Canute the Great Part 19

[323] Wharton, _Anglia Sacra_, ii., 249; William of Malmesbury's _Vita Wulstani_. The ma.n.u.scripts were illuminated by Erven, scholasticus of Peterborough.

[324] Giesebrecht, _Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit_, ii., 241-243.

For a collection of the relevant texts, see Bresslau's _Jahrbucher des deutschen Reichs unter Konrad II._, i., 139.

[325] See Appendix ii.: Canute's Charter of 1027.

[326] The Anglo-Saxon original of Canute's Charter has been lost. Our oldest version is a Latin translation inserted into the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (see Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 276, 277). Most of our information as to Canute's pilgrimage comes from this doc.u.ment.

CHAPTER XI

THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY

1028-1030

Canute was still in the Eternal City on the 6th of April, but it is not likely that he remained in the South much later than that date. With the opening of spring, hostilities might be renewed in Scandinavia at any moment. That Canute expected a renewal of the war is clear from the language of his message to Britain:

I therefore wish it to be made known to you that, returning by the same way that I departed, I am going to Denmark, for the purpose of settling, with the counsel of all the Danes, firm and lasting peace with those nations, which, had it been in their power, would have deprived us of our life and kingdom....

After affairs had been thus composed, he expected to return to England.

His plans, however, must have suffered a change. So far as we know, warlike operations were not resumed that year; and yet, if any overtures for peace were made, they can scarcely have been successful. Some time later in the year Canute set sail for England; but with his great purpose unfulfilled: for he had promised in his "Charter" to return to Britain when he had "made peace with the nations around us, and regulated and tranquillised all our kingdom here in the East." Not till next year did he return to the attack on King Olaf Haroldsson. Hostile movements across the Scottish border seem to have been responsible for the postponement of the projected conquest. It is told in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ that as soon as Canute had returned from Rome he departed for Scotland; "and the King of Scots submitted to him and also two other kings, Maelbeathe and Jehmarc."

Malcolm, the son of Kenneth, was at this time ruler of Scotia, a kingdom composed chiefly of the region between the Forth and the river Spey, with various outlying dependencies. We do not know what called forth hostilities between Malcolm and Canute at this time; but it is possible that the inciting force may have been the Norwegian King, as difficulties in Britain might lead Canute to abandon his Norse pretensions. As overlord of the Orkneys and probably also of the neighbouring Scotch coast lands, King Olaf naturally would be drawn into diplomatic relations with the kings of Scone. The _Chronicle_ gives the year of the expedition to Scotland as 1031; but it also places it in the year of Canute's pilgrimage, which we know to have been made in 1027.

Malcolm rendered some sort of homage in 1027, but for what territories we do not know. That he became Canute's va.s.sal for all his possessions is unlikely; he had already for a decade been the man of the English King for Lothian; and the probabilities are that the homage of 1027 was merely the renewal of the agreements entered into after the battle of Carham in 1018. With the Northern war still unfinished, Canute cannot have been in position to exact severe terms. Furthermore, the acquisition of the Norwegian crown would bring to Canute important possessions to the north and north-west of Malcolm's kingdom and place him in a more favourable position for conquest at some future time.

Whether Malcolm realised it or not, further victories for Canute in Scandinavia would mean serious dangers for the Scottish realms.

The ident.i.ty of the other two kings, Maelbeathe and Jehmarc, is a matter of conjecture. Maelbeathe was probably Macbeth, who as earl ruled the country about Moray Firth, the Macbeth whom we know from Shakespeare's tragedy. Skene believes that Jehmarc, too, must have ruled in the extreme north or north-west, the region that was under Norse influence.

