Canute the Great Part 5

[82] _Liber Vitae_, 58. Steenstrup suggests that the name may be Slavic and calls attention to the Slavic form Svantoslava (_Venderne og de Danske_, 64-65).

[83] _Encomium Emmae_, ii., c. 3. The rescue and removal of Sweyn's remains by English women is a.s.serted by the contemporary German chronicler Thietmar (_Chronicon_, vii., c. 26).

CHAPTER III

THE ENGLISH REACTION AND THE NORSE REVOLT 1014-1016

The death of Sweyn was the signal for important movements throughout the entire North. Forces that had been held in rein by his mighty personality were once more free to act. In Denmark, his older son Harold succeeded at once to the full kingship. Three years later a national ruler re-established the Norwegian throne. But in England the results were most immediate and most evident: the national spirit rose with a bound and for three years more the struggle with the invader continued.

The host at Gainsborough promptly recognised the leadership of Canute and proclaimed him king. This, however, gave him no valid claim to the Saxon crown; England was, in theory at least, an elective monarchy, and not till the a.s.sembly of the magnates had accepted him could he rightfully claim the royal t.i.tle. The Danish pretender was young and untried--he was probably not yet twenty years old. He must, however, have had some training in matters of government as well as in warfare: that his great father trusted him is evident from the fact that he left him in charge of the camp and fleet at Gainsborough, when Sweyn set out on his march into Wess.e.x. Doubtless the Danes surmised that the youthful chief possessed abilities of a rare sort; but the English evidently regarded him as a mere boy whose pretensions did not deserve serious attention.

During the winter months of 1014, the most prominent leader among the English was evidently Thurkil, the master of the mercenary forces. It seems safe to infer that he had much to do with the events of those months, though we have nothing recorded. In some way the English lords were called into session; at this meeting preparations were made to recall the fugitive Ethelred. No lord could be dearer to them than their native ruler, the magnates are reported to have said; but they added significantly, "if he would deal more justly with them than formerly."[84] The lords who attended this gemot were probably the local leaders south of the Thames; that the chiefs of the Danelaw were in attendance is very unlikely.

Ethelred, however, was not willing to leave Normandy immediately. He first sent an emba.s.sy to England under the nominal leadership of his son Edward; these men were to negotiate further, and probably study the sentiment of the nation. Edward was a mere boy, ten or eleven years old at the highest; but his presence was important as evidence of the King's intentions. The Prince brought friendly greetings and fair promises: Ethelred would be a kind and devoted king; all the requests of the magnates should be granted; the past should be forgiven and forgotten.

The English on their part pledged absolute loyalty; and, to emphasise the covenant, the a.s.sembly outlawed all Danish claimants. Sweyn had died in the early part of February; the negotiations were probably carried on in March; Ethelred returned to England some time during Lent, most likely in April, as the Lenten season closed on the 25th of that month.

The moment to strike had surely come. Canute was in England with a good army, but his forces doubtless had decreased in numbers since the landing in the previous August, and further shrinkage was inevitable. On the other hand, recruiting would be found difficult. The inevitable break-up of Sweyn's empire in the North would mean that the invader would be deprived of resources that were necessary to the success of the venture. Nor could a.s.sistance be expected from the Scandinavian colonies on the western sh.o.r.es of Britain or about the Irish Sea. In the very days when the reaction was being planned in England, Celts and Nors.e.m.e.n were mustering their forces for a great trial of strength on Irish soil.

On Good Friday (April 23), the battle of Clontarf was fought on the sh.o.r.es of Dublin Bay.[85] The Nors.e.m.e.n suffered an overwhelming defeat, the significance of which, for English history, lies in the fact that the viking forces of the West had now been put on the defensive. Raids like those of the early years of Ethelred's reign were now a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, Canute had not been idle. For aggressive movements the winter season was, of course, not favourable; but preparations seem to have been made looking toward offensive operations immediately after Easter.

The men of Lindsey, Danish colonists no doubt, had promised horses and were apparently to share in a joint expedition. But before Canute's arrangements had all been made, Ethelred appeared in the north country with a formidable host, and Canute was compelled to retire to his ships.

