CHAPTER III.[169

SWEDEN.

1001–1389.

OLAF.—EMUND I.—EMUND II.—STENKILL.—INGE I.—PHILIP.—INGE II.—SWERKER I.—CHARLES.—ST. ERIC.—INTERNAL TROUBLES.—BIRGER JARL.—VALDEMAR I.—MAGNUS I.—BIRGER.—MAGNUS II.—ERIC IV.—ALBERT OF MECKLENBURG.—UNION OF SWEDEN WITH DENMARK.

IN Swedish history the chronological difficulties of which we had so much reason to complain in the former volume, are scarcely fewer even now that we are advanced into the eleventh century. Most writers give different lists of kings down to the twelfth century. The reason of this difference is two-fold: there were sometimes two kings reigning at the same time, the one over the Goths, the other over the Swedes; and sometimes each of these people had two, who divided the homage of the people.

[Sidenote: 1001 to 1026.]

All writers agree that at the opening of the eleventh century OLAF, surnamed _Skotkonung_, or the Tribute-king, reigned over Sweden. He was the ally of Denmark in the destruction of Olaf Trygvasen, king of Norway[170]; and with Denmark he shared the possession of that kingdom.[171] The enemy of St. Olaf, he would not, though commanded by the states of his kingdom, give his daughter Ingigerda to that king.[172] Contrary to his wish, however, his second daughter Astrida was married to his royal neighbor.[173] Probably this was the first of the Swedish princes that felt himself strong enough to contend with his pagan subjects, who prior to his time had held the ascendancy. His ardour, however, is said to have been mitigated by his diet, which at length decided for liberty of conscience.

[Sidenote: 1026 to 1051.]

EMUND I. (or OMUND), surnamed _Colbrenner_, succeeded to his father. Towards his unfortunate brother-in-law, St. Olaf of Norway, he acted with severity[174]; and by all writers testimony is borne to his virtues. Thus Adam of Bremen informs us that he excelled all his predecessors in wisdom and piety, and was more beloved by his people. Of his actions, except his hostilities in alliance with St. Olaf against Canute the Great, we are ignorant. Shrouded in equal obscurity are the actions of his immediate successors.

[Sidenote: 1051 to 1148.]

EMUND II. (1051–1056) was unpopular; first, because he had no zeal for religion; and, secondly, because in a treaty of limits between Sweden and the Danish province of Scania, he did not uphold the national interests, but abandoned a considerable territory to that rival people. To repair this disaster, and to prove that he was not afraid of the enemy, he raised an army and invaded that province; but he was vanquished and slain. On his death the Swedes and the Goths, who were often hostile to each other, disagreed about the succession—the former raising STENKILL (1056–1066), the latter _Hako the Red_, to the throne. Thus there were two kingdoms, two courts—the one reigning over the eastern, the other over the western and southern provinces. Similar partitions, as we frequently observed in the former volume, had taken place, so as to confound the chronological succession of the kings. The Goths and the Swiar had never perfectly amalgamated, from the period when Odin had led the latter into Sweden, and expelled the former from the coast to the interior of the country. But, on the other hand, experience had taught both of them the destructive effects of disunion; and on the present occasion, now that Christianity had made so considerable a progress among them (more however in Sweden than in Gothland), they felt more sensibly the impolicy of their conduct. The heads of the two people met together, and agreed that Hako should continue to rule over the Goths, but that on his death his kingdom should cease to have a separate existence, and be re-merged into that of Sweden. We shall, however, see that the same moderation did not always govern the two parties; and that double elections continued to agitate the commonweal long after this period. But this circumstance does not detract from the merit of the men who sanctioned the present agreement. In thirteen years Hako paid the debt of nature, and in conformity with the agreement his crown reverted to the prince of the Swedes. Of Stenkill the national historians speak with praise. Of gigantic size, unrivalled strength, and indomitable courage, he was yet one of the mildest princes of his age. Over Sweyn II., king of Denmark, he is said by the Swedish historians to have frequently triumphed; but of such triumphs we have no record in the historians of the rival nation. Equal honour is accorded to his successor INGE I., surnamed _the Good_. In his wars this prince is said to have exhibited great valour; but he was more distinguished for his attachment to Christianity, and for the zeal with which he extirpated paganism. In this great work he probably evinced more ardour than discretion, if it be true that he was murdered in bed by his idolatrous subjects. HALSTAN, the brother and successor of Inge, if indeed they did not reign conjointly over different parts of the kingdom, had the same mild virtues. PHILIP and INGE II. were equally worthy of the diadem. Distinguished alike for his piety and for the rigour with which he punished the banditti who infested his western provinces, and the pirates who ravaged his coasts, Inge, in particular, reigned in the hearts of his people, except those whose ill deeds he punished. To the hatred of a faction he became a victim. That faction raised to the throne _Rognerald_, a chief of gigantic dimensions and of fiercer qualities. _His_ yoke was soon felt to be intolerable: he was removed by violence; and a double election followed,—the Swedes choosing a chieftain named _Kol_; the Goths _Magnus_, son of Nicholas king of Denmark. The former soon perished in battle; the latter, a great tyrant, reigned seven years only (1148), when the suffrages of the people fell on one who had neither birth nor connections to recommend him, but who had the great qualities becoming the dignity. This was SWERKER I. It is worthy of remark that Hako the Red and Rognerald, and Kol and Magnus, are not usually classed amongst the Swedish kings—at least by modern historians.

[Sidenote: 1148 to 1154.]

The reign of Swerker was pacific and admirably adapted to the interests of the kingdom. He was a wise and patriotic monarch. But he had one grievous fault—blindness to the vices of his son. Never, if contemporary chroniclers are to be credited, did a youth so richly merit the curses of the people. At the head of a licentious gang, he violated the persons of the noblest virgins and matrons; he was addicted to every species of riot; and the insolence of his manners gave a more odious shade to his vices. In vain were remonstrances made to the father, whose first duty, as the people thought, was to insist that his own family set the first example of obedience to the laws. Indignant at this guilty toleration, the people arose and murdered the prince. Swerker’s own end was tragical; but whether he died through the influence of the same conspirators, or through the avarice of a domestic, is doubtful. On his death, the same ruinous division took place as in the preceding century: the Goths elected CHARLES, another son of Swerker; the Swedes made choice of ST. ERIC, who had married the daughter of Inge the Good—a name dear to the people. As civil war was so much to be deprecated, the heads of both parties met and agreed to this compromise—that Eric I. should retain both crowns during his life, and on his death both should be inherited by Charles. But what was to become of the rights of their children? To prevent future disputes, the descendants of each were to rule alternately, without prejudice, however, to the elective suffrage of the people. It would have been impossible to devise any expedient better adapted to produce the contrary of what was intended.

[Sidenote: 1155 to 1167.]

The reign of Eric was one of vigour. The Finns, who had declared themselves independent, he reduced to subjection; and he also forced them, we are told, to forsake idolatry for Christianity. We may, however, doubt whether his efforts in this respect were so general as the chroniclers would have us believe: certainly, they were not very permanent; for there are pagans amongst them at this very day, and those who pass for Christians worship other gods. Probably they did as most barbarians do in similar circumstances—they submitted while the victor was near them, but reverted to their ancient superstitions when he had left. That he had idolaters nearer to him than Finland, and more immediately subject to his sway, is evident from the distinction he was accused of making between the worshippers of Odin and those of Christ. The former he deprived of the rights which the law conferred upon them. For this conduct he naturally incurred their indignation, and he also made enemies of another party—the licentious, the disturbers of the public tranquillity, who were scarcely less numerous. Both conspired against him; and as their own strength was inadequate to the object, they invoked the aid of the Danish king, offering, as it appears, the crown of Sweden to the son of that monarch. A Danish army arrived, and being joined by the malcontents, marched towards Upsal. They were soon met by Eric who, though he performed prodigies of valour, was defeated and slain. His tragical death was one of the causes that led to his canonization. Another was the zeal which he showed in the extirpation of idolaters, whom he pursued with fire and sword. Add that he was the founder of monasteries and churches, and we have reasons enough for his deification. By most readers he will be valued, less for his unenlightened devotion, than for his compilation of a code of laws—“St. Eric’s Lag.” Yet the provisions which it contains are deeply impressed by his dominant characteristics. Against pagans they are sanguinary; and they visit offences against the Christian religion and the Christian worship with stern severity.

[Sidenote: 1161 to 1167.]

Charles, the son of Swerker, was now monarch of the whole country. But he had some difficulty in expelling the invaders, who had proclaimed the son of the Danish king. He, too, was much attached to the church, and to which he was more generous than even his predecessor. If tradition be true (there is no contemporary authority for the statement), he embarrassed his affairs by his immoderate liberality. As he obtained from the pope the erection of an archbishopric,—that of Upsal,—he was expected to endow it. From his munificence in this respect, may have originated the report in question. His reign was not exempt from trouble. The adherents of the rival dynasty were his enemies, from a suspicion (apparently ill-founded) that he had been one of the conspirators against St. Eric. Though in conformity with the agreement which we have mentioned, he nominated Canute, the son of Eric, his successor, that prince would not remain in the kingdom, under the pretence that his life was in danger. In a few years he returned into Sweden, at the head of a considerable Norwegian force, was joined by the partisans of his house, and enabled to triumph over his rival, whom he captured and beheaded. This act he justified by appealing to the untimely end of his father, which he represented as the work of Charles.