But the language of the _Chronicle_ need not mean that these kings were both from Scotland; Munch's conjecture that Jehmarc was Eagmargach, the Celtic King of Dublin after the Irish victory at Clontarf,[327] is at least plausible. That Canute counted Irishmen among his subjects appears from a stanza by Ottar the Swart:

Let us so greet the King of the Danes, Of Irish, English, and Island-dwellers, That his praise as far as the pillared heaven May travel widely through all the earth.[328]

If Munch's identification is correct, it reveals a purpose of combining all the Scandinavian West with the older kingdoms, a policy that must have seemed both rational and practical. The homage of Malcolm and Macbeth seems to be mentioned by Sighvat though here again the chronology is defective, the submission of the kings "from far north in Fife" being dated before 1026.

In the meantime Norway was not forgotten. During the year 1027, while Canute was absent in Rome or busied with North British affairs, his emissaries were at work in Norway still further undermining the tottering loyalty of the Norwegian chiefs. No attempt was made at secrecy--it was bribery open and unblushing. Says Sighvat the Scald:

Jealous foes of King Olaf Tempt us with open purses; Gold for the life of the lordly Ruler is loudly offered.

The poet was a Christian and seems to have taken grim satisfaction in the teachings of the new faith regarding future punishment:

Men who sell for molten Metal the gentle ruler In swart h.e.l.l (they deserve it) Shall suffer the keenest torture.[329]

The activities of the Danish envoys appear to have extended to all parts of the country, though it seems likely that their success was greatest in the West and South-west where they enjoyed the protection and a.s.sistance of the mighty n.o.bleman Erling Skjalgsson, who thus added dishonour to stubborn and unpatriotic wilfulness. After Holy River Canute apparently dismissed his fleet for the winter, in part at least, and Erling returned to his estates at Soli.

With Erling Canute's envoys came north and brought much wealth with them. They fared widely during the winter, paying out the money that Canute had promised for support in the autumn before; but they also gave money to others and thus bought their friendship for Canute; and Erling supported them in all this.[330]

Evidence of this activity appears in a remarkable find of English coins to the number of 1500 near Eikunda-sound, not far from Soli. The treasure was brought to light in 1836; most of the coins bear the effigies of Ethelred and Canute; all are from Canute's reign or earlier.[331] The next year (1028) Canute sailed his fleet into Eikunda-sound and remained there for some time; but there seems no reason why English money should be secreted on that occasion. More probably the treasure was part of the bribe money; the fact that it was hidden would indicate that Canute's agents found the business somewhat dangerous after all.

Gold alone does not account for Saint Olaf's downfall. There were other reasons for the defection of the aristocracy, but these have been discussed in an earlier chapter: there was dissatisfaction with the new faith; there was dissatisfaction with a regime that enjoined a firm peace everywhere, that aimed at equal justice for all without respect to birth or station, and that enforced severe and unusual punishments; there was also the memory of the days of the earls, when the hand of government was light and the old ways were respected.

In 1028, Canute was ready to strike. Soon the news spread that a vast armament was approaching Norway. "With fifty ships of English thegns,"[332] the King sailed along the Low German sh.o.r.es to the western mouth of the Lime Firth. Among the chiefs who accompanied him from England were the two earls, Hakon and G.o.dwin. One of G.o.dwin's men found his death in Norway, as we learn from a runic monument raised by one Arnstein over the grave of his son Bjor, "who found his death in G.o.dwin's host in the days when Canute sailed [back] to England."[333]

The ships that the King brought from England were doubtless large and well-manned: Canute's housecarles may have made up a considerable part of the crews. At the Lime Firth an immense Danish fleet was waiting: according to the sagas 1440 ships made up the fleet that sailed up to the Norwegian capital Nidaros. Twelve great hundreds is evidently merely a round number used to indicate unusual size; but that the armament was immense is evident from the ease with which it accomplished its work. So far as we know, the awe-stricken Nors.e.m.e.n made no resistance. In addition to the English and Danish ships, there were evidently not a few that were manned by the housecarles of disaffected Norwegian chiefs.

Olaf was informed of Canute's intentions and did what he could to meet the invasion. Men were dispatched to Sweden to bring home the ships that had been abandoned there nearly two years before. This was a difficult undertaking, for the Danes kept close guard over the pa.s.sages leading out of the Baltic. Part of the fleet the Nors.e.m.e.n burned; with the rest they were able to steal through the Sound after Canute had begun his advance toward Norway. King Olaf also summoned the host, but there came

Few folk and little dragons.

