were soon to re-establish themselves on the Thames.[62]

For about two decades Sigvaldi ruled at Jomburg; but after the battle of Swald he disappears from the sagas: all that we learn is that he was slain on some expedition to England. Perhaps he was one of the victims of Saint Brice's (1002); or he may have perished in one of the later raids. His death must, however, be dated earlier than 1009; for in that year his brother Thurkil came to England, we are told, to take revenge for a slain brother.[63]

Thurkil's fleet appeared at Sandwich in July. Associated with the tall Dane was a short, thick-set Norwegian, Olaf the Stout, a young viking of royal blood who later won renown as the missionary King of Norway and fell in war against Canute the Great. In August came a second fleet, under the leadership of Eglaf and Heming, Thurkil's brother. The fleets joined at Thanet; this time nearly all the southern counties had to suffer. The host wintered on the lower Thames and during the winter months plundered the valley up as far as Oxford. Ethelred tried to cut off its retreat but failed.[64]

During the Lenten weeks the vikings refitted their ships, and on April 9, 1010, they set sail for East Anglia. Ulfketel was still in control of that region and had made preparations to meet the invader. On May 5, the Danes met the native levies at Ringmere in the southern part of Norfolk. The fight was sharp, with final victory for the sea-kings. The English sources attribute the outcome to the treasonable behaviour of Thurkil Mareshead, who was evidently a Dane in Ulfketel's service. The Norse scalds ascribe the result to the valour of Olaf the Stout, who here won the "sword-moot" for the seventh time.[65]

During the remaining months of the year and all through the following summer, the vikings rode almost unresisted through Southern England, plundering everywhere. Finally the King and the "wise men" began to negotiate for peace on the usual basis. But so often had Danegelds been levied that it was becoming difficult to collect the money and the payment was not so prompt as the vikings desired. In their anger they laid siege to Canterbury, and, after a close investment of twenty days, by the assistance of an English priest were enabled to seize the city. Many important citizens were held for ransom, among them the Archbishop Alphege, who remained a prisoner for nearly six months. His confinement cannot have been severe; the Prelate was interested in the spiritual welfare of the Scandinavian pirates, and seems to have begun a mission among his keepers. But he forbade the payment of a ransom, and after a drunken orgy the exasperated Danes proceeded to pelt him to death with the bones of their feast. Thrym, a Dane whom he had confirmed the day before, gave him the mercy stroke.[66]

During the closing days of the archbishop's life, an assembly of the magnates in London had succeeded in raising the tribute agreed upon, 48,000 pounds. Not merely were the invaders bought off,—they were induced to enter Ethelred's service as mercenaries; there must have been reasons why it would be inadvisable to return to Jomburg. The English King now had an army of some four thousand or perhaps five thousand men, a splendid force of professional warriors led by the renowned viking Thurkil the Tall. According to William of Malmesbury, they were quartered in East Anglia,[67] which seems plausible, as Wessex must have been thoroughly pillaged by 1012.

When the year 1013 opened, there were reasons to hope that the miseries of England were past. For a whole generation the sea-kings had infested the Channel and the Irish Sea, scourging the shores of Southern Britain almost every year. Large sums of money had been paid out in the form of Danegeld, 137,000 pounds silver, but to little purpose: the enemy returned each year as voracious as ever. Now, however, the pirate had undertaken to defend the land. The presence of Danish mercenaries was doubtless an inconvenience, but this would be temporary only. It was to be expected that, as in the days of Alfred, the enemy would settle down as an occupant of the soil, and in time become a subject instead of a mercenary soldier.

But just at this moment, an invasion of a far more serious nature was being prepared in Denmark. In the councils of Roeskild Sweyn Forkbeard was asking his henchmen what they thought of renewing the attack on England. The question suggested the answer: to the King's delight favourable replies came from all. It is said that Sweyn consulted his son Canute with the rest; and the eager youth strongly urged the undertaking.[68] This is the earliest act on Canute's part that any historian has recorded. In 1012, he was perhaps seventeen years old; he had reached the age when a Scandinavian prince should have entered upon an active career. His great rival of years to come, Olaf the Stout, who can have been only two years older than Canute, had already sailed the dragon for six or seven years. It is likely that the young Dane had also experienced the thrills of viking life, but on this matter the sagas are silent. But it is easy to see why Canute should favour the proposed venture: as a younger son he could not hope for the Danish crown. The conquest of England might mean not only fame and plundered wealth, but perhaps a realm to govern as well.