The men of Lincoln were made to suffer for their readiness to join in Canute's plans: Ethelred marched his men into the Lindsey region, and pillage began.

It was hardly an English army that Ethelred brought up to the Trent in May, 1014. Englishmen no doubt served in it; but its chief strength was probably the mercenary contingent under Thurkil's command, which, as we have seen, had wintered at Greenwich. It was fortunate for Ethelred that an organised force was at hand on his return and ready for warfare. Its service, however, was expensive: that year another Danegeld of 21,000 pounds was levied to pay Thurkil and his vikings for their a.s.sistance in driving Canute out of the land.[86]

But Thurkil was not the only great chief of the viking type that a.s.sisted in expelling the Danes: Olaf the Stout once more appears in Ethelred's service. It will be recalled that, in the siege of London the autumn before, he a.s.sisted vigorously in its defence. He seems to have left the English service shortly afterwards to a.s.sist in warfare on French soil. Duke Richard of Normandy was engaged in a controversy with his brother-in-law, Count Odo of Chartres, on the matter of his sister's dowry. In the warfare that ensued, Olaf, serving on the Norman side, ravaged the northern coast of Brittany and took the castle of Dol. This must have occurred late in the year 1013 or during the winter of 1013-1014. When, on the mediation of King Robert, peace was made between the warring brethren, Olaf returned to Rouen, where he was received with signal honours. It was probably on this occasion that the mighty Sea-king, on the urgent request of Archbishop Robert, accepted the Christian faith and received baptism. It is stated that many of his men were baptised at the same time.[87]

In Rouen, Olaf evidently met the fugitive Ethelred; for when the King returned to England, Olaf accompanied him. Instead of coming as a returning exile, Ethelred appeared in his kingdom with ships and men.

The Norse poets, who later sang in King Olaf's hall, magnified his viking exploits far beyond their real importance. In their view, Olaf was Ethelred's chief support. Snorre quotes the following lines from Ottar the Swart:

Thou broughtst to land and landedst, King Ethelred, O Landward, Strengthened by might! That folk-friend Such wise of thee availed.

Hard was the meeting soothly, When Edmund's son thou broughtest Back to his land made peaceful, Which erst that kin-stem ruled.[88]

The emergency was too great for Canute. With the generalship of experienced warriors like Thurkil and Olaf, supported by the resources of a roused people, he could not be expected to cope. Presently, he determined to flee the country. His men embarked, and the hostages given to his father (some of them at least) were also brought on board. The fleet sailed down the east coast to Sandwich, where an act of barbarity was committed for which there can be little justification. The hostages were mutilated--their hands, ears, and noses were cut off--and landed.

The men were personal pledges given to Sweyn, but not to his son.

Canute, however, probably looked at the matter in a different light; to him they may have seemed a pledge given to the dynasty; terror must be stricken into the hearts of the oath-breakers. After disposing of the hostages, the young King continued his journey to Denmark.

What Canute's plans were when he arrived in his native land we do not know. According to the Encomiast, he a.s.sured his surprised brother that he had returned, not because of fear, but for love of his brother, whose advice and a.s.sistance he bespoke. But he requested more than this: Harold, he thought, ought to share Denmark with him; the two kings should then proceed with the conquest of England; when that was accomplished, there might be a new division of territory on the basis of a kingdom for each. He proposed to spend the succeeding winter in preparation for the joint attack.[89]

The proposal to share the rule of Denmark evidently did not appeal to King Harold; he is represented as stoutly rejecting it. Denmark was his, given to him by his father before he left for England. He would a.s.sist Canute to win a kingdom in Britain, but not a foot should he have of Denmark. Realising the futility of insisting, Canute promised to maintain silence as to his supposed hereditary rights to Danish soil. He put his trust in G.o.d, the good monk adds; and the Encomiast was perhaps not the only one who regarded Harold's early death as a providential event.