[Sidenote: 1167 to 1192.]

The reign of CANUTE was disturbed by two invasions. The first, consisting of Danes, who had armed to revenge the death of the late king, or rather under that plea to profit by the disasters of a rival country. The Goths, who loved the memory of Charles, immediately joined it; but the king was victorious. The second was an irruption of the Esthonian pirates, who laid Sigtuna in ashes, slew the archbishop of Upsal, and carried away many prisoners before the king could overtake them.

[Sidenote: 1192 to 1210.]

SWERKER II., the son of Charles, was the next king, in virtue of the compact between the Goths and the Swedes. But every day more clearly evinced the dangers resulting from that compact: it daily widened the breach, not merely between the two royal families, but between the two great tribes which constituted the nation. Blood had been openly or treacherously spilt by both parties; and the deadly feud had descended to the chiefs of both. It was, from the first, the object of Swerker to exterminate the family of his rival; but one prince—Eric, the only son of the late king—escaped into Norway. For some years he governed with moderation; but becoming tyrannical, the people of Upland invited the exile to return. Eric obeyed the call, was joined by most of the nobles, and enabled to triumph over Swerker, though the latter was supported by a Danish army. The king was expelled, and though he subsequently returned twice to renew the contest, twice he was defeated, and on the latter occasion his own corpse was among the slain.

[Sidenote: 1210 to 1250.]

The reign of ERIC II. commenced by more policy than could have been anticipated from preceding events. To pacify the rival faction, he declared prince John, the son of Swerker, his successor. To conciliate the Danes, who had so warmly espoused the cause of his rivals, he obtained the hand of a Danish princess, the sister of Valdemar II. His reign was pacific, but too short for the interests of his people. JOHN I. (1220–1222) ascended without opposition the united thrones of the Swedes and the Goths; but his reign was still shorter—a misfortune the more keenly felt from his admirable conduct. If he was less fortunate in two or three military expeditions (so obscure, however, as scarcely to deserve notice) than was hoped from the justice of his cause, his civil government was one of great success. He was succeeded without opposition by the son of his predecessor, Eric II., named after the father. ERIC III., surnamed the Lisper (1222–1230), had a reign less peaceful than those which immediately preceded it. There was a family in the realm too powerful for obedience—that of the Folkungar—the chiefs of which, by their wealth and their numerous connections, evidently aspired to the throne. To bind them to his interests, he married two of his sisters to nobles of that house, while he himself took to wife a lady of that family. But these alliances, as might indeed have been expected, only gave a new impulse to ambition. To wrest the crown from him, the whole family or tribe, the chiefs of which must have been connected with the royal line of either the Goths or the Swedes, broke out into rebellion—one noble only, the jarl Birger, remaining faithful to him. In the first battle Eric was defeated and compelled to flee; but he raised an army in Denmark, returned to Sweden, vanquished the usurper Sweyn, and was again acknowledged by the whole realm. In the last year of his reign, he sent an expedition against the Finns, who had reverted to idolatry. It was commanded by Birger Jarl, on whom he had conferred the hand of his youngest sister. The cruelty of the general, who probably acted in obedience to the royal orders, equalled that of the former military apostle, St. Eric.

[Sidenote: 1250.]

The death of Eric the Stammerer was followed by a violation of the compact which had established the alternate order of succession. The Folkungar nobles no longer concealed their intention of aspiring to the throne. Through the intrigues of a dependent, when the diet met for a new election, the choice fell on VALDEMAR I., the son of Birger Jarl by the sister of the late king. On the part of the electors, this was an attempt to combine the interests of two great families. But Birger was dissatisfied: he had expected the crown himself; and he objected to the impolicy of choosing a child like his son. His design was to obtain the regency, and he succeeded.

[Sidenote: 1251 to 1266.]

However censurable the means by which Birger arrived at power, he had qualities worthy of the post. He founded Stockholm, which he also fortified: he revised and greatly improved the Landslag, or written laws of the kingdom; he conferred on the cities and towns privileges similar to those contained in the charters of later ages; he improved the internal administration in other respects; while he defended the coasts against the ravages of the pirates. Such indeed was the prosperity which he introduced, that the diet requested the king to confer on him the ducal title—a title previously unknown in Sweden. But the success of his administration, and the power held by his family, incurred first the jealousy, and soon the hatred of a faction, or rather of several factions who united to oppose him. Among the great Swedish families was one that rivalled the Folkungar in riches, in the number of its armed dependents, in its widely-spread connection. This was the Folkungar family, which had beheld with the deepest mortification the elevation of a rival house. A civil war followed, which was indecisive; and it was ended by a pacification, but a pacification dictated by deceit. After Birger had solemnly sworn to it, and the heads of the other party repaired in unsuspecting confidence to his camp, he caused them to be put to death. One noble only escaped, Charles, who fled to the Teutonic knights, became a member of the order, and left an heroic name behind him. This perfidious act is a sad stain on the glory of his regency. Another was his excessive love of power, which induced him to retain the reins of government long after his son had arrived at manhood, and even after that son had married Sophia, daughter of Eric Plough-penny, king of Denmark. Death only caused him to release his grasp.

[Sidenote: 1266 to 1276.]

The reign of Valdemar was one of trouble. Whether through the persuasion of the diet, or through fraternal attachment, he tolerated, if he did not himself establish, the independence of his brothers. Magnus duke of Sudermania, Eric prince of Smaland, and Benvit duke of Finland, had separate courts, and exercised a sovereign authority in their respective jurisdictions. Magnus, the eldest, was formed for a monarch. He was learned, courteous, generous, and highly accomplished in all military sciences. So popular did he become, that his palace was more frequented than the king’s. Of his popularity Valdemar soon became jealous; yet he could do no other than leave the regency to Magnus during his pilgrimage to Rome. The motive of this pilgrimage was to expiate a criminal connection, of many years’ standing, with Judith, sister of his queen. The severity of the penance was owing to the fact of Judith’s being a nun, who had precipitately fled from the convent of Roskild. Nine children were the result of this connection, which so scandalised the church, that the pope would not give him absolution until he had visited the Holy Land. Judith was condemned to perpetual seclusion. In 1276, after an absence of nearly three years, the royal penitent returned, and accused Magnus of intriguing for the throne. Whether there was any truth in the charge, cannot well be ascertained; but that suspicion should arise in his mind was inevitable. He was jealous, not of Eric only, but of all his brothers. On this occasion, Benvit, the youngest, exhibited a proof of magnanimity which may well obtain the praise of history: to consolidate the royal power, he resigned his duchy, took holy orders, and subsequently became bishop of Linkoping. The elder brothers, far from imitating the example, united themselves closely with the Danes, and a civil war followed. Valdemar was surprised, pursued, and captured. To end these disorders, the diet met, and divided the kingdom between the two brothers. To Valdemar was conceded the two Gothlands (East and West) with Smaland and Dalia: the rest fell to Magnus.

[Sidenote: 1276 to 1279.]

This peace was of short continuance. Magnus did not pay his Danish auxiliaries, by whose aid he had triumphed. In revenge the Danish king ravaged the Swedish provinces, and entered into a treaty with Valdemar to restore him to the undivided throne. At the head of a Danish army, Valdemar marched against Magnus, but was defeated. To repair this disaster, Eric of Denmark took the field with a large army—so large that Magnus would not risk an action. But the Swedish prince obtained by policy the advantage which arms could not give him. He drew the invaders into the heart of the kingdom; cut off all supplies; and awaited the approach of winter to effect their destruction. But through the mediation of the chiefs on both sides, peace was restored. As Magnus had not the money due to Eric, he pledged one of his maritime towns. In return, he obtained not merely a friend, but his recognition as monarch of Norway. Valdemar, thus sacrificed, was made to renounce his claim to the whole country, and to pass the remainder of his days in Denmark, on one of the domains which he had received with his queen.

[Sidenote: 1279, 1280.]

MAGNUS I. at his accession assumed the title of king of the Swedes and the Goths, to denote his superiority over the whole kingdom. But the title was more pompous than the power. He was soon accused of undue partiality towards the people of Holstein, who in virtue of his marriage with Hedwige, sister of the count Gerard[175], flocked to Sweden in great numbers. The remonstrance did not weaken his attachment to these foreigners, whom he loaded with honours. To the great families, especially that of the Folkungar, this preference was gall; and a conspiracy was formed to extirpate the odious strangers. An opportunity for the execution of this plot soon arrived. Escorted by a considerable number of Holsteiners, the queen proceeded to Scara, a town of Gothland, to meet her father. The conspirators followed, and massacred the guard, including even the brother-in-law of the king. Nor was this all: they threw the count of Holstein into a dungeon; and they certainly would have laid their hands on the queen, had she not contrived to escape into a monastery. Knowing the power of the family which had instigated these excesses, and fearing that they were supported by foreign alliances, the king dissimulated, and made use of the most conciliating language, until he had obtained the enlargement of the count. He then summoned a diet, charged the unsuspicious Folkungar with high treason, sent them to Stockholm, and beheaded all of them except one, who was allowed to be ransomed. From this time that ambitious family ceased to have much influence over the realm. To establish his throne still more solidly, he entered into a double matrimonial alliance with Denmark. His son Birger, still a child, was affianced to a daughter of the Danish king, and as she too was a child, she was taken, in conformity with the custom of the times, to the Swedish court to be educated. And soon afterwards Ingeburga, daughter of Magnus, became the wife of Eric Plough-penny’s successor.