The considerations that moved the King to renew the attempts at conquest were no doubt various; but the deciding factor was evidently the defection of Thurkil and the Jomvikings. An ecclesiastic who later wrote a eulogy on Queen Emma and her family discusses the situation in this wise:

Thurkil, they said, the chief of your forces, O King, departed with your permission that he might take revenge for a brother who had been slain there, and led with him a large part of your host. Now that he rejoices in victory and in the possession of the southern part of the country, he prefers to remain there as an exile and a friend of the English whom he has conquered by your hand, to returning with the host in submission to you and ascribing the victory to yourself. And now we are defrauded of our companions and of forty ships which he sailed to England laden with the best warriors of Denmark.[69]

So the advice was to seize, the English kingdom as well as the Danish deserter. No great difficulty was anticipated, as Thurkil's men would probably soon desert to the old standards.

The customs of the Northmen demanded that an undertaking of this order should first be approved by the public assembly, and the Encomiast tells us that Sweyn at once proceeded to summon the freemen. Couriers were sent in every direction, and at the proper time the men appeared, each with his weapons as the law required. When the heralds announced the nature of the proposed undertaking—not a mere raid with plunder in view but the conquest of an important nation—the host gave immediate approval.

In many respects the time was exceedingly favourable for the contemplated venture. A large part of England was disposed to be friendly; the remainder was weak from continued pillage. Denmark was strong and aggressive, eager to follow the leadership of her warlike king. Sweyn's older son, Harold, had now reached manhood, and could with comparative safety be left in control of the kingdom. Denmark's neighbours in the North were friendly: Sweyn's vassal and son-in-law controlled the larger part of Norway; his stepson, Olaf, ruled in Sweden. Nor was anything to be feared from the old enemies to the south. The restless vikings of Jom were in England. The lord of Poland was engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Empire. The Saxon dynasty, which had naturally had Northern interests, no longer dominated Germany; a Bavarian, Henry II., now sat on the throne of the Ottos. In the very year of Sweyn's invasion of England, the German King journeyed to Italy to settle one of the numberless disputes that the Roman see was involved in during the tenth and eleventh centuries. He remained in Italy till the next year (1014), when the victorious Pope rewarded him with the imperial crown.

Something in the form of a regency was provided for the Danish realm during Sweyn's absence. Harold seems to have received royal authority without the royal title. Associated with him were a few trusted magnates who were to give "sage advice," but also, it seems, to watch over the interests of the absent monarch.[70] A part of the host was left in Denmark; but the greater part of the available forces evidently accompanied the King to England.

About midsummer (1013), the fleet was ready to sail. The Encomiast, who had evidently seen Danish ships, gives a glowing description of the armament, which apart from rhetorical exaggeration probably gives a fairly accurate picture of an eleventh-century viking fleet of the more pretentious type. He notes particularly the ornamentation along the sides of the ships, bright and varied in colours; the vanes at the tops of the masts in the forms of birds or of dragons with fiery nostrils; and the figureheads at the prows: carved figures of men, red with gold or white with silver, or of bulls with necks erect, or of dolphins, centaurs, or other beasts. The royal ship was, of course, splendid above all the rest.[71]

The customary route of the Danish vikings followed the Frisian coast to the south-eastern part of England, the shires of Kent and Sussex. Ordinarily, the fleets would continue the journey down the Channel, plundering the shore lands and sending out larger parties to harry the interior. Sweyn had developed a different plan: Wessex was to be attacked from the old Danelaw. Following the ancient route, his ships appeared at Sandwich on the Kentish coast early in August. Sandwich was at this time a place of considerable importance, being the chief port in Southern England.[72] Here Sweyn and Canute remained for a few days, but soon the fleet turned swiftly northwards up the eastern coast to the Humber. Sweyn entered and sailed up this river till he came to the mouth of the Trent, which stream he ascended as far as Gainsborough. Here his men disembarked and preparations were made for the war.