The problem of Norway was one that the brothers must have discussed, though we do not know what disposition they made of the Danish rights there. In addition to the overlordship over at least a part of Eric's earldom, Sweyn had had direct royal authority over the southern sh.o.r.es, though it is not believed that he exercised this authority very rigidly.

There is a single circ.u.mstance that suggests that Norway was a.s.signed to Canute: when the young prince called on his brother-in-law, Earl Eric, to a.s.sist him in England, the Norse ruler seems to have obeyed the summons without question.[90]

During the course of the year, the two brothers united in certain acts of a filial nature, one of which is worthy of particular notice.

Together they proceeded to the Slavic coast, Poland most likely, where their mother, Queen Gunhild, was still in exile. After twenty years, she was restored to her honours at the Danish court. Sigrid the Haughty had evidently taken leave of earthly things; for peace and good-will continued between the Swedish and Danish courts, an impossible condition with Sigrid in retirement and her old rival in the high-seat.

That same year the brothers gave Christian burial to the remains of their father Sweyn.[91]

We are told that Canute continued his preparations for a descent upon England; still, it may be doubted whether he actually had serious hope of conquering the country at that time. Then suddenly there occurred in England a series of events that placed the fate of Ethelred in Canute's hands.

The saga that relates the exploits of the Jomvikings tells somewhat explicitly of an English attack on two corps of "thingmen," as the Danish mercenaries were called in Northern speech, the corps in London and Slesswick.[92] The latter locality has not been identified, but it seems hardly necessary to seek it far north of the Thames--the saga locates it north of London. It is a.s.serted that the ma.s.sacre was planned by Ulfketel, and that in Slesswick it was thoroughly carried out: from this we may infer that the place was in East Anglia, or Ulfkellsland, as the scalds called it. The garrisons, we are told, were located by Sweyn; this is doubtless an error,--the corps were probably divisions of the viking forces in Ethelred's service. No doubt there were other similar corps, for Thurkil was apparently connected with neither of the two.

Canute was out of the country and no hostile force was in sight. There could then be small need of retaining the thingmen who were furthermore a source of expense, perhaps of danger. As in 1002, it was determined to fall upon them and slay them. If it is true that Thurkil's men were originally quartered in East Anglia,[93] we can readily understand why Ulfketel might take the lead in such an undertaking. In London, where resistance had been so persistent and successful, the mercenaries must have been regarded with strong aversion. It was planned to strike during the Yule festivities when the vikings would probably not be in the best possible state of vigour and sobriety. In London armed men were smuggled into the stronghold in waggons that were ostensibly laden with merchandise for the midwinter market. But the corps was warned in time by a woman who wished to save her lover Thord. Eilif, who was in command here, escaped to Denmark. In Slesswick, the plan succeeded, none escaping; among the fallen was the chief, Heming, the brother of Thurkil the Tall. The attack is thought to have been made some time during the early part of January, 1015.[94]

It is evident that something of a serious nature occurred in England in those days, and while some of the details in the saga tale are probably fict.i.tious, in substance the account is perhaps correct. Heming disappears from the English sources, while Eilif is prominent in English politics for another decade. Most significant of all, a few weeks later Thurkil appears in Denmark to urge upon Canute the desirability of an immediate attack on England. He now had another brother to avenge.

Thurkil's desertion of the English cause must have done much to stimulate Danish ambition. Help was secured from Olaf of Sweden. Eric, the Norse earl, was also summoned to the host. Great preparations must have gone forward in Denmark, for all writers agree that Canute's fleet, when it finally sailed, was immense in the number of ships. Thurkil's position in Denmark appears to have been a trifle uncertain at first.

Canute could hardly be expected to give cordial greeting to a man who had recently sent him out of England in full flight; but after some discussion the two were reconciled, and Thurkil joined the expedition.[95]

In all the North there was none more famous for successful leadership in warfare than Earl Eric of Norway. He had fought in the battles of Hjorunga Bay and Swald; in both these encounters the highest honours were his. It is, therefore, not strange that Canute was anxious to have his a.s.sistance. Eric was no longer young and had no direct interest in the proposed venture; still, when the mandate came, he showed no reluctance, so far as we know. He called together the magnates of the realm and arranged for a division of his earldom between his brother Sweyn and his young son Hakon.[96] It need not be a.s.sumed that Eric at this time made a final surrender of his own rights; most likely it was the administration during the period of his absence only that was provided for in this way.