[Sidenote: 1281 to 1290.]

The tranquillity obtained through these measures enabled Magnus to devote his whole time to the internal administration. His name is mentioned with great praise; and he appears to have deserved it. His consolidated power and his firmness were indeed blessings to a realm so long distracted by intestine commotions. It was feared, indeed, lest, in his hands, the sceptre should become oppressive: but this too would have been an advantage; for its weight would have fallen on the powerful and the turbulent only. To the peasant he was a friend. Prior to his reign, the local nobles had not hesitated to levy contributions on the despised portion of the nation. He decreed that whoever took any thing from a poor man’s hut without paying the value, should be visited with rigorous penalties. From his brother Valdemar he sustained some trouble; but he crushed the seeds of rebellion by imprisoning that restless prince. To support, with greater magnificence, the regal state, he obtained, from the gratitude of his people, a considerable augmentation of his resources. This augmentation consisted in certain returns from the mines, and from the great lakes of Sweden. Well did he merit this liberality; for never had the country a greater king.

[Sidenote: 1290 to 1305.]

BIRGER, the son of Magnus, being only eleven years old at his father’s death, the regency devolved on Thorkil, a noble Swede. Nothing can better illustrate the merit of Magnus than this choice. At home and abroad Thorkil evinced his talents and his patriotism. His expeditions against the Finns, the Carelians, and the Ingrians, were crowned with success. But his great object was to render the people happy. Having reason to fear the interruption of the social tranquillity, he arrested the sons of the late king Valdemar, who could not forget their claims to the throne. But as Birger rose up to manhood, he had still more cause of apprehension from Eric and Valdemar, brothers of his sovereign. Both evidently aspired to distinct governments. To strengthen his interests, the former married Ingeburga, daughter of Hako V., king of Norway. Seeing that he and Valdemar were acting more openly in pursuit of their treasonable object, yet unwilling to adopt extreme measures, Birger, with the advice of his minister, obtained from them a written pledge never to leave the kingdom, or approach the royal residence without permission; never to conspire against the government; never to maintain more than a given number of armed men; and always to obey the commands of their sovereign. But what engagement could bind spirits so restless, which were emboldened to attempt any thing by the success of preceding rebels? The princes still continued to plot; and to escape imprisonment, they fled into Denmark. The Danish king, however, being persuaded to abandon them, they took refuge in Norway, were friendly received by Hako, and enabled, from their new fiefs of Nydborg and Konghella, to lay waste the neighbouring provinces with fire and sword. A body of troops sent by Birger to repulse them, was defeated. A second army was raised; and the king marched in person to chastise his brothers. They were, however, at the head of a large force, not of their own partisans merely, but of the Norwegians; and to avoid the effusion of blood, a pacification was recommended. They were received into favour on the condition of their swearing obedience to the king: in return he conferred on duke Eric the fief of Varberg. The next feature of this transaction was the sacrifice of the able and patriotic Thorkil. The brothers could not forgive him for thwarting them in their rebellion; and Birger was made to believe the vilest calumnies respecting him. The aged minister was sent to Stockholm and beheaded. At the same time his daughter, the wife of Valdemar, was repudiated. Thus was a long course of public service rewarded!

[Sidenote: 1305 to 1319.]

By this criminal weakness, Birger was righteously left to the intrigues of his brothers. By them he was surprised and made prisoner, together with his wife and children, and forced to resign the crown in favour of Eric. His eldest son, Magnus, escaped, and fled to Denmark, the king of which armed for the restoration of his sister’s husband. From this period to the close of Birger’s reign there was war, alternated by hollow peace. In 1307, he obtained his liberty, on the condition of his kingdom being dismembered in favour of his brother. To revoke this dangerous act he renewed his alliance with Denmark, and again obtained help; but his proceedings were not decisive, and a new pacification followed, on conditions similar to the preceding, except that Birger was now regarded as the liege superior of his brothers, who did homage to him for their fiefs. Unable to reduce them by force, he had recourse to the usual acts of the base. He pretended great affection for them, and sent them many presents. At length alluring them to his court at Nykoping, he arrested them in bed, and consigned them to dungeons with expression of triumphant insult more galling than the perfidy itself. One died of the wounds which he had received in the effort to escape: the other was starved to death. But from this deed of blood the king derived no advantage. The bodies of the murdered princes being exposed to the public, roused the wrath of the very numerous party hostile to his government. The civil war was now renewed by Matthias Kettlemundson in behalf of duke Eric’s son. Since the death of Thorkil, the king had become rapacious, tyrannical, and consequently unpopular. The people, who lamented the fate of the murdered princes, favoured the cause which Kettlemundson had espoused; the fortresses that still held for the king were soon reduced: Magnus, his son, was made prisoner; and he himself compelled to seek a refuge in Denmark, where he was coldly received.

[Sidenote: 1319, 1320.]

Fate had not yet done its worst for this exiled prince. A diet was assembled to choose a successor. Such was the hatred borne towards him and his line, that his son Magnus was beheaded for _his_ crimes. The suffrages of the electors united in favour of duke Eric’s son, a child three years old. Grief the following year (1320) brought Birger to the tomb. Whatever good signalised his reign must be attributed to his able and virtuous minister: his own conduct was dictated by odious vices. Thorkil caused a law to be passed against the sale of slaves, on the ground that it was in the highest degree criminal for Christians to sell men whom Christ had redeemed by his blood. This noble truth is the best testimony to the character of that minister: we may add that it is the most deplorable illustration of the king’s, who could, without a cause, sacrifice such a man. What better than fratricide could be expected from him?

[Sidenote: 1319 to 1354.]

During the long minority of MAGNUS II., the regency was exercised by Kettlemundson, who had contributed so largely to the expulsion of Birger, and the execution of the blameless Magnus, the son of Birger. His administration, which continued eighteen years, is mentioned with respect; but it was signalised by no great exploit deserving the attention of history. Both his policy and that of his sovereign, in respect to Scania, has been related.[176] In the administration of justice and the maintenance of the public tranquillity, he was successful. On his demise, Magnus assumed the reins of government; but did not give so much satisfaction as his minister. He undertook an expedition against the western provinces of Russia (then subject to their own princes), influenced only by a wild ambition. The result was not glorious. The taxes which he levied on the people for its support, gave rise to complaint. The pope too complained that he had appropriated to his own use the money, which, in virtue of Olaf Skotkonung’s act, should have gone to the Roman treasury. Still his necessities increased: the purchase of Scania was another channel of expenditure; and though he pledged some of the royal domains, he had still to exact more from his people, including the clergy, than their patience would support. For this cause he was excommunicated by the pope. Regardless of murmurs, he proceeded in his course: he was distinguished alike for rashness, feebleness, and irresolution. Governed by young favourites, and still more by his queen, who persuaded him that he might do whatever he pleased with impunity, and anxious to place a third crown on his brow (he had inherited Norway in right of his mother), he exhibited at once his silly ambition and his incapacity by embroiling himself with Denmark. So far from obtaining that crown, he lost his own. The diet insisted that he should resign Norway to Hako, and Sweden to Eric, his two sons. He fled into Scania; implored the aid of Valdemar; and in return ceded that province to the Danish crown.[177] He was enabled by this means and by the support of a party (for what king was ever without one?) to carry on a war with Eric. Its ravages were deeply felt; its issue was dubious; and a diet was convoked at Jenkoping to avert by a pacification the ruin of the monarchy. Under the mediation of two princes connected with the royal family, it was decreed that the country should be divided between the father and the son: to the former were assigned Upland, the two Gothias, Vermeland, Dalecarlia, with the northern portion of Halland, and the isle of Oeland; to the latter, Finland, Smaland, the southern portion of Halland, and Scania.

[Sidenote: 1354 to 1357.]

The indiscretions of Magnus had lost him the hearts of his people, which turned with ardour to ERIC IV. This circumstance roused the jealousy of him and his queen, who are said to have conspired against the life of Eric. Whether he was removed by poison administered to him by his mother, or by the violence of conspirators, or by lawless banditti, or, finally, by natural causes, must for ever rest unknown, since ancient annals say nothing on the subject. The majority of historians, native and foreign, concur in fixing the guilt on queen Blanche; but until some better evidence than any they have adduced be brought to establish so unnatural a crime, the common feeling of mankind must compel them to doubt it. The only fact that is certain is that Eric died, and that Magnus profited by the event, since it restored him to the monarchy.

[Sidenote: 1357 to 1363.]

It was impossible for this weak and unscrupulous prince to win the esteem of the Swedes. He hated them because they had deposed him; and to be revenged on them, he entered into a close alliance with Valdemar of Denmark. Valdemar, to whom he ceded Scania, became, as we have before related, the willing instrument of that vengeance in the sack of Wisby and in other depredations.[178] This was not the way to acquire popularity: he and the whole Danish nation were soon detested; nor was the feeling diminished when the secret transpired of a projected union between the king’s son, Hako of Norway, and Margaret, the daughter of Valdemar. To prevent this obnoxious alliance, the nobles arose, imprisoned Magnus in the fortress of Calmar, called on Hako to assume the administration, and made him promise not only that he would renounce all connection with Denmark, but marry Elizabeth, sister of Henry count of Holstein. Though HAKO II. (the sixth of Norway) engaged to fulfil the wishes of the diet, neither he nor his father, who was soon enlarged, had the least intention to do so. On the contrary, they renewed their connection still more closely with the obnoxious Valdemar. The manner in which Elizabeth was deluded by that monarch until the marriage of his daughter with Hako was celebrated, has been already described.

