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]

Edmund's act was that of a rebel; but in the Danelaw it was probably regarded in large part as proper vengeance. Thus fuel was added to the old fire that burned in the hearts of Dane and Saxon. The spirit of rebellion, so general in the kingdom, had now appeared in the royal family itself. Most significant of all, the Prince had probably thwarted a great ambition: how much of Mercia was under Eadric's control at this time we do not know; but a man of the ealdorman's type could scarcely be satisfied with anything less than the whole. And here was the King's son actually governing the strongholds of the earldom. Would he not in time supplant the low-born Eadric? We have in these transactions the most plausible explanation of Eadric's treachery a little later, when Canute was again in the land.

It was late in the summer,--some time between August 15th and September 8th, according to Florence of Worcester,--when Edmund appeared as claimant in the Danelaw. Those very same weeks must have seen the departure of Canute's fleet from Denmark. The expedition that now arrived in England was a most formidable one; statements vary as to the number of ships[101] and we know nothing as to the strength of the host; but it seems likely that twenty thousand men is not an extreme estimate. The entire North assisted in its make-up, though it may be that the Norse contingent under Earl Eric did not arrive till later in the year.[102] The distance to the earl's garth in the Thronder country was long; the Norwegian chiefs lived scattered and apart; a large force could, therefore, not be collected in haste.

Again the Encomiast seizes the opportunity to describe a Northern fleet. He mentions particularly the gleaming weapons of the warriors on board; the flaming shields that hung along the gunwales; the figureheads bright with silver and gold--figures of lions, of men with threatening faces, of fiery dragons, and of bulls with gilded horns. And he asks who could look upon such an armament and not fear the King at whose bidding it came. The warriors, too, were carefully selected:

Moreover, in the whole force there could be found no serf, no freedman, none of ignoble birth, none weak with old age. All were nobles, all vigorous with the strength of complete manhood, fit for all manner of battle, and so swift on foot that they despised the fleetness of cavalry.[103]

There is evidently some exaggeration here; the numerous "nobles" were probably plain freemen; still, it is clear that Canute led a valiant, well-equipped host.

But Canute was not the only adventurer who sailed in quest of kingship in 1015. While the youthful Prince was mustering his fleet in the straits of Denmark, Olaf the Stout was in Britain preparing to sail for Norway on a similar errand--to win a crown. But here all similarity ceases; two merchant ships and fewer than two hundred men made up the force that began the Norse revolt. Still, Olaf Haroldsson, too, was successful and bore the crown of Norway till he fell in war with Canute in 1030.

After the expulsion of the Danes from England the year before, Olaf seems to have returned to piracy; there is some evidence that he took part in an expedition of this sort along the coasts of Gaul as far as Aquitaine. On his return he seems to have visited Normandy, where he may have learned of Canute's intentions and preparations. The probability is strong that he was also informed of the part that Eric was to have in the venture, for he seems carefully to have timed his departure so as to reach Norway just after the earl had left the country to join Canute. He first sailed to England, stayed for a time in Northumberland, where he made the necessary preparations, and thence proceeded to the west coast of Norway.[104]

Fortune smiled on the bold adventurer. Soon after he had landed he learned that Hakon was in the neighbourhood and set out to capture him. In this he was successful: Olaf's ships were merchant ships, and the young unsuspecting earl rowed into a sound where the enemy was waiting for him and passed in between the supposed merchant vessels. Olaf had stretched a rope from ship to ship, and when the earl's boat was directly between them, Olaf's men pulled the rope till Hakon's boat capsized. The young chief and a few of his followers were saved. Olaf gave him quarter on condition that he should leave Norway, surrender his rights to sovereignty, and swear never more to fight against his stout opponent. Hakon took the required oaths and was permitted to depart. He hastened to England and reported the matter to his uncle Canute. But the English campaign had only fairly begun, so Canute was in no position to interfere. Hakon remained long with Canute, and in time was invested with an English earldom.[105]

Meanwhile, the Danish fleet had arrived at Sandwich; but from Kent, Canute did not sail north to his former friends in the Humber lands; he reverted to the old viking practices of harrying the Southwest, Dorset, Wilts and Somerset.[106] Whether this was his original plan cannot be known: it may be that the news of Edmund's activity in the Danelaw was to some extent responsible for this move. It was now autumn of the year 1015; but if England hoped that the host would soon follow viking customs and retire into winter quarters, the country was doomed to bitter disappointment; for the enemy now had a leader who saw no need of rest, who struck in winter as well as in summer.

