Canute the Great Part 29

Having made peace with the nations round us, and regulated and tranquillised all our kingdom here in the East, so that on no side we may have to fear war or enmities, I propose this summer, as soon as I can have a number of ships ready, to proceed to England; but I have sent this letter beforehand, that all the people of my kingdom may rejoice at my prosperity; for, as you yourselves know, I have never shrunk from labouring, nor will I shrink therefrom, for the necessary benefit of all my people.

I therefore conjure all my bishops and ealdormen, by the fealty which they owe to me and to G.o.d, so to order that, before I come to England, the debts of all, which we owe according to the old law, be paid; to wit, plough-alms, and a t.i.the of animals brought forth during the year, and the pence which ye owe to Saint Peter at Rome, both from the cities and villages; and in the middle of August, a t.i.the of fruits, and at the feast of Saint Martin, the first-fruits of things sown, to the church of the parish, in which each one dwells, which is in English called church-scot. If, when I come, these and others are not paid, he who is in fault shall be punished by the royal power severely and without any remission. Farewell.

FOOTNOTES:

[481] This translation (with slight changes) is that of Benjamin Thorpe: Lappenberg, _History of England_, ii., 212-215.

[482] The original has Swedes; but see above p. 152. The statement that Canute was King of the Norwegians is doubtless an addition by the chronicler; Norway was not conquered before 1028.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

_Aarboger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie_, udg. af det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab. 1866-1885. 2. Raekke, 1886-. Copenhagen.

Continuation of _Annaler_.

_aelfric's Lives of Saints_, ed. W.W. Skeat. 2 vols. London, 1881-1900.

(Early English Text Society.)

_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, ed. Benjamin Thorpe. 2 vols. London, 1861.

Rolls Series, No. 23.

_Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie_, udg. af det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab. 1836-1863. Copenhagen, 1836-1865.

These volumes and the _Aarboger_ are of great value for the study of Scandinavian culture in the Middle Ages; for the career of Canute, however, they are of slight importance.

_Annales Cambriae_, ed. J.W. ab Ithel. London, 1560. Rolls Series, No.

20.

_Annales Monastici_, ed. H.R. Luard. 5 vols. London, 1864-1869. Rolls Series, No. 36.

_Baltische Studien_, herausgegeben von der Gesellschaft fur pommersche Geschichte und Alterthumskunde. 1835-1892. Stettin.

Especially important are Nos. 7, 13, and 25: articles on the early relations of the Danes and the Wends.

_Bibliothek der Angelsachsischen Poesie_, ed. C.W.M. Grein (revised edition by R.P. Wulker). 3 vols. Ca.s.sel, 1883-1898.

BJoRKMAN, ERIK, _Nordische Personennamen in England in alt- und fruhmittel-englischer Zeit_. Halle, 1910. (Morsbach's _Studien zur englischen Philologie_, x.x.xvii.)

BREMEN, ADAM OF, _Gesta Hammenburgensis Ecclesiae Pontific.u.m_, ed. J.M.

Lappenberg. Hanover, 1846. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, vii.)

BRESSLAU, H., _Jahrbucher des Deutschen Reichs unter Konrad II._ Leipsic, 1879-1884.

BUGGE, ALEXANDER, et al., _Norges Historie fremstillet for det norske Folk_. To be published in 6 volumes. Vol. i., part ii. (Christiania, 1910) deals with Norwegian history to 1030.

----_Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel_. Christiania, 1899.

----_Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes og sarlig Nordmaendenes ydre Kultur, Levesaet, og Samfundsforhold i Vikingetiden_. Christiania, 1905.

----_Vikingerne_. 2 vols. Copenhagen, 1904-1906.

A series of brilliant essays on Scandinavian colonisation and culture in the western islands (Britain).

_Cambridge History of English Literature_. Edited by A.W. Ward and A.R.

Waller. (In process of publication.) I. Cambridge, 1907.

CANTERBURY, GERVASE OF, _The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury_, ed. William Stubbs. 2 vols. London, 1879-1880. Rolls Series, No. 73.

CHABANNES, ADeMAR DE, _Historiarum Libri iii_, ed. G. Waitz. Hanover, 1841. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, iv.)

_Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham ad Annum_ 1418, ed. W.D. Macray. London, 1863. Rolls Series, No. 29.

_Chronicon Abbatiae Rameseiensis_, ed. W.D. Macray. London, 1886. Rolls Series, No. 83.

_Chronicon Monasterii de Abingdon_, ed. Joseph Stevenson. 2 vols.

London, 1858. Rolls Series, No. 2.

CIRENCESTER, RICHARD OF, _Speculum Historiale de Gestis Regum Angliae_., ed. J.E.B. Mayor. 2 vols. London, 1863-1869. Rolls Series, No. 30.

_c.n.u.tonis Regis Gesta sive Encomium Emmae_, ed. G.H. Pertz. Hanover, 1866. (Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores, xix.)

COLLINGWOOD, W.G., _Scandinavian Britain_. London, 1908.

_Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_. Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson and F. York Powell. 2 vols. Oxford, 1883.

DAAE, LUDVIG, _Norges Helgener_. Christiania, 1879.

DICETO, RALPH OF, _Opera Historica_, ed. William Stubbs. 2 vols. London, 1876. Rolls Series, No. 68.

d.u.c.h.esne, Andre (editor), _Historiae Normannorum Scriptores Antiqui_.

Paris, 1619.

DURHAM, SIMEON OF, _Opera Omnia_, ed. Thomas Arnold. 2 vols. London, 1882-1885. Rolls Series, No. 75.

_Encomium Emmae_. See _c.n.u.tonis Regis Gesta_.

_Eulogium Historiarum_, ed. F.S. Haydon. 3 vols. London, 1858-1863.

Rolls Series, No. 9.

_f.a.grskinna_, ed. Finnur Jonsson. Copenhagen, 1902-1903. Brief saga of the Norwegian kings. Earlier edition by P.A. Munch and C.R. Unger (Christiania, 1847).

_Flateyarbok_. Edited by Gudbrand Vigfusson and C.R. Unger. Christiania, 1860. The Flat-isle Book is a late and not very reliable collection of sagas, but it cannot be wholly ignored.

FLOM, GEORGE T., _Scandinavian Influence on Southern Lowland Scotch_.

New York, 1900. (Columbia University Germanic studies, i., No. 1.)