Sweyn had evidently counted on a friendly reception in the Scandinavian settlements of the Danelaw, and he was not disappointed. Recruits appeared and his forces increased materially. Uhtred, the earl of Northumbria, who was probably of Norse ancestry, soon found it to his advantage to do homage to the invader. Sweyn's lordship was also accepted by "the folk of Lindsey, and afterwards by the folk in the Five Boroughs, and very soon by all the host north of Watling Street, and hostages were given by every shire."[73] In addition to hostages, Sweyn demanded horses and provisions for the host.

The summer was probably past before Sweyn was ready to proceed against Ethelred. But finally, some time in September or a little later, having concluded all the necessary preliminaries, he gave the ships and the hostages into the keeping of his son Canute, and led his mounted army southward across the Midlands with Winchester, the residence city of the English kings, as the objective point. So long as he was still within the Danelaw, Sweyn permitted no pillaging; but "as soon as he had crossed Watling Street, he worked as great evil as a hostile force was able." The Thames was crossed at Oxford, which city promptly submitted and gave hostages. Winchester, too, seems to have yielded without a struggle. From the capital Sweyn proceeded eastward to London, where he met the first effective 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 Southwark, 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 protected 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,[74] who drowned, says the Chronicler, "because they neglected the bridge."

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 valour 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 [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."[75]

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)[76] 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 military 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 interest in Ethelred's cause. Assistance, however, was not forthcoming; but Emma remained in Richard's duchy and a little 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.

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 unpleasant 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."[77]

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 account 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.[78] The Anglo-Norman historians have an even more wonderful story to relate: in the midst of a throng 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.[79] 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[80]; 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 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 expedition 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 possessed 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.[81]

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, Santslaue, "sister of King Canute,"[82] 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)[83], 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.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1000.

[53] William of Jumièges, Historia Normannorum, v., c. 4.

[54] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1002.

[55] Richard of Cirencester, Speculum Historiale, ii., 147-148.

[56] As there seems to have been a Danish settlement in the Severn Valley, it seems probable that Pallig's home was in that region.

[57] The story of Palna Toki is told in various sagas, particularly Jómsvikingasaga. Of his exploits in archery Saxo has an account in his tenth book. Having once boasted that no apple was too small for his arrow to find, he was surprised by an order from the King that he should shoot an arrow from his son's head. The archer was reluctant to display his skill in this fashion, but the shot was successful. It is also told that Palna Toki had provided himself with additional arrows which he had intended for the King in case the first had stricken the child. Saxo wrote a century before the time of the supposed Tell episode.

[58] William of Jumièges, Historia Normannorum, v., c. 7.

[59] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1003.

[60] Ibid., 1004-1005.

[61] Liebermann, Gesetze der Angelsachsen, i., 246-256.

[62] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1009.

[63] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 2. It is barely possible that the brother was Gyrth, whose name appears on a runic monument (Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 138 ff.). But in the absence of information to the contrary we shall have to assume that Gyrth was buried where his monument was placed and was therefore not the brother who fell in England.

[64] Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 160-161.

[65] Ibid., 160-163. Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 14. Storm in his translation of Snorre (Christiania, 1900) locates Ringmere in East Wretham, Norfolk, (p. 239).

[66] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1011. Florence of Worcester, Chronicon, i., 163-165.

[67] Gesta Regum, i., 207.

[68] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 3.

[69] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 2.

[70] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 3.

[71] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 4.

[72] Ibid., i., c. 5.

[73] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1013.

[74] Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 12-13. The story in the saga has the appearance of genuineness and is based on the contemporary verses of Ottar the Swart. Snorre's chronology, however, is much confused.

[75] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1013.

[76] William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, i., 209.

[77] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1013.

[78] Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 5; see also Saxo, Gesta, 342.

[79] Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, i., 34 ff.

[80] Adamus, Gesta, ii., c. 39.

[81] Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, I., ii., 117.

[82] Liber Vitæ, 58. Steenstrup suggests that the name may be Slavic and calls attention to the Slavic form Svantoslava (Venderne og de Danske, 64-65).

[83] Encomium Emmæ, ii., c. 3. The rescue and removal of Sweyn's remains by English women is asserted by the contemporary German chronicler Thietmar (Chronicon, vii., c. 26).