Canute also differed from earlier chiefs in his ideas of conduct on the battle-field. The viking band, as a development of the Teutonic comitatus, was naturally inspired with its ideas of honour and valour. When the challenge to combat had been accepted, it was the duty of the warrior to conquer or perish with his leader; and it was the chief's duty to set an honourable example for his men. It was this spirit that animated King Olaf Trygvesson at Swald when his men urged the feasibility of flight before the battle had really begun. "Strike the sails," he commanded. "My men shall not think of flight; never have I fled from combat."[107]

The young Dane brought no such ideas to the campaign that he was now on the point of beginning. Being by race more a Slav than a Dane, it may be that he did not readily acquire Germanic ideas. His training with the Jomvikings, perhaps in his early youth, at least now in his British camp, where veterans from Jom were numerous and Thurkil the Tall was the chief warrior, ran counter to such notions. The Jomvikings would retreat, sometimes they would even take to flight, as we infer from a runic inscription that reads like a rebuke for cowardly retreat.[108]

To add to the difficulties of England, Ethelred was stricken with an illness that ended his life a few months later. The hope of England now lay in the rebellious Edmund, who was still in the North country. He and Eadric were both gathering forces in Mercia; but when they joined disagreements seem to have arisen; for soon the Earl again played the traitor, deserted the Etheling, and with "forty ships" repaired to Canute and joined his host.

In the language of the day, the term "ship" did not necessarily refer to an actual sea-going craft; it was often used as a rude form of reckoning military forces, somewhat less than one hundred men, perhaps. It has been thought that Eadric's deserters were the remnant of Ethelred's Danish mercenary force[109]; but it is unlikely that so many vikings still remained in the English service. The chances are that they were Mercians, possibly Danish Mercians. Wessex now gave up the fight, accepted Canute as king, and provided horses for the invading army.

It must have been about Christmas time when Eadric marched his men down into the South to join the Danes. A few days later the restless Prince, with Eadric in his train, started northward, crossed the Thames at Cricklade in Wiltshire, and proceeded toward the Warwick country. Edmund had apparently come south to meet him, but the militia were an unwilling band. They suddenly became sticklers for legal form and regularity, and refused to go on without the presence of the King and the aid of London. As neither was forthcoming, the English dispersed. Once more the summons went abroad, and once more the men insisted that the King must be in personal command: let him come with what forces he could muster. Ethelred came, but the hand of death was upon him. Evidently the old King had neither courage nor strength. Whispers of treason came to him: "that they who should be a help to him intended to betray him"[110]; and he suddenly deserted the army and returned to the fastness of London.

The second attempt at resistance having failed, Edmund left the South to its fate, and rode into Northumbria to seek Earl Uhtred. No better evidence can be found of the chaos that existed in England at the time. The Saxon South accepts the invader, while a prince of the house of Alfred is looking for aid in the half-Scandinavian regions beyond the Humber that had once so readily submitted to Sweyn Forkbeard. What agreements and promises were made are not known; but soon we have the strange spectacle of Edmund and his new ally harrying English lands, the Mercian counties of Stafford, Salop, and Chester. Doubtless the plan was to punish Eadric, but it was a plan that did not lead to a united England.