As Hakon was yet but a youth, Eric gave him a guardian in his kinsman, the famous Thronder chief, Einar Thongshaker. In his day, Einar was the best archer in Norway; hence his nickname, the one who makes the bow-thong tremble. He, too, had fought at Swald, but on King Olaf's ship; twice did his arrow seek Eric's life; the third time he drew the bow it was struck by a hostile shaft, and broke. "What broke?" asked the King. "Norway from your hands," replied the confident archer.[97] After Eric and his brother had become rulers in Norway, they made peace with Einar, married him to their sister, the generous Bergljot, and endowed him greatly with lands and influence. Of the three men to whom Norway was now committed, he was clearly the ablest, if not of the greatest consequence.

Turning again to England, we find a situation developing that was anything but promising. Some time during the first half of the year, a gemot was summoned to meet at Oxford, near the border of the Danelaw.

Evidently an attempt was to be made in the direction of a closer union between the North and the South. Among others who attended were two Scandinavian n.o.bles from the Seven Boroughs, Sigeferth and Morcar. So far as names show the nationality of the bearers, they might be either Angles or Northmen; but the name of their father, Arngrim, is unmistakably Norse. During the sessions of the gemot, the brothers were accused of treason and slain in the house of Eadric, the Mercian earl.[98] The result was a riot; the followers of the murdered men called for revenge, but were repulsed and driven into the tower of Saint Frideswide's Church, which the English promptly burned. Such a violation of the right of sanctuary could not be overlooked even in those impa.s.sioned times; and only through penance on the part of the luckless King was the stain removed.[99]

The sources are at one in laying the blame for this trouble on Earl Eadric. William of Malmesbury says that he desired the wealth of the two Danes, and we find that Ethelred actually did exact forfeiture. But it may also be that Eadric was endeavouring to extend and consolidate his Mercian earldom; to do this he would have to devise some method to deprive the Seven Boroughs of their peculiarly independent position in the Danelaw or Danish Mercia. Whatever his purpose, he seems to have had the approval of the ill-counselled King.

Sigeferth's widow, Aldgyth, was taken as a prisoner to Malmesbury, where Edmund, Ethelred's virile son, saw her and was attracted by her. But Ethelred objected to his son's matrimonial plans; the reasons are not recorded, but one of them, at least, can be readily inferred: callous of heart as the old King doubtless was, he probably did not enjoy the thought of having in his household as daughter-in-law a woman who could not help but be a constant reminder of a deed that was treacherous, stupid, and criminal. Pa.s.sion, however, was strong in Edmund Ironside; he married the widow in spite of his father's veto; more than that, he demanded her slain husband's forfeited official position. Ethelred again refused, whereupon the Prince proceeded to the Danish strongholds and took possession.[100]

Edmund's act was that of a rebel; but in the Danelaw it was probably regarded in large part as proper vengeance. Thus fuel was added to the old fire that burned in the hearts of Dane and Saxon. The spirit of rebellion, so general in the kingdom, had now appeared in the royal family itself. Most significant of all, the Prince had probably thwarted a great ambition: how much of Mercia was under Eadric's control at this time we do not know; but a man of the ealdorman's type could scarcely be satisfied with anything less than the whole. And here was the King's son actually governing the strongholds of the earldom. Would he not in time supplant the low-born Eadric? We have in these transactions the most plausible explanation of Eadric's treachery a little later, when Canute was again in the land.

It was late in the summer,--some time between August 15th and September 8th, according to Florence of Worcester,--when Edmund appeared as claimant in the Danelaw. Those very same weeks must have seen the departure of Canute's fleet from Denmark. The expedition that now arrived in England was a most formidable one; statