Canute the Great Part 10

Sweyn and Thurgot raised this monument in memory of Manna and Sweyn. G.o.d help their souls well. But they lie buried in London.[189]

The sagas are evidently correct in stating that the force of housecarles "had been chosen from many lands, though chiefly from those of the Danish [Old Norse] tongue."

So long had the wealth of England been regarded as legitimate plunder, that the Scandinavian pirates found it difficult to realise that raids in South Britain were things of the past. They now had to reckon, not merely with a sluggish and disorganised militia, but with a strong force of professional warriors in the service and pay of a capable and determined king. In the year 1018, says the German chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg,

the crews of thirty viking ships have been slain in England, thanks be to G.o.d, by the son of Sweyn, the king of the English; and he, who earlier with his father brought invasion and long-continued destruction upon the land, is now its sole defender.[190]

This seems to have been the first and last attempt at piracy in England during the reign of Canute. So far as his dominions extended, viking practices were outlawed. The check that the movement received in 1018 was the beginning of a rapid decline in its strength, and before the close of Canute's reign, the profession of the sea-king was practically destroyed.

The Welsh, too, seem to have found it hard to repress their old habits of raiding the English frontier. It was probably this fact that induced Canute to establish so many earldoms in the Southwest, particularly in the Severn Valley. A few years after the signal defeat of the viking fleet, apparently in 1022, Eglaf, one of the earls on the Welsh border, harried the lands of Southwestern Wales.[191] As the sources nowhere intimate that Canute ever planned to conquer Wales, and as this was evidently the year of Canute's absence in the Baltic lands, the conclusion must be that this expedition was of a punitive character. The Angles and Saxons were soon to learn that the new regime meant a security for the property as well as the persons of loyal and peaceful citizens, such as they had not enjoyed for more than a generation.

FOOTNOTES:

[146] The evidence is late and not of the best; the earliest authority to mention it is Ralph de Diceto who lived a century and a half later.

But see Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, i., Note tt.

[147] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 179.

[148] Steenstrup places his age at twenty-two (_Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 385). Munch thinks that he was several years older. (_Det norske Folks Historie_, I., ii., 126-127).

[149] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, ii., 155. (Vigfusson's translation.)

[150] Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 274.

[151] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1020.

[152] The first recorded absence was in the winter of 1019 and 1020; Canute returned in time for the Easter festivities. The Chronicler tells of another return from Denmark in 1023; as this return was earlier than the translation of Saint Alphege in June, the absence must have been during the winter months. See the _Chronicle_ for these years.

[153] Von Friesen, _Historiska Runinskrifter_ (Fornvannen, 1909), 58.

Von Friesen suggests that the chief Tosti who paid the first geld may have been Skogul-Tosti, the father of Sigrid the Haughty (pp. 71-72).

For other monuments alluding to the Danegeld, see _ibid._, 58, 74-75; Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 267: the osseby Stone.

[154] The statement of the _Chronicle_ (1017) that he divided England into four parts may imply that some sort of sanction was sought from the witan; but such an act would merely recognise accomplished facts.

[155] For the evidence see the author's paper in _American Historical Review_, xv., 725.

[156] Munch, _Det norske Folks Historie_, I., ii., 392.

[157] _Encomium Emmae_, ii., c. 7.

[158] _Ibid._, ii., c. 9.

[159] Florence tells us that Thurkil's wife bore the name Edith (_Chronicon_, i., 183). The _Jomsvikingasaga_ (c. 52) has Thurkil marry Ethelred's daughter Ulfhild, Ulfketel's widow. However, Ethelred had a daughter Edith who was married to Eadric. (Florence, _Chronicon_, i., 161.) For a discussion of the subject see Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, i., Notes nn and ss.

[160] Snorre, _Saga of Earl Hakon_, c. 3.

[161] _American Historical Review_, xv., 727.

[162] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 30.

[163] She was sister of the earls Ulf and Eglaf. Her Danish name was Gytha, which the Saxons changed to Edith.

[164] Simeon of Durham, _Opera Omnia_, ii., 197.

[165] Ethelwerd and G.o.dric. Ethelwerd was exiled in 1020.

[166] Leofwine had a son named Northman, and it is possible that his father also bore that name. See Freeman, _Norman Conquest_, i., Note ccc. The occurrence of the name "Northman" in a family living in or near the Danelaw may indicate Norse ancestry.

[167] For the court poetry of the scalds see Vigfusson and Powell, _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, ii. Their verses have in part come down to us. See below, pp. 292 ff.

[168] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 160.

[169] _Encomium Emmae_, ii., c. 15.

[170] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1017.

[171] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 182.

[172] Excepting the two sons of Emma who were now in Normandy, there seems to be no record of any other surviving son. Florence of Worcester speaks of Edmund's "brothers" in narrating the discussions at the gemot of Christmas, 1016; but he may have thought of Queen Emma's children.

(_Chronicon_, i., 179.)

[173] William of Malmesbury, _Gesta Regum_, i., 218.

[174] Florence's writing _ad regent Suanorum_ was probably due to an error of information or of copying; _ad regent Sclavorum_, or some such form, is probably the correct reading (i., 181).

[175] Steenstrup, _Normannerne_, iii., 303-308. Mieczislav's father was married to Stephen's sister.

[176] _Encomium Emmae_, ii., c. 16.

[177] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 190. On the subject of proper names ending in _run_, see Bjorkman, _Nordische Personennamen in England_, 194.

[178] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 158.

[179] _Encomium Emmae_, ii., c. 16.

[180] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1018.

[181] _Historiola Legum Castrensum Regis Canuti Magni_, c. 2. The _Historiola_ is found in Langebek, _Scriptores Rerum Danicarum_, iii.

[182] Sveno, _Historiola_, cc. 5-9. Saxo, _Gesta Danorum_,351 ff.

[183] Langebek, _Scriptores_, iii., 151 (note). The story is probably mythical; but I give it as a fitting companion to the English stories of Canute and the tide, and of his improvised verses inspired by the chants of the monks of Ely.

[184] Florence of Worcester, _Chronicon_, i., 195.