The punishment of the deserters was probably incidental; evidently the allies were on the march southward to check Canute. Here was an opportunity for the young Dane to show some generalship, and the opportunity was improved. Turning eastward into Bucks, he marched his army in a northeasterly direction toward the Fenlands, and thence northward through Lincoln and Nottingham toward York. When Earl Uhtred learned of this attack on his territories, he hastened back to Northumbria. But he was not in position to fight, and, therefore,

driven by necessity, he submitted, and all Northumbria with him, and gave hostages. Nevertheless, on the advice of Eadric, he was slain, and with him Thurkil, the son of Nafna. And after that the king made Eric earl of Northumbria with all the rights that Uhtred had.[111]

The Chronicler seems to believe that Uhtred was slain soon after his submission, and it could not have been very much later. Simeon of Durham tells us that the Earl was slain by an enemy named Thurbrand[112]; but it seems clear that Canute approved the act and perhaps desired it. It is extremely probable that Uhtred was removed to make room for Eric. When young Hakon arrived as a fugitive, Eric doubtless realised that his Norwegian earldom was slipping away. All through the fall and winter Olaf had been travelling along the shores and up through the dales; wherever it was practicable he had summoned the peasantry to public assemblies and presented his case. His appeal was to national Norse pride and to the people's sense of loyalty to Harold Fairhair's dynasty. Almost everywhere the appeal was successful.

But the men who loved the old order were not willing to yield without a struggle. While Canute was making his winter campaign from the Channel to York, both parties were active in Norway, Sweyn and Einar in the Throndelaw, Olaf in the South. All through Lent the fleets were gathering. Finally on Palm Sunday, March 25, 1016, the dragons encountered each other at the Nesses, near the mouth of the Christiania Firth. Neither force was great, though that of Sweyn and Einar was considerably larger than the pretender's host. It has been estimated that Olaf had fewer than 2000 men, his opponents nearly twice as many. At the Nesses for the first time the cross figured prominently in Norwegian warfare: golden, red, or blue crosses adorned the shining shields of the kingsmen. After mass had been sung and the men had breakfasted, Olaf sailed out and made the attack. The outcome was long uncertain, but finally victory was with the King.[113]

From the Nesses Einar and Sweyn fled to Sweden. Here they were offered assistance and were planning an expedition against King Olaf for the following year, when Earl Sweyn suddenly died. As there was no one in Norway around whom the dissatisfied elements could rally, all attempts to dislodge the new King were given up for the time. Some of the defeated chiefs may have sought refuge with Canute; at any rate the news of the Nesses could not have been long in reaching the York country. As Eric had come to England at Canute's request, the Prince doubtless felt that he owed his brother-in-law some compensation. Furthermore, with the Norse earl in control at York, Canute could feel more secure as to Northumbrian loyalty. There thus existed in the spring of 1016 a double reason for removing Uhtred.

Another Northumbrian magnate, Thurkil the son of Nafna, is mentioned as sharing the strong earl's fate. Who Thurkil was is not known; but it is clear that he must have been a noble of considerable prominence, as he would otherwise hardly be known to a chronicler in Southern England. His name gives evidence of Northern blood; but thus far his identity has been a mystery, and the following attempt at identification can claim plausibility only. King Olaf Trygvesson had a younger half-brother who was known to the scalds as Thurkil Nefja or "Nosy." In the expedition to Wendland in 1000, he commanded the _Short Serpent_. At Swald he fought on King Olaf's own ship, and was the last to leap overboard when Eric and his men boarded and seized it. Of him sang Hallfred Troublous-scald:

Strong-souled Thurkil Saw the Crane and the Dragons Two float empty (Gladly had he grappled),

Ere the arm-ring wearer, Mighty in warfare, Leaped into the sea, seeking Life by swimming.[114]

The inference is that he actually escaped, and it seems possible that we find him again in England after sixteen years. As all the rulers of the North had conspired against Olaf, he would be compelled to seek refuge in other lands, preferably in one of the Scandinavian colonies in the West. But for Thurkil now to serve loyally and peaceably under the man who drove his brother to death and seized his kingdom might be difficult; and he may therefore have been sacrificed to Eric's security. The statement that his father's name was Nafna presents a difficulty; but the Chronicler may not have been thoroughly informed on the subject of Norse nicknames and may have mistaken the by-name for the name of his father.

After the submission of Northumbria, Canute returned to the South. This time he carefully avoided the Danelaw; evidently he wished that his friends in Danish Mercia should suffer no provocation to rise against him; the route, therefore, lay through the West. The campaign was swiftly carried through, for by Easter (April 1), Canute was again with his ships. Wessex and Northumbria were now both pacified. In the Midlands there can have been but little active hostility. London alone showed the old determination to resist; here were Ethelred and Edmund with a number of the English magnates. Canute immediately began preparations for a last descent upon the stubborn city; but before his dragons had actually left harbour, England had lost her king.

April 23, 1016, Ethelred died. To say anything in real praise of the unfortunate King is impossible. The patriotic monk who chronicled the sad events of this doleful period can only say that "he kept his realm with great trouble and suffering the while that he lived."[115] Any striking abilities Ethelred cannot have possessed. He was easily influenced for evil--perhaps he was faithless. But to lay all the blame for the downfall of England tipon the incapable king would be missing the point. The Old English monarchy was, after all, a frail kingdom. The success of Edgar in reducing the Scandinavian colonies to unquestioned obedience was probably due in large part to his sterling qualities as king; but in still greater measure, perhaps, to the fact that, during his reign, the viking spirit was at its lowest ebb: consequently the stream of reinforcements having ceased to flow across the North Sea, the Anglo-Danes were forced to yield. But now the situation was totally different. In the early years of the eleventh century only statesmanship of the highest order could have saved the dynasty; but England had neither statesmen nor statesmanship in Ethelred's day.

FOOTNOTES:

[84] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1014.

[85] For a brief account of the Norse colonies in Ireland and the events that culminated in the battle of Clontarf, see _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 292-310. (Bugge.)

[86] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1014.

[87] William of Jumièges, _Historia Normannorum_, v., cc. 11-12.

[88] _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 13. (Translation by William Morris.)

[89] _Encomium Emmæ_, ii., c. 2.

[90] The conjecture of Norse historians that he left Norway because of disagreements with his brother Sweyn has little in its favour. Eric believed in peace, but scarcely to the point of expatriation.

[91] _Encomium Emmæ_, ii., cc. 2-3. The banishment of Gunhild is also mentioned in Thietmar's _Chronicle_ (vii., c. 28).

[92] _Jómsvikingasaga_, cc. 50-52.

[93] William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, i., 207.

[94] _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 383.

[95] _Encomium Emmæ_, ii., c. 3.

[96] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 24.

[97] _Ibid._, _Olaf Trygvesson's Saga_, c. 108.

[98] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1015; Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 170-171. The Five Boroughs had by this time become the Seven Boroughs.

[99] William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, i., 213.

[100] William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, i., 213.

[101] The Encomiast counts two hundred ships (_Encomium Emmæ_, ii., c. 4). The _Jómsvikingasaga_ reports 960 (c. 52). Adam of Bremen puts the number at 1000 (_Gesta_, ii., c. 50). The Encomiast is doubtless nearest the truth.

[102] The _Knytlingasaga_ seems to indicate that Eric came late (c 13).

[103] _Encomium Emmæ_, ii., c. 4.

[104] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, cc. 28-29.

[105] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, cc. 30-31.

[106] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1015.

[107] Snorre, _Olaf Trygvesson's Saga_, c. 102.

[108] The Hällestad Stone, raised in memory of Toki, Canute's gran-uncle, who fell in the battle of Fyris River:

Askell raised this monument in memory of Toki, Gorm's son his beloved lord.

He did not flee At Upsala. Henchmen have raised To their brother's memory On the firm-built hill This rock with runes. To Gorm's son Toki They walked nearest.

Wimmer, _De danske Runemindesmærker_, I., ii. 86, ff.

[109] Thus Steenstrup (_Normannerne_, iii., 287-289) and Oman (_England before the Norman Conquest_, 577) on the authority of Florence of Worcester (_Chronicon_, i., 171) who speaks of these men as Danish warriors. But the contemporary writer of the _Chronicle_ speaks of Eadric's forces as the "fyrd," a term which is always used for the native levy, "here" being the term used for alien troops.

On the theory of serious disagreements with Edmund, whose accession to the throne seemed imminent, Eadric's treason becomes perfectly intelligible. For a selfish, ambitious man like the earl, there was scarcely any other course to take.

[110] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1016.

[111] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1016.

[112] _Opera_, ii., 148.

[113] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, cc. 46-51.

[114] Snorre, _Olaf Trygvesson's Saga_, c. iii., _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 92.

[115] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1016.