What a disgrace that landsmen Leave our lord royal Unsupported. (For money Men desert their duties.)

What forces the Norwegians were able to collect sailed up into Oslo Firth, where King Olaf prudently remained till Canute had again departed from the land.[334]

The northward progress of Canute's armament is told in a poem by Thorarin Praise-tongue, who had composed an earlier lay to the King's honour.[335] "The lord of the ocean" sailed from the Lime Firth with a vast fleet. Canute seems to have cut across the strait to the southwestern part of Norway, where the "war-trained men of Agdir saw in terror the advance of the hero," for Canute's dragon gleamed with steel and gold. "The swart ships glide past Lister" and soon fill Eikunda-sound. And so the journey goes on past the Hornel-mount and the promontory of Stadt, till the "sea-falcons glide into the Nid River."

At important points Canute landed and summoned the franklins to formal a.s.semblies. The summons were generally obeyed: the franklins swore allegiance to the new King and gave the required hostages. Wherever there was occasion to do so, the King appointed new local officials from the elements whose loyalty he believed he could trust. He spent some time in Eikunda-sound where Erling Skjalgsson joined him with a large force. The old alliance was renewed and Erling received promise of all the region between the great headlands of Stadt and the Naze, with a little additional territory to the east of the latter point. This was more than the lord of Soli had ever controlled before. The terms have not been recorded, but Canute was always liberal in his promises.[336]

When Nidaros was reached, the eight shires of the Throndelaw were summoned to meet in a grand a.s.sembly, the Ere-thing, which met on the river sands at the mouth of the Nid. As Throndhjem was counted the most important region of the kingdom, the Ere-thing throughout the middle ages enjoyed a prominence of its own as the a.s.sembly that accepted and proclaimed the Norwegian kings. Here then, Canute was formally proclaimed the true King of Norway, and the customary homage was rendered.[337]

There was no need of going beyond Nidaros. Thor the Dog, Harek of Tjotta, and other great lords from the farther North were present at the Ere-thing and took the oaths of allegiance. Thor came in Canute's fleet; Harek joined the King at Nidaros. On these two chiefs the King depended for support in the Arctic regions. In return for their allegiance they received enlarged franchises and privileges, among other things the monopoly of the trade with the Finnish tribes.[338]

The conclusions of the Ere-thing concerned Norway alone. A little later a larger a.s.sembly was called, a joint meeting of the chiefs of Norway and of the invading army--magnates from England, Denmark, and Norway; possibly the warriors, too, had some voice in this a.s.sembly. Here then, in the far North on the sands of Nidaros, was held the first and only imperial a.s.sembly, so far as our information goes, that Canute ever summoned. It was called to discuss and decide matters of interest common to all the three realms--especially was it to hear the imperial will, the new imperial policy.

Canute was yet a young man--he had not advanced far into the thirties--but prudence, perhaps also wisdom, had developed with the years. He realised that his own person was really the only bond that held his realms together; but he also understood that direct rule was impracticable. The Norse movement was essentially a revolt from Olaf, not a popular demand for union with Denmark. Among the Danes, too, there was opposition to what smacked of alien rule, as is shown by the readiness with which the magnates had received the revolutionary plans of Earl Ulf. No doubt it was with reluctance that Canute announced a system of va.s.sal earls and kings; however, no other solution can have seemed possible.

To his nephew Hakon he gave the vice-royalty of Norway with the earl's t.i.tle and dignity. Whether the entire kingdom was to be included in Hakon's realm may be doubted; Southern Norway, the Wick, which was as yet unconquered, was an old possession of the dynasty of Gorm and may have been excepted. "Next he led his son Harthacanute to his own high-seat and gave him the kings-name with the government of the Danish realms."[339] As Harthacanute was still but a child a guardian must be found, and for this position Canute seems to have chosen Harold, the son of Thurkil the Tall,[340] his own foster-brother, if tradition can be trusted. Harold at this time was apparently in charge at Jomburg, where he had probably stood in a similar relation to Canute's older son Sweyn who was located there. It is significant that the only one who is awarded the royal t.i.tle is Harthacanute, the youngest of the King's three sons; but he was also the only one who was of legitimate birth.