[Sidenote: 1363.]

Nothing could exceed the anger of the Swedes, or rather of a considerable faction (for the majority were passive) when they heard of this marriage. Determined to exclude both father and son, they invited Henry of Holstein, who was connected with the royal line, to ascend the throne. But Henry was an old man; and he would not risk his tranquillity for an object that he could not long enjoy. He recommended the electors to make choice of Albert duke of Mecklenburg, whose mother was the sister of Magnus. But the duke had no wish to rule a divided, turbulent people; nor did he wish his eldest son to undertake the perilous charge. He had, however, a second son, also named Albert, who had nothing to lose, and whom he recommended to the suffrages of the electors.

[Sidenote: 1364 to 1371.]

ALBERT arrived at Stockholm early in 1364. That city was in the interests of Magnus, and for a time it resisted; but he forced or persuaded it to capitulate. There he was joined by most of the nobles who were discontented with Magnus. Their first act was to renew the deposition of the one; their next, to confirm the election of the other. Hako, then in Norway, prepared to invade the kingdom; and Magnus, who had still a party, effected a junction with him. Their army being augmented by a considerable number of Danes, they penetrated into Upland. But Albert, on his side, hastened to oppose them; and in a battle of some magnitude, victory the most decisive inclined to his standard: Magnus was taken prisoner; Hako was wounded and compelled to retreat with expedition into his own kingdom. The fortresses which held for the two princes were next reduced; two or three of them only made a vigorous defence. But Valdemar of Denmark, whose interest lay in disturbing the kingdom, sent, from time to time, supplies of troops, which harassed the king. Peace with that formidable rival was felt to be necessary for the repose of the realm, and it was purchased by the cession of some domains. Among them was the isle of Gothland with Wisby the capital. That these cessions were unwillingly made, may be easily conceived; and to procure their restoration, Albert entered into a close league with the enemies of Denmark. The war was consequently renewed. While his allies assailed other parts of Denmark, he invaded Scania, a portion of which he reduced. But little time was left him for exultation. Hako of Norway invaded Sweden, defeated him, and compelled him to throw himself into Stockholm, which was closely invested. In this extremity he proposed an interview, in which the conditions of peace were agreed on. Magnus was enlarged for a ransom of 12,000 marks; and in return for his cession of the Swedish crown, he received as fiefs West Gothland, Vermeland, and Dalia. He was, however, to have no share in the administration of these provinces, but merely to receive the revenues with the title of governor; and the rest of his days he was to pass in Norway. Lest he should break this, with as much levity as he had broken all his former engagements, sixty gentlemen of his party were to surrender themselves prisoners to Albert, if he should again disturb the peace of the realm. He did not disturb it, because he was soon afterwards drowned in crossing a ford.

[Sidenote: 1371 to 1376.]

For some years after this pacification Albert enjoyed comparative security. But he was not popular: he brought over many greedy Germans to share in the spoils of the kingdom; and exhibited in their favour a partiality so gross as much to indispose the nation against him. Like a true German, indeed, he had little regard for any thing beyond his immediate interests, and those of his family. Insecure as was his possession of Sweden, he raised troops to support the claims of his nephew, Albert of Mecklenburg, to the Danish throne, in opposition to Olaf, the son of Margaret and Hako.[179] The enterprise failed: the armament that was sent against the Danes was mostly destroyed by a storm; and there was no disposition to renew the contest.

[Sidenote: 1377 to 1387.]

The gross partiality of Albert for his foreign mercenaries was not the only fault he committed. Having a high notion of the kingly prerogative, he endeavoured to rule without the control of the diet. For his attempt to restrain the privileges of the nobles he would deserve our praise, were not his motives of the most selfish character. The people had still more reason to complain. Not only were they subject to a tyranny odious as that of the nobles, but they were ground to the earth by new imposts, and, what was still more mortifying, for the enrichment of avaricious foreigners. In this state of the public mind, he convoked a diet at Stockholm, and demanded an augmentation of his income. It was not, he observed, adequate to the decent support of royalty; and he solicited one third of the whole revenue, civil and ecclesiastical. Nothing could equal the indignant surprise of the diet at this extraordinary demand. They replied that former kings had found the usual revenues enough, not merely for comfort but for splendour; and intimated that if he was straitened, the cause lay in the number of foreigners whom he enriched. This intimation might have been expected to produce some good effect; but it had none on this imprudent king except to exasperate him, and to make him resolve that he would wrest by force what had been refused to his solicitations. In vain did both nobles and clergy cry aloud against his arbitrary purpose: in vain did they call upon him to respect the privileges which he had sworn to maintain; he persevered, and consequently plunged the kingdom into a ruinous civil war.

[Sidenote: 1388 to 1389.]

At this time Margaret, who had succeeded to her son Olaf, was sovereign of Denmark and Norway. To her the malcontents applied for aid, which she would not afford them, unless they acknowledged her for their queen. The condition was accepted: an army of Danes marched into Sweden, and was immediately joined by many of the nobles and clergy. The lower classes of the population—those who contributed little to the support of the state—were indifferent to the result, or if they had any bias, it was in favour of Albert—not from any attachment to him, but from dislike of the nobles. At Falkoping, in West Gothland, however, a good stand was made by his army, consisting not merely of Swedes but of Germans, and many adventurers whom the offer of large pay and the hope of plunder had drawn to his standard. But after a desperate conflict, he was defeated, and captured, together with his son. Both were committed to a fortress, where, notwithstanding the efforts of their German allies, and those of their own party, they remained above six years; nor did they obtain their enlargement without a solemn renunciation of the Swedish crown.

With MARGARET, sovereign of three kingdoms, begins a new era in Northern history.

APPENDIX.

(See page 184.)

------------------

(_From Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints._)

ST. CANUTUS, KING OF DENMARK, M.[180]

From his life, faithfully written by Ælnoth, a monk of Canterbury, who had lived twenty-four years in Denmark, and wrote in 1105. It was printed at Copenhagen, in 1602. See also Saxo Grammaticus, the most elegant and judicious of the Danish historians.

A. D. 1086.

ST. CANUTUS, or KNUT, the fourth of that name, king of Denmark, was natural son of Swein III. whose great uncle Canutus had reigned in England. Swein, having no lawful issue, took care of the education of Canutus, who being endowed with excellent qualities both of mind and body, answered perfectly well the care of his preceptors and governors. It is hard to say whether he excelled more in courage, or in conduct and skill in war; but his singular piety perfectly eclipsed all his other endowments. He scoured the seas of pirates, and subdued several neighbouring provinces which infested Denmark with their incursions. The kingdom of Denmark was elective till the year 1660; wherefore, when Swein died, many pitched upon our saint, whose eminent virtues best qualified him for the throne; but the majority, fearing his martial spirit, preferred his eldest natural brother Harald, the seventh king of that name, who, for his stupidity and vices, was commonly called the Slothful. Canutus retired into Sweden to king Halstan, who received him with the greatest marks of kindness and esteem; but the king could never induce him to undertake any expedition against Denmark; on the contrary, the Christian hero employed all his power and interest in the service of his country. Harald dying after two years’ reign, Canutus was called to succeed him.

Denmark had received the Christian faith long before, some say in 826, but wanted a zealous hand at the helm, to put the finishing stroke to that good work. St. Canutus seems to have been pitched upon by Providence for this purpose. He began his reign by a successful war against the troublesome barbarous enemies of the state, and by planting the faith in the conquered provinces of Courland, Samogitia, and Livonia. Amidst the glory of his victories, he humbly prostrated himself at the foot of the crucifix, laying there his diadem, and offering himself and his kingdom to the King of kings. After having provided for its peace and safety, and enlarged its territories, he married Eltha, or Alice, daughter of Robert earl of Flanders, by whom he had a pious son, St. Charles, surnamed the Good, afterward also earl of Flanders. His next concern was to reform abuses at home. For this purpose, he enacted severe, but necessary laws, for the strict administration of justice, and repressed the violence and tyranny of the great, without respect of persons. He countenanced and honoured holy men, granted many privileges and immunities to the clergy, to enhance the people’s esteem of them; and omitted nothing to convince them of their obligation to provide for their subsistence by the payment of tithes. His charity and tenderness towards his subjects made him study by all possible ways to ease them of their burdens, and make them a happy people. He showed a royal magnificence in building and adorning churches, and gave the crown which he wore, of exceeding great value, to the church of Roschild, in Zealand, his capital city, and the place of his residence, where the kings of Denmark are yet buried. He chastised his body with fasting, discipline, and hair-cloths. Prayer was his assiduous exercise. When William the Conqueror had made himself master of England, Canutus sent forces to assist the vanquished: but these troops finding no one willing to join them, were easily defeated in the year 1069. Some time after, being invited by the conquered English, he raised an army to invade this island, and expel the Normans; but through the treacherous practices of his brother Olas, or Olaus, was obliged to wait so long on the coast that his troops deserted him. The pious king, having always in view the service of God, and judging this a proper occasion to induce the people to pay tithes to their pastors, he proposed to them either to pay a heavy fine, by way of punishment for their desertion, or submit to the law of tithes for the pastors of the church. Their aversion to the latter made them choose the tax, to the great mortification of the king, who, hoping they would change their resolution, ordered it to be levied with rigour. But they, being incensed at the severity of the collectors, rebelled. St. Canutus retired for safety into the isle of Fionia, and was hindered from joining his loyal troops, by the treachery of one Blanco, an officer, who, to deceive him, assured his majesty that the rebels were returned to their duty. The king went to the church of St. Alban, the martyr, to perform his devotions, and return God thanks for that happy event. This the rebels being informed of by Blanco, they surrounded the church with him at their head. In the mean time the holy king, perceiving the danger that threatened his life, confessed his sins at the foot of the altar, with great tranquillity and resignation, and received the holy communion. His guards defended the church doors, and Blanco was slain by them. The rebels threw in bricks and stones, through the windows, by which they beat down the shrines of certain relics of St. Alban and St. Oswald, which St. Canutus had brought over from England. The saint, stretching out his arms before the altar, fervently recommended his soul into the hands of the Creator; in which posture he was wounded with a javelin darted through the window, and fell a victim to Christ. His brother Benedict, and seventeen others, were slain with him, on the 10th of July, 1086, as Ælnoth, a contemporary author, testifies, who has specified the date of all the events with the utmost exactness. His wicked brother Olas succeeded him in the kingdom. God punished the people during eight years and three months of his reign with a dreadful famine, and other calamities; and attested the sanctity of the martyr, by many miraculous cures of the sick at his tomb. For which reason his relics were taken up out of their obscure sepulchre, and honourably entombed towards the end of the reign of Olas. His successor, Eric III., a most religious prince, restored piety and religion, with equal courage and success, and sent ambassadors to Rome, with proofs of the miracles performed, and obtained from the pope a declaration, authorising the veneration of St. Canutus, the proto-martyr of Denmark. Upon this occasion a most solemn translation of his relics, which were put in a most costly shrine, was performed, at which Ælnoth, our historian, was present. He adds, that the first preachers of the faith in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, were English priests; that the Danes then zealously embraced the Christian religion, but that the Swedes still continued more obstinate, among whom Eschill, an Englishman, received the crown of martyrdom, whilst he was preaching Christ to certain savage tribes.

END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

FOOTNOTES.

Footnote 1:

Vol. I. p. 175.

Footnote 2:

See Vol. I. p. 178.

Footnote 3:

Ibid. 176, 178, 179.

Footnote 4:

Vol. I. p. 187.

Footnote 5:

Ibid. p. 188.

Footnote 6:

See Vol. I. p. 216.

Footnote 7:

Ibid. p. 320.

Footnote 8:

See “The Fatal Sisters.”

Footnote 9:

The materials for the preceding section are derived from the Orkneyinga Saga; Snorro, Heimskringla; Johnstone, Antiquitates Celto-Scindicæ.

Footnote 10:

The preceding section is derived from, 1. Torfœus, Islandia Antiqua; 2. Ditto, Historia Rerum Norvegicarum; 3. Snorro, Heimskringla; 4. The Landnamabok, seu Origines Islandorum; 5. Schlegel, Comment. de Codice Gragas.; 6. Wharton, History of the Northmen.

Footnote 11:

Snorro, Saga af Olafi Tryggva-Syni; Heimskringla (multis locis); Torfœus, Vinlandia Antiqua; Adamas Bremensis, De Situ Daniæ; Malte Brun, Géographie; Pontoppidan, Gesta et Ventigia Danorum extra Daniam.

Footnote 12:

Karamzin, tom. i.

Footnote 13:

Karamzin, Histoire de Russia; Levesque, Histoire; Pontoppidan, Gesta et Vestigia.

Footnote 14:

Pontoppidan, Gesta et Vestigia Danorum extra Daniam. The best account of the piratical exploits of the Northmen in France is in the Roman de Rou of Wace, and, the Chronique of Benoit de St. Maur. Their exploits in Spain are mentioned both by the Mohammedan and Christian writers. Their exploits in Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, and the coast of Britain, are contained in the Sagas; but these abound so much in wild fiction that it is difficult to separate the true from the false.

Footnote 15:

The authorities for the present chapter are,—1. Edda Sæmundar hins Froda; Edda Rythmica seu Antiquior vulgo Sæmundina dicta: pars i. 1787, pars ii. 1818, pars iii. 1828. Havniæ.—2. Edda Snorronis à Rask. Coben. 1818.—3. Mallet, Introduction à l’Histoire de Dannemarc, tom. i. and ii.—4. Percy, Notes to the Northern Antiquities.—5. Wheaton, History of the Northmen.—6. Pigott, Manual of Scandinavian Mythology.—7. Foreign Quarterly Review, Nos. 3 and 7.—8. Notes of Stephanius to his edition of Saxo Grammaticus.

Footnote 16:

Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. ii., appendix.

Footnote 17:

See Vol. I. p. 51.

Footnote 18:

Mr. Wheaton.

Footnote 19:

See before, page 31.

Footnote 20:

See before, page 14.

Footnote 21:

See before, page 34.

Footnote 22:

Geijr, Svea Bikes Häfder, tom. i. p. 339.

Footnote 23:

See Vol. I. p. 91–99.

Footnote 24:

See before, page 35.

Footnote 25:

Pigott’s translation, p. 95.

Footnote 26:

See Vol. I. p. 54.

Footnote 27:

See Vol. I. p. 46.

Footnote 28:

Thorlacius Noget om Thor og hans Hammer, in the Skandinavisk Museum for 1803.

Footnote 29:

Thorlacius ut supra, says the thundering Thor was regarded as particularly inimical to the Skovtrolds, against whom he continually employed his mighty weapon. He thinks the _Bidental_ of the Romans, and the rites connected with it, seem to suppose a similar superstition, and that in the well-known passage of Horace,

Tu parum castis inimica mittes Fulmina lucis,

the words _parum castis lucis_ may mean groves or parts of woods, the haunt of unclean spirits or Skovtrolds, _satyri lascivi et salaces_.

Footnote 30:

The analogy of Deev, and other words of like import, might lead to the supposition of Spirit being the primary meaning of Alf.

Footnote 31:

It is probably derived from an obsolete verb νύβω, the Latin _nubo_ signifying to _veil_ or cover; hence _nubes_, clouds. In Homer (II. iii. 130.), Iris says to Helen,

_Δεῦρ’ ἵθι, νύμφα φίλη_.

The preceding and following notes are also from Mr. Keightley.

Footnote 32:

Keightley’s Fairy Mythology, vol. i.

Footnote 33:

Keightley’s Fairy Mythology, vol. i.

Footnote 34:

Keightley, vol. i.

Footnote 35:

See Vol. I. p. 32.

Footnote 36:

Keightley, vol. i.

Footnote 37:

See Vol. I. p. 49.

Footnote 38:

Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 3.

Footnote 39:

See Vol. I. p. 48.

Footnote 40:

See Vol. I. p. 31.

Footnote 41:

See Vol. I. p. 35.

Footnote 42:

Cæsar, de Bello Gallico, lib. i.

Footnote 43:

See before, p. 78.

Footnote 44:

See Vol. I. p. 229.

Footnote 45:

See Vol. I. p. 176.

Footnote 46:

See Vol. I. p. 180.

Footnote 47:

See Vol. I. p. 181.

Footnote 48:

Schefferi Historia Lapponica, cap. ix.

Footnote 49:

See Vol. I. p. 30–42.

Footnote 50:

Heimskringla, tom. i.

Footnote 51:

Wheaton, p. 117.

Footnote 52:

See Vol. I. p. 54.

Footnote 53:

See before, p. 61.

Footnote 54:

See Vol. I. p. 86.

Footnote 55:

See before, p. 55.

Footnote 56:

Schefferi Historia Lapponica.

Footnote 57:

Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. ii. Appendix.

Footnote 58:

See before, p. 56.

Footnote 59:

See Vol. I. p. 91–99.

Footnote 60:

The great, the mysterious Ash Yggrasid, under which Odin and the twelve Aser were accustomed to administer justice.

Footnote 61:

Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 62:

See before, p. 87.

Footnote 63:

Great Ormshead in Denbighshire; _orm_ being the Danish, and, indeed, the old English, for a worm. Another, entering the Bristol Channel, is called “The Worm’s Head.”

Footnote 64:

Mr. Pigott, p. 82.

Footnote 65:

See before, p. 47.

Footnote 66:

See Vol. I. p. 98.

Footnote 67:

Page 91.

Footnote 68:

See Vol. I. p. 95.

Footnote 69:

Idem, p. 98.

Footnote 70:

Heimdal, the wonder of the gods, whose station was at the summit of Bifrost.

Footnote 71:

Alluding evidently to the seven colours of the rainbow, which was no other than Bifrost.

Footnote 72:

Ohlenschlager, Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 73:

Why does Mr. Pigott, in his excellent manual of Scandinavian mythology, follow Ohlenschlager so much, instead of the prose Edda? This latter work is but a modernised amplification, a paraphrastic explanation, of the poetic Edda. To follow a still more paraphrastic moderniser, the Danish poet, is to destroy the very spirit of the mythos.

Footnote 74:

The meaning of this word is doubtful: it is another name for Thor.

Footnote 75:

Vol. 1. p. 182.

Footnote 76:

We must again express our regret that Mr. Pigott, in his otherwise excellent work, should have paid so little attention to the elder Edda, and so much to Ohlenschlager.