CHAPTER III

THE ENGLISH REACTION AND THE NORSE REVOLT 1014-1016

The death of Sweyn was the signal for important 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 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. Doubtless the Danes surmised that the youthful chief possessed abilities of a rare sort; but the English evidently regarded him as a mere boy whose pretensions 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."[84] 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 embassy to England under the nominal leadership of his son Edward; these men were to negotiate further, and probably study the sentiment of the 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 forgotten. The English on their part pledged absolute loyalty; and, to emphasise the covenant, the assembly outlawed all Danish claimants. Sweyn had died in the early part of February; the negotiations were probably carried on in March; Ethelred returned to England some time during 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 resources 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 was fought on the shores of Dublin Bay.[85] The Norsemen suffered an overwhelming defeat, the significance of which, for English history, lies in the fact that the viking forces of the West had now been put on the defensive. Raids like 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 course, not favourable; but preparations seem to have been made looking toward offensive operations 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. Englishmen 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 on his return and ready for warfare. Its service, however, was expensive: that year another Danegeld of 21,000 pounds was levied to pay Thurkil and his vikings for their assistance in driving Canute out of the land.[86]

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 1013 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.[87]

In Rouen, Olaf evidently met the fugitive 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 availèd.
Hard was the meeting soothly,
When Edmund's son thou broughtest
Back to his land made peaceful,
Which erst that kin-stem rulèd.[88]

The emergency was too great for Canute. With the generalship of experienced warriors like Thurkil 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 committed for which there can be little justification. The hostages were mutilated—their hands, ears, and 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.[89]

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 his trust in God, the good monk adds; and the Encomiast was perhaps not the only one who regarded Harold's early death as a providential event.

The problem of Norway was one that the brothers must have discussed, though we do not know what disposition they made of the Danish rights there. In addition to the overlordship over at least a part of Eric's earldom, Sweyn had had direct royal authority over the southern shores, though it is not believed that he exercised this authority very rigidly. There is a single circumstance that suggests that Norway was assigned to Canute: when the young prince called on his brother-in-law, Earl Eric, to assist him in England, the Norse ruler seems to have obeyed the summons without question.[90]

During the course of the year, the two brothers united in certain acts of a filial nature, one of which is worthy of particular notice. Together they proceeded to the Slavic coast, Poland most likely, where their mother, Queen Gunhild, was still in exile. After twenty years, she was restored to her honours at the Danish court. Sigrid the Haughty had evidently taken leave of earthly things; for peace and good-will continued between the Swedish and Danish courts, an impossible condition with Sigrid in retirement and her old rival in the high-seat. That same year the brothers gave Christian burial to the remains of their father Sweyn.[91]

We are told that Canute continued his preparations for a descent upon England; still, it may be doubted whether he actually had serious hope of conquering the country at that time. Then suddenly there occurred in England a series of events that placed the fate of Ethelred in Canute's hands.

The saga that relates the exploits of the Jomvikings tells somewhat explicitly of an English attack on two corps of "thingmen," as the Danish mercenaries were called in Northern speech, the corps in London and Slesswick.[92] The latter locality has not been identified, but it seems hardly necessary to seek it far north of the Thames—the saga locates it north of London. It is asserted that the massacre was planned by Ulfketel, and that in Slesswick it was thoroughly carried out: from this we may infer that the place was in East Anglia, or Ulfkellsland, as the scalds called it. The garrisons, we are told, were located by Sweyn; this is doubtless an error,—the corps were probably divisions of the viking forces in Ethelred's service. No doubt there were other similar corps, for Thurkil was apparently connected with neither of the two.

Canute was out of the country and no hostile force was in sight. There could then be small need of retaining the thingmen who were furthermore a source of expense, perhaps of danger. As in 1002, it was determined to fall upon them and slay them. If it is true that Thurkil's men were originally quartered in East Anglia,[93] we can readily understand why Ulfketel might take the lead in such an undertaking. In London, where resistance had been so persistent and successful, the mercenaries must have been regarded with strong aversion. It was planned to strike during the Yule festivities when the vikings would probably not be in the best possible state of vigour and sobriety. In London armed men were smuggled into the stronghold in waggons that were ostensibly laden with merchandise for the midwinter market. But the corps was warned in time by a woman who wished to save her lover Thord. Eilif, who was in command here, escaped to Denmark. In Slesswick, the plan succeeded, none escaping; among the fallen was the chief, Heming, the brother of Thurkil the Tall. The attack is thought to have been made some time during the early part of January, 1015.[94]

