Canute the Great Part 25

FOOTNOTES:

[407] See Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 251-252.

[408] Birca is mentioned in an early life of Saint Ansgar (_ca._ 850); Langebek, _Script. Rer. Danic._, i., 444. Heathby and Skiringshall are alluded to in King Alfred's _Orosius_ (Journeys of Ottar and Wulfstan).

[409] Bugge, _Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel_, 4-5.

[410] _Ibid._ The great Bay (Folden Bay) is the modern Christiania Firth.

[411] On the commerce of the viking age see Montelius. _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 266 ff.; Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 52-53; _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 223 ff. (Bugge).

[412] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i., 239-241: "The Lay of Righ."

[413] Embroidered with colours.

[414] "The Lay of Righ," II., 114-122.

[415] _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 56-60.

[416] For brief descriptions of the Northern halls in the viking age see Bugge, _Vikingerne_, ii., 156-157; Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 282-283; Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 15-16.

[417] Alfric's _Lives_, ii., 404.

[418] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 130.

[419] Bugge, _Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes Kultur_, 65.

[420] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i., 193.

[421] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 172.

[422] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, ii., 151.

[423] _Cambridge History of English Literature_, i., 127.

[424] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i., 40-41.

[425] _Ibid._, 41.

[426] von Friesen, _Om runskriftens harkomst_, 10-12.

[427] Bugge, _Vikingerne_, i., 8.

[428] Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 355.

[429] Olrik, _Nordisk Aandsliv_, 58.

[430] The Tjangvide Stone probably dates from about the year 900. The warrior represented may be Woden on his eight-footed horse. Bugge, _Vesterlandenes Indflydelse_, 323.

[431] Bugge, _Vikingerne_, ii., 234.

[432] _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 322, 323.

[433] Schuck, _Studier i nordisk Litteratur- och Religions-historia_, i., 203 ff.

[434] Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 296.

[435] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 165.

[436] _Ibid._, c. 185.

[437] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, ii., 133.

[438] _Encomium Emmae_, i., c. 4.

[439] For brief descriptions of Northern ships of the viking age, see _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 256-257, 318-322; Montelius, _Kulturgeschichte Schwedens_, 260-264.

[440] English writers seem inclined to estimate a ship's crew at not more than 50 or 60 on the authority of Heremannus, who wrote the "Miracles of Saint Edmund" toward the close of the eleventh century (_Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey_, i., 72, 92). But on the question of viking ships and crews his statements cannot be used as evidence: his ships are merchant ships, not viking ships, and they are not Scandinavian. It should also be noted that one of the ships (c. 50) in addition to "nearly 60" pa.s.sengers carried 36 beasts (heads of cattle?) and 16 horses heavily laden with merchandise.

[441] _Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, ii., 96-97.

CHAPTER XIV

THE LAST YEARS

1031-1035

After the pa.s.sing of the Norman war-cloud and the failure of the Norse reaction in 1030, Canute almost disappears from the stage of English history. The _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ which gives us so much information on his earlier career in England has but little to tell of his activities as king; for the closing years of the reign the summaries are particularly meagre. Evidently the entries for this reign were written from memory some years after the death of the great King; and the scribe recalled but little. It is also likely that the closing years in Britain were peaceful and quiet, such as do not give the annalist much to record. Of the larger European movements, of the Norse secession, of movements on the Danish border, and of the renewed compact with the Emperor, the cloister was probably not well informed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JURBY CROSS, ISLE OF MAN--THE GOSFORTH CROSS, c.u.mBERLAND]

As the Chronicler thinks back upon the pa.s.sing of a King who was still in his best and strongest years, there comes to him the memory of certain strange natural phenomena which suddenly take on meaning. In 1033, two years before the King's death, "appeared the wild fire," such as none could remember the like of. There could be no doubt as to the interpretation: it was an omen giving warnings of great changes to come, the end of alien rule, even as a fiery heaven announced its imminence in the days of the boy Ethelred.

Later writers report that during the last years of his life Canute was afflicted with a long and severe illness, and it has been inferred that this may account for the uneventful character of this period. There may be an element of truth in this, but he was not too ill to take an active interest in political affairs. His legislation evidently belongs to one of these years. In one of the ma.n.u.scripts of Canute's code he is spoken of as King of Angles, Danes and Norwegians, a t.i.tle that he could not claim before 1028. As he did not return from his expedition to Norway before the following year, the earliest possible date for the enactment of Canute's laws is Christmas, 1029.[442] For they were drawn up at a meeting of the national a.s.sembly "at the holy midwinter tide in Winchester."

There are reasons for believing, however, that the laws are of a still later date. Little need there was, it would seem, for extensive ecclesiastical legislation in those years when paganism was in full retreat and Christianity had become fashionable even among the vikings.

Some condition must have arisen that made it necessary for the King to take a positive stand on the side of the English Church. Such a condition may have grown out of the canonisation of Saint Olaf in 1031.

He was the first native saint of the North and the young Scandinavian Church hailed him with a joy that was ominous for those who had pursued him to the grave. It may have been in the hope of checking the spread of the new cult in England that the witenagemot, the same that ratified Canute's legislation, canonised the imperious Archbishop who had governed the English Church two generations earlier. The method of canonisation was probably new; but the n.o.bles and prelates of England were surely as competent to act in such a matter as the youthful church at Nidaros.

Canute showed an interest in the welfare of the Church to the last months of his life. It was apparently in this period that he initiated the policy of advancing his own chapel priests to episcopal appointments: in 1032 Elfwine became Bishop of Winchester; the following year Duduc, another chapel priest, was promoted in the same manner.[443]

The church of York was remembered with a large gift of lands to Archbishop Alfric.[444] Gifts to some of the larger monasteries are also recorded for these same years: to Sherburne, Winchester, Abingdon, and Croyland.[445] These usually took the form of land, though ornaments and articles intended for use in the church service were also given.

Abingdon received lands and bells and a case of gold and silver for the relics of "the most glorious martyr Vincent of Spain" whose resting place was in this church.[446] It is worth noting that Abbot Siward who ruled at Abingdon during the last few years of the reign bore a Danish name.

Canute's last recorded gift was to the Old Minster at Winchester in 1035, the year of his death. This comprised a landed estate, a bier for the relics of Saint Brice, a large image, two bells, and a silver candlestick with six branches.[447] It may be that he had premonitions of coming death, for in this abbey he chose to be buried.