Footnote 77:

The Dovre-fieldt is one of the loftiest parts of the great Scandinavian chain of mountains, and Sneehattan its highest peak.

Footnote 78:

Wadmel is a kind of coarse cloth made in Iceland, and worn universally by the peasants in Norway and Denmark.

Footnote 79:

The name of the great Ash.

Footnote 80:

Pigott’s Manual of Scandinavian Mythology.

Footnote 81:

See before, p. 105.

Footnote 82:

This expression, we suppose, is for the sake of the metre.

Footnote 83:

The keys hung from the girdle of a housewife. They were wanted, we suppose, in Giant-land, as well as on earth. However, they were a symbol of marriage; and none could be effected without them.

Footnote 84:

Frost giants.

Footnote 85:

The Scandinavians reckoned by _nights_ instead of days, and by _winters_ instead of years.

Footnote 86:

This poem has been thus versified by the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, in his “Select Icelandic Poetry”:—

Wroth waxed Thor, when his sleep was flown, And he found his trusty hammer gone; He smote his brow, his beard he shook, The son of earth ’gan round him look; And this, the first word that he spoke; “Now listen what I tell thee, Loke; Which neither on earth below is known, Nor in Heaven above—my hammer’s gone.” Their way to Freyia’s bower they took, And this, the first word that he spoke; “Thou, Freyia, must lend a winged robe, To seek my hammer round the globe.”

FREYIA (_sung_).—“That shouldst thou have, though ’twere of gold, And that, though ’twere of silver, hold.”[87] Away flew Loke; the wing’d robe sounds, Ere he has left the Asgard grounds, And ere he has reach’d the Jotunheim bounds. High on a mound in haughty state Thrym the king of the Thursi sate; For his dogs he was twisting collars of gold, And trimming the manes of his coursers bold.

THRYM (_sung_).—“How fare the Asi? the Alfi how? Why com’st thou alone to Jotunheim now?”

LOKE (_sung_).—“Ill fare the Asi; the Alfi mourn; Thor’s hammer from him thou hast torn.”

THRYM (_sung_).—“I have the Thunderer’s hammer bound, Fathoms eight beneath the ground; With it shall no one homeward tread, Till he bring me Freyia to share my bed.” Away flew Loke; the wing’d robe sounds, Ere he has left the Jotunheim bounds, And ere he has reach’d the Asgard grounds. At Midgard Thor met crafty Loke, And this the first word that he spoke; “Have you your errand and labour done? Tell from aloft the course you run. For setting oft the story fails, And lying oft the lie prevails.”

LOKE (_sung_).—“My labour is past, mine errand I bring; Thrym has thine hammer, the giant king; With it shall no one homeward tread, Till he bear him Freyia to share his bed.” Their way to lovely Freyia they took, And this the first word that he spoke; “Now Freyia, busk as a blooming bride, Together, we must to Jotunheim ride.” Wroth waxed Freyia with ireful look; All Asgard’s hall with wonder shook; Her great bright necklace started wide. “Well may ye call me a wanton bride, If I with ye to Jotunheim ride.” The Asi did all to council crowd, The Asiniæ all talk’d fast and loud: This they debated, and this they sought, How the hammer of Thor should home be brought. Up then and spoke Heimdallar free, Like the Vani, wise was he; “Now busk[88] we Thor, as a bride so fair; Let him that great bright necklace wear; Round him let ring the spousal keys; And a maiden kirtle[89] hang to his knees, And on his bosom jewels rare; And high and quaintly braid his hair.” Wroth waxed Thor with godlike pride; “Well may the Asi me deride, If I let me dight[90], as a blooming bride.” Then up spoke Loke, Laufeyia’s son; “Now hush thee, Thor; this must be done: The giants will strait in Asgard reign, If thou thine hammer dost not regain.” Then busk’d they Thor, as a bride so fair, And the great bright necklace gave him to wear; Round him let ring the spousal keys, And a maiden kirtle hang to his knees, And on his bosom jewels rare; And high and quaintly braided his hair. Up then arose the crafty Loke, Laufeyia’s son, and thus he spoke; “A servant I thy steps will tend, Together we must to Jotunheim wend.” Now home the goats together hie; Yoked to the axle they swiftly fly. The mountains shook, the earth burn’d red, As Odin’s sons to Jotunheim sped. Then Thrym the king of the Thursi said; “Giants, stand up; let the seats be spread: Bring Freyia Niorder’s daughter down To share my bed from Noatun. With horns all gilt each coal-black beast Is led to deck the giant’s feast; Large wealth and jewels have I stored; I lack but Freyia to grace my board.” Betimes at evening they approach’d, And the mantling ale the giants broach’d. The spouse of Sifia ate alone Eight salmons, and an ox full-grown. And all the cates, on which women feed; And drank three firkins of sparkling mead. Then Thrym the king of the Thursi said; “Where have ye beheld such a hungry maid? Ne’er saw I a bride so keenly feed, Nor drink so deep of the sparkling mead.” Then forward leant the crafty Loke, And thus the giant he bespoke; “Nought has she eat for eight long nights, So did she long for the nuptial rites.” He stoop’d beneath her veil to kiss, But he started the length of the hall, I wiss. “Why are the looks of Freyia so dire? It seems as her eyeballs glistened with fire.” Then forward leant the crafty Loke, And thus the giant he bespoke; “Nought has she slept for eight long nights, So did she long for the nuptial rites.” Then in the giant’s sister came, Who dared a bridal gift to claim; “Those rings of gold from thee I crave, If thou wilt all my fondness have, All my love and fondness have.” Then Thrym the king of the Thursi said; “Bear in the hammer to plight the maid; Upon her lap the bruizer lay, And firmly plight our hands and fay.”[91] The Thunderer’s soul smiled in his breast, When the hammer hard on his lap was placed; Thrym first the king of the Thursi he slew, And slaughter’d all the giant crew. He slew that giant’s sister old, Who pray’d for bridal gifts so bold. Instead of money and rings, I wot, The hammer’s bruises were her lot. Thus Odin’s son his hammer got.

Footnote 87:

Transcriber’s note: There was no footnote text for this marker.

Footnote 88:

_Busk_, dress.

Footnote 89:

_Kirtle_, a woman’s garment.

Footnote 90:

_Dight_, dressed, adorned.

Footnote 91:

_Fay_, faith.

Footnote 92:

See before, p. 56.

Footnote 93:

See Vol. I. p. 3.

Footnote 94:

Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 95:

See before, p. 57.

Footnote 96:

Ibid. p. 61.

Footnote 97:

Ibid. p. 107.

Footnote 98:

See before, p. 86.

Footnote 99:

How then could Jotunheim be so dark? The reason is afterwards given. Her supernatural beauty illumined the whole country.

Footnote 100:

See before, p. 99.

Footnote 101:

Mr. Herbert has thus versified the expedition of Skirnir:—

“Skirnir, arise! and swiftly run, Where lonely sits our pensive son! Bid him to parley, and enquire, ’Gainst whom he teems with sullen ire.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Ill words, I fear, my lot will prove, If I thy son attempt to move; If I bid parley, and enquire, Why teems his soul with savage ire.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Prince of the gods, and first in fight, Speak, honoured Freyr, and tell me right! Why spends my lord the tedious day In his lone hall to grief a prey?”

FREYR (_sung_).—“O how shall I, fond youth, disclose To thee my bosom’s heavy woes? The ruddy god shines every day, But dull to me his cheerful ray.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Thy sorrows deem not I so great, That thou the tale shouldst not relate. Together sported we in youth, And well may trust each other’s truth.”

FREYR (_sung_).—“In Gymer’s court I saw her move, The maid, who fires my breast with love. Her snow-white arms and bosom fair Shone lovely, kindling sea and air. Dear is she to my wishes more, Than ere was maid to youth before: But gods and elfs[102], I wot it well, Forbid that we together dwell.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Give me that horse of wonderous breed To cross the nightly flame[103] with speed; And that self-brandish’d sword to smite The giant race with strange affright.”

FREYR (_sung_).—“To thee I give this wond’rous steed, To pass the watchful fire with speed; And this, which borne by valiant wight, Self-brandished will his foemen smite.”

SKIRNIR (_addressed to his horse_).—“Dark night is spread; ’tis time, I trow, To climb the mountains hoar with snow. Both shall return, or both remain In durance by the giant ta’en.”

Skirnir rode into Jotunheim to the court of Gymer; furious dogs were tied there before the door of the wooden enclosure, which surrounded Gerda’s bower. He rode towards a shepherd, who was sitting on a mound, and addressed him:

“Shepherd, who sittest on the mound, And turn’st thy watchful eyes around, How may I lull these bloodhounds, say! How speak unharm’d with Gymer’s may!”[104]

THE SHEPHERD (_sung_).—“Whence, and what art thou? doomed to die, Or dead revisitest the sky? For ride by night, or ride by day, Thou ne’er shalt come to Gymer’s may.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“I grieve not, I; a better part Fits him, who boasts a ready heart. At hour of birth our lives were shaped; The doom of fate can ne’er be ’scaped.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“What sounds unknown mine ears invade, Frighting this mansion’s peaceful shade? The earth’s foundation rocks withal, And trembling shakes all Gymer’s hall.”