There can be little doubt that Canute intended to make Harthacanute the heir to all his realms. Of these arrangements Thorarin Praise-tongue sings in his lay:

Then gave the wise Wielder of Jutland Norway to Hakon His sister's son.

And to his own son (I say it) the old dark Halls of the ocean, h.o.a.ry Denmark.[341]

Among the Norwegian chiefs who thus far had remained neutral was Einar Thongshaker, the archer of Swald. But now that the Ere-thing had acted and had renounced its allegiance to Olaf, Einar promptly appeared and took the required oaths. King Canute felt the need of binding the proud magnate closely to the new order of things, and along with gifts and increased feudal income went the flattering phrases that next to those who bore princely t.i.tles Einar should be the chiefest in the kingdom, and that he or his son Eindrid seemed, after all, most suited to bear the rule in Norway, "were it not for Earl Hakon."[342]

There remained the formality of taking hostages, sons, brothers, or near kinsmen of the chiefs, "or the men who seemed dearest to them and best fitted." The fleet then returned to the South. It was a leisurely sail, we are told, with frequent landings and conferences with the yeomanry, especially, no doubt, in the shires where no a.s.semblies had been summoned on the northward journey. When King Olaf heard of Canute's return, he moved farther up the Oslo Firth and into one of its arms, the Drammen Firth. Here he apparently left his ships while he and his men withdrew some distance into the interior. King Canute did not pursue him. He sailed along the south sh.o.r.es to the Oslo Firth and up to Sarpsborg, where an a.s.sembly of the freemen accepted him as King. From Sarpsborg he returned to Denmark, where he seems to have spent the winter. Not till the following year did he care to risk a return to England; but at that time his Norse rival was treading the path of exile across the Baltic (1029).

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCANDINAVIA AND THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY]

While Canute was being hailed as King at Sarpsborg, Olaf was in hiding two or three days' march distant, probably in the Ring-realm. When he learned of the enemy's departure, he promptly returned to Tunsberg and tried to resume his sway. The situation was desperate, but he wished to make a last appeal to the Nors.e.m.e.n's feeling of loyalty to Harold's dynasty. And now another fleet sailed up the western sh.o.r.es, this time the King's own. Only thirteen ships steered out of Tunsberg harbour and few joined later. The season was the beginning of winter, a most unfavourable time for aggressive operations. When King Olaf had rounded the Naze, he learned that his old enemy, Erling Skjalgsson, had been levying forces in considerable numbers. Olaf managed, however, to intercept Erling's ship and overpowered the old chief after a furious struggle. "Face to face shall eagles fight; will you give quarter?"

Erling is reported to have said when Olaf remarked on his bravery. The King was disposed to reconciliation; but during the parley one of his men stepped up and clove the rebel's head. "Unhappy man," cried the King, "there you struck Norway out of my hand!" But the overzealous housecarle was forgiven.[343]

The news of Erling's death fired the whole coast. The magnates realised at once that retreat was now impossible: they must maintain the cause of Canute. Nowhere could King Olaf land, everywhere the yeomanry called for revenge. From the south came the sons of the murdered man in vigorous pursuit; in the north Earl Hakon was mustering the Thronder-folk.

Finally King Olaf was forced into one of the long inlets that cut into the western coast. Here he was trapped; flight alone was possible; but before him lay wild mountain regions, one of the wildest routes in Norway. It was midwinter, but the crossing was successful, though the sufferings and difficulties must have been great. Exile was now the only choice; the journey continued to the Swedish border and thence across that kingdom and the Baltic Sea to Russia.[344]

When Canute returned to England, Norway was apparently loyal, peaceful, and obedient. So far as we know, he never again visited the North.