It is evident that something of a serious nature occurred in England in those days, and while some of the details in the saga tale are probably fictitious, in substance the account is perhaps correct. Heming disappears from the English sources, while Eilif is prominent in English politics for another decade. Most significant of all, a few weeks later Thurkil appears in Denmark to urge upon Canute the desirability of an immediate attack on England. He now had another brother to avenge. Thurkil's desertion of the English cause must have done much to stimulate Danish ambition. Help was secured from Olaf of Sweden. Eric, the Norse earl, was also summoned to the host. Great preparations must have gone forward in Denmark, for all writers agree that Canute's fleet, when it finally sailed, was immense in the number of ships. Thurkil's position in Denmark appears to have been a trifle uncertain at first. Canute could hardly be expected to give cordial greeting to a man who had recently sent him out of England in full flight; but after some discussion the two were reconciled, and Thurkil joined the expedition.[95]

In all the North there was none more famous for successful leadership in warfare than Earl Eric of Norway. He had fought in the battles of Hjörunga Bay and Swald; in both these encounters the highest honours were his. It is, therefore, not strange that Canute was anxious to have his assistance. Eric was no longer young and had no direct interest in the proposed venture; still, when the mandate came, he showed no reluctance, so far as we know. He called together the magnates of the realm and arranged for a division of his earldom between his brother Sweyn and his young son Hakon.[96] It need not be assumed that Eric at this time made a final surrender of his own rights; most likely it was the administration during the period of his absence only that was provided for in this way.

As Hakon was yet but a youth, Eric gave him a guardian in his kinsman, the famous Thronder chief, Einar Thongshaker. In his day, Einar was the best archer in Norway; hence his nickname, the one who makes the bow-thong tremble. He, too, had fought at Swald, but on King Olaf's ship; twice did his arrow seek Eric's life; the third time he drew the bow it was struck by a hostile shaft, and broke. "What broke?" asked the King. "Norway from your hands," replied the confident archer.[97] After Eric and his brother had become rulers in Norway, they made peace with Einar, married him to their sister, the generous Bergljot, and endowed him greatly with lands and influence. Of the three men to whom Norway was now committed, he was clearly the ablest, if not of the greatest consequence.

Turning again to England, we find a situation developing that was anything but promising. Some time during the first half of the year, a gemot was summoned to meet at Oxford, near the border of the Danelaw. Evidently an attempt was to be made in the direction of a closer union between the North and the South. Among others who attended were two Scandinavian nobles from the Seven Boroughs, Sigeferth and Morcar. So far as names show the nationality of the bearers, they might be either Angles or Northmen; but the name of their father, Arngrim, is unmistakably Norse. During the sessions of the gemot, the brothers were accused of treason and slain in the house of Eadric, the Mercian earl.[98] The result was a riot; the followers of the murdered men called for revenge, but were repulsed and driven into the tower of Saint Frideswide's Church, which the English promptly burned. Such a violation of the right of sanctuary could not be overlooked even in those impassioned times; and only through penance on the part of the luckless King was the stain removed.[99]

The sources are at one in laying the blame for this trouble on Earl Eadric. William of Malmesbury says that he desired the wealth of the two Danes, and we find that Ethelred actually did exact forfeiture. But it may also be that Eadric was endeavouring to extend and consolidate his Mercian earldom; to do this he would have to devise some method to deprive the Seven Boroughs of their peculiarly independent position in the Danelaw or Danish Mercia. Whatever his purpose, he seems to have had the approval of the ill-counselled King.

Sigeferth's widow, Aldgyth, was taken as a prisoner to Malmesbury, where Edmund, Ethelred's virile son, saw her and was attracted by her. But Ethelred objected to his son's matrimonial plans; the reasons are not recorded, but one of them, at least, can be readily inferred: callous of heart as the old King doubtless was, he probably did not enjoy the thought of having in his household as daughter-in-law a woman who could not help but be a constant reminder of a deed that was treacherous, stupid, and criminal. Passion, however, was strong in Edmund Ironside; he married the widow in spite of his father's veto; more than that, he demanded her slain husband's forfeited official position. Ethelred again refused, whereupon the Prince proceeded to the Danish strongholds and took possession.[100]