THE ATTENDANT (_sung_).—“Dismounted stands a warrior sheen; His courser crops the herbage green.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“Haste, bid him to my bower with speed, To quaff unmix’d the pleasant mead: And good betide us![105] for I fear My brother’s murderer is near.— What art thou? Elf, or Asian son? Or from the wiser Vanians sung? Alone to visit our abode O’er bickering flames why hast thou rode?”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Nor Elf am I, nor Asian son; Nor from the wiser Vanians sprung: Yet o’er the bickering flames I rode Alone to visit your abode. Eleven apples here I hold, Gerda, for thee, of purest gold; Let this fair gift thy bosom move To grant young Freyr thy precious love.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“Eleven apples take not I From man, as price of chastity! While life remains, no tongue shall tell, That Freyr and I together dwell.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Gerda, for thee this wonderous ring Burnt on young Balder’s pile I bring; On each ninth night shall other eight Drop from it, all of equal weight.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“I take not, I, that wonderous ring, Though it from Balder’s pile you bring. Gold lack not I in Gymer’s bower; Enough for me my father’s dower.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Behold this bright and slender brand Unsheath’d and glittering in my hand; Deny not, maiden! lest thine head Be sever’d by the trenchant blade.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“Gerda will ne’er by force be led To grace a conqueror’s hateful bed: But this, I trow, with main and might Gymer shall meet thy boast in fight.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Behold this bright and slender brand Unsheath’d, and glittering in my hand! Slain by its edge thy sire shall lie; That giant old is doom’d to die. E’en as I list, the magic wand Shall tame thee! Lo, with charmed hand I touch thee, Maid! There shalt thou go, Where never man shall learn thy woe. On some high pointed rock forlorn Like eagle[106] shalt thou sit at morn; Turn from the world’s all-cheering light, And seek the deep abyss of night: Food shall to thee more loathly show, Than slimy serpent[107] creeping slow. When forth thou com’st, a hideous sight, Each wondering eye shall stare with fright. By all observ’d, yet sad and lone; ’Mongst shivering[108] Thursians wider known, Than him, who sits unmoved on high, The Guard of heaven with sleepless eye. ’Mid charms, and chains, and restless woe, Thy tears with double grief shall flow. Now seat thee, Maid, while I declare Thy tide of sorrow and despair. Thy bower shall be some Giant’s cell, Where phantoms pale shall with thee dwell. Each day to the cold Thursian’s hall Comfortless, wretched, shalt thou crawl; Instead of joy and pleasure gay, Sorrow and tears and sad dismay; With some three-headed Thursian wed, Or pine upon a lonely bed. From morn till morn love’s secret fire Shall gnaw thine heart With vain desire; Like barren root of thistle pent, In some high ruin’d battlement. O’er shady hill, through greenwood round, I sought this wand; the wand I found. Odin is wroth, and mighty Thor; E’en Freyr shall now thy name abhor. But ere o’er thine ill-fated head The last dread curse of heaven be spread, Giants and Thursians far and near, Suttungur’s[109] sons, and Asians, hear, How I forbid with fatal ban This maid the joys, the fruit of man! Cold Grimmer is that giant hight Who thee shall hold in realms of night; Where slaves in cups of twisted roots Shall bring foul beverage from the goats: Nor sweeter draught, nor blither fare, Shalt thou, sad virgin, ever share. ’Tis done! I wind the mystic charm; Thus, thus, I trace the giant form; And three fell characters below, Fury, and Lust, and restless Woe. E’en as I wound, I straight unwind This fatal spell, if thou art kind.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“Now hail, now hail, thou warrior bold! Take, take this cup of crystal cold, And quaff the pure metheglin old! Yet deem’d I ne’er, that love could bind To Vanian youth my hostile mind.”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“I turn not home to bower or hall, Till I have learnt mine errand all; Where thou wilt yield the night of joy To brave Niorder’s gallant boy.”

GERDA (_sung_).—“Barri is hight the seat of love; Nine nights elapsed, in that known grove, Shall brave Niorder’s gallant boy From Gerda take the kiss of joy.”

Then rode Skirnir home. Freyr stood forth and hailed him, and asked what tidings.

“Speak; Skirnir, speak, and tell with speed! Take not the harness from thy steed, Nor stir thy foot, till thou hast said, How fares my love with Gymer’s maid!”

SKIRNIR (_sung_).—“Barri is hight the seat of love; Nine nights elapsed, in that known grove, To brave Niorder’s gallant boy Will Gerda yield the kiss of joy.”

FREYR (_sung_).—“Long is one night, and longer twain; But how for three endure my pain! A month of rapture sooner flies, Than half one night of wishful sighs.”

Footnote 102:

Asi and Alfi.

Footnote 103:

The bower of Gerda was surrounded with fire.

Footnote 104:

_May_, maid.

Footnote 105:

The duties of hospitality were held so sacred amongst the northern nations, that Gerda would not refuse admittance to Skirnir, though she imagined him to be her greatest enemy.

Footnote 106:

Eagles are said to sit without moving for a long time upon some high eminence in the morning.

Footnote 107:

Perhaps alluding to the serpent of Midgard in the Icelandic Mythology.

Footnote 108:

_Hrim-thursar._ _Hrim_ (_Anglicè rime_) was spoken with a guttural aspiration; and probably _Crim-Tartary_, the former seat of the Asi, was so called from its cold.

Footnote 109:

Suttungur, the son of Gilling, was a giant, and possessed the liquor of poetry, which he had gained from the dwarfs. It is related in the Edda, that the Asi and Vani, having been long at war, made peace, and spit into a vase. From this the gods formed Kuaser, a person of exceeding learning; and the dwarfs mixed his blood with honey, and so made the liquor of poetry. The Vani were a Grecian colony, and this fable seems to imply that both the learning and the poetry of the North was partly of Greek origin. Odin, under the feigned name of Bolverk, entered into the service of Bauge, brother of Suttungur, and drank up the liquor. A small quantity of it, which he spilt, was scattered amongst men. It is observable, that the name of _Suttungur_, from whom Odin gained this liquor, may denote that he derived his poetry from the _Southern tongues_.

Footnote 110:

O, it came o’er mine ear like the sweet south, That breathes upon a bank of violets.

_Twelfth Night_, Act i., Sc. 2.

Footnote 111:

Freya’s daughters were Hnos and Gersime. Siofna was only one of her followers.

Footnote 112:

Ohlenschlager, Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 113:

Ohlenschlager, Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 114:

See before, p. 116.

Footnote 115:

Alluding not to any degree of consanguinity, but to a sworn covenant of brotherhood.

Footnote 116:

See Vol. I. p. 98.

Footnote 117:

Vol I. p. 42.

Footnote 118:

See Vol. I. p. 51.

Footnote 119:

See before, p. 101.

Footnote 120:

Transcriber’s Note: The text for this footnote marker is missing.

Footnote 121:

The first was the death of Balder.

Footnote 122:

In another place a ravenous wolf tormented the souls of the damned.

Footnote 123:

The great serpent.

Footnote 124:

Runes.

Footnote 125:

Pigott’s translation.

Footnote 126:

The authorities for this section are:—Vita S. Anscharié; Vita S. Remberti (both in Bollandus, Acta SS., and in Langebek, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum); Ornjolm, Historia Ecclesiastica Sueciæ.

Footnote 127:

Who was he? Loccenius and most Swedish writers (who are followed by our Universal History), tell us that he was Olaf Trætelia. Yet that prince had been dead two centuries. Neither could it be Olaf Skotkonung, who did not reign until two centuries afterwards—always supposing that any dependence is to be placed on the chronology of the Scandinavians. Yet an Olaf did reign at this period; and this only illustrates what we observed in the first volume as to the confusion so evident in all the regal lists.

Footnote 128:

Europe during the Middle Ages (Cab. Cyc.), vol. ii.

Footnote 129:

See Vol. I. p. 108.

Footnote 130:

The chief authorities for this chapter are:—Saxonis Grammatici Historia Dancia, lib. x. ad fin.; Suenonis Aggonis, cap. 4., &c.; Knytlinga Saga; many of the treatises in Langebek’s Scriptores Rerum Danicarum; Mallet, Histoire de Dannemarc, tom. iii. and iv.; Meursius, Historia Danica; Torfœus, Series Dynastarum et Regum Daniæ; Suhm, Historie af Dannemarc; Adamus Bremensis, Historia Ecclesiastica; with the historians of Germany.

Footnote 131:

See Vol. I. p. 237.

Footnote 132:

Vol. I. p. 267.

Footnote 133:

Vol. I. p. 270.

Footnote 134:

Europe during the Middle Ages (Cab. Cyc.), vol. iii.

Footnote 135:

Canute, king of all Denmark, England, and Norway, and of part of Sweden, to Egelnoth the metropolitan, to archbishop Alfric, to all the bishops and chiefs, and to all the nation of the English, both nobles and commoners, greeting. I write to inform you that I have lately been at Rome, _to pray for the remission of my sins_, and for the safety of my kingdoms, and of the nations that are subject to my sceptre. It is long since I bound myself by vow to make this pilgrimage; but I had been hitherto prevented by affairs of state and other impediments. Now, however, I return humble thanks to the Almighty God, that he has allowed me to visit the tombs of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and every holy place within and without the city of Rome, and to honour and venerate them in person. And this I have done, because I had learned from my teachers that the apostle St. Peter received from the Lord the great power of binding and loosing, with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. _On this account, I thought it highly useful to solicit his patronage with God._ Be it moreover known to you, that there was, at the festival of Easter, a great assemblage of noble personages, with the lord the pope John, and the emperor Conrad, namely, all the chiefs of the nations from Mount Gargano to the nearest sea, who all received me honourably, and made me valuable presents; but particularly the emperor, who gave me many gold and silver vases, with rich mantles and garments. I therefore took the opportunity to treat with the pope, the emperor, and the princes, on the grievances of my people, both English and Danes; that they might enjoy more equal law, and more secure safeguard in their way to Rome, nor be detained at so many barriers, nor harassed by unjust exactions. My demands were granted both by the emperor and by king Rodulf, who rules most of the passages; and it was enacted by all the princes, that my _men_, whether pilgrims or merchants, should, for the future, go to Rome and return in full security, without detention at the barriers, or the payment of unlawful tolls. I next complained to the pope, and expressed my displeasure, that such immense sums should be extorted from my archbishops, when according to custom they visited the apostolic see to obtain the pallium. A decree was made that this grievance should cease. Whatever I demanded for the benefit of my people, either of the pope, or the emperor, or the princes, through whose dominions lies the road to Rome, was granted willingly, and confirmed by their oaths, in the presence of four archbishops, twenty bishops, and a multitude of dukes and nobles. Wherefore I return sincere thanks to God that I have successfully performed whatever I had intended, and have fully satisfied all my wishes. Now, therefore, be it known to you all, that I have dedicated my life to the service of God, to govern my kingdoms with equity, and to observe justice in all things. _If by the impetuosity or negligence of youth, I have violated justice heretofore, it is my intention, by the help of God, to make full compensation._ Therefore I beg and command those to whom I have confided the rule, as they wish to preserve my friendship or save their own souls, to do no injustice either to rich or poor. Let all persons, whether noble or ignoble, obtain their rights according to law, from which no deviation shall be allowed, either from fear of me, or through favour to the powerful, or for the purpose of supplying my treasury. I have no need of money raised by injustice. I am now on my road to Denmark, for the purpose of concluding peace with those nations, who, had it been in their power, would have deprived us both of our crown and our life. But God has destroyed their means: and will, I trust, of his goodness preserve us, and humble all our enemies. When I shall have concluded peace with the neighbouring nations, and settled the concerns of my eastern dominions, it is my intention to return to England as soon as the fine weather will permit me to sail. But I have sent you this letter beforehand, that all the people of my kingdom may rejoice at my prosperity. For you all know that I never spared, nor will spare myself, or my labour, when my object is the welfare of my subjects. Lastly, I entreat all my bishops and all my sheriffs, by the fidelity which they owe to me and to God, that the church-dues, according to the ancient laws, may be paid before my return; namely, the plough alms, the tithes of cattle of the present year, the Peter-pence, the tithes of fruit in the middle of August, and the kirk-shot at the feast of St. Martin, to the parish church. Should this be omitted, at my return I will punish the offender, by exacting the whole fine imposed by law. Fare ye well.

Footnote 136:

See Europe during the Middle Ages, vol. iii. chap. i.; and, History of the Germanic Empire, vol. i.

Footnote 137:

See Vol. I. p. 273.

Footnote 138:

Vol. I. p. 267.

Footnote 139:

Mr. Herbert says it was _successful_, and that the virgin was plighted to him. Certainly _his_ translation agrees better with the tenor of that piece than that of Dr. Bowring in Wheaton.

Footnote 140:

Harald is said to have been a poet, and to have sung his own exploits. The piece (Harald’s song) has been thus translated by Bowring:—

1. “Our ships[141] along Sicilia plied, In those our days of strength and pride, And Venger’s Stag[142] the warriors carried Still on and on—nor ever tarried. No craven coward, well I wis, E’er track’d a dangerous path like this. Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid![143] Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.

2. * * * * * * * * *

3. “We baled the ship—we, six and ten, As broke the mighty seas again— As rushed the billows at our feet, While toiling on the rowers’ seat No craven coward, well I wis, E’er track’d a dangerous way like this. Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid! Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.

4. “Eight[144] virtues have I—I can pour Out Odin’s drink—and forge the ore— Upon the active horse can ride: And I can breast the ocean-tide, And I can glide on skates of snow, And I can shoot, and I can row. Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid! Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.

5. “Can widow, or can maid gainsay, That we have clash’d our swords in fray, That we have sought the Southern land, And forced the city with our band? At break of day our foes were slain— And still the vestiges remain. Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid! Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.

6. “And I was born in mountains where The highland heroes wield the spear. My war-ships, fear’d by men of flocks, I guide across the ocean-rocks, And long o’er ocean’s waves have bounded, And many an ocean-isle surrounded. Yet Gardar’s Gerda—gold-ring’d maid! Flings scorn upon the hero’s head.”

It had before been translated by several writers, especially by Mr. Herbert, in a very different manner: that gentleman, however, had not seen the original Knytlinga Saga.

Footnote 141:

In the original—the planks—the keel.

Footnote 142:

Venger—a Vikingr of old times—the Stag, his battle-ship.

Footnote 143:

The alliteration of the original line, and its peculiar poetic beauty, which consists in an allusion to one of the fables of the Northern mythology, is happily preserved in this translation. Gardar-rike—Russia, the Russian land. Gerda, a mythic poetic name for Harald’s mistress Elizabeth. Gerda was the beloved of Freyr, the god of the sun, whose love was so long resisted by Gerda. Freyr had also offered to Gerda a golden ring—hence the allusion.—_F. Magnussen_, Lex. Myt. Bor. 116. 439.

Footnote 144:

Yet only seven are enumerated. Professor F. Magnussen supposes the original second line may have been

Oð fet ek lið, at smiða.

Which may be rendered—I make verses—I arrange the battle—I forge (or smith) the ore.

(These notes are from Wheaton, p. 343.)

Footnote 145:

We merely _allude_ to English occurrences, the detail of which must be sought in our own history.

Footnote 146:

Harald, Canute, Olaf, Eric, Nicholas or Niels.

Footnote 147:

Mallet, tom. iii.

Footnote 148:

But was she not his step-daughter? Had he married the _mother_ Gunhilda some years before, and lost her by death? We are not very clear as to the degree of affinity.

Footnote 149:

See Vol. I. p. 268.

Footnote 150:

For the way in which history is sometimes perverted to suit party purposes, we gave a good illustration in the Appendix to Vol. I. That of St. Canute (see the Appendix to the present volume) is scarcely better. It contains nearly as many inaccuracies as there are sentences.

Footnote 151:

The Vandals were certainly of Slavonic stock. The name, however, though constantly used by the Danish historians, is not the best that might be used.

Footnote 152:

See before, p. 185.

Footnote 153:

See the chapter on that kingdom.

Footnote 154:

See before, p. 201.

Footnote 155:

For the exploits of this prince, see History of Russia, Vol. I. (_Cab. Cyc._), one of the most judicious historical compendiums we have ever seen.

Footnote 156:

So called from his frequent use of the word _mœn_—_certainly_.

Footnote 157:

Known as the _Congesta Menvedi_.

Footnote 158:

Authorities for the present chapter:—Snorronis Sturlonidis Heims-Kringla (in the Sagas of each reign). Torfœus, Historia Rerum Norvegicarum. Saxonis Grammatici Historia Danica. The Chronicles in Langebek, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum. Mallet, Histoire de Daunemarc.

Footnote 159:

According to the chronology of Thorlak, and even Snorro himself, Magnus was invited to Norway _before_ the death of Canute, though in the same year (1035). This is too improbable to be received. Certainly the father of Norwegian history must have confounded dates.

Footnote 160:

See Vol. I. p. 273.

Footnote 161:

See Vol. I. p. 273.

Footnote 162:

See Vol. I. p. 254.

Footnote 163:

For these events, see the commencement of the last chapter.

Footnote 164:

“Suecia enim,” says Snorro, “tunc temporis passim vel ethnica vel male Christiana: reges quinetiam quosdam habuit, qui, abjectâ Christi fide, sacrificia instaurabant.”

Footnote 165:

See the reign of Magnus III.

Footnote 166:

See his reign.

Footnote 167:

See his reign.

Footnote 168:

See before, reign of Hako.

Footnote 169:

Authorities for the present chapter:—Torfœus, Historia Norvegica. Loccenius, Historia Suevica. Olaus Roskildensis, Chronicon. Johannes Magnus, Historia Gothorum. Pontanus, Historia.

Footnote 170:

Vol I. p. 234.

Footnote 171:

Vol I. p. 237.

Footnote 172:

Ibid. p. 249–252.

Footnote 173:

Ibid. p. 254.

Footnote 174:

Ibid. p. 266–272.

Footnote 175:

See the corresponding period in the history of Denmark.

Footnote 176:

See the reigns of Eric VIII. and Christopher II. in the history of Denmark.

Footnote 177:

See the reign of Valdemar III. king of Denmark.

Footnote 178:

For these events, we refer to the corresponding period in Danish history.

Footnote 179:

See the corresponding period in Danish history.

Footnote 180:

For the numerous inaccuracies (to give them the mildest term) in this article, the reader has only to consult the text.

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Transcriber’s note:

○ On page 128 there is a reference to footnote [86], which contains the line “And that, though ’twere silver, hold.” which ends with footnote marker [87], but there was no footnote text.

○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.

○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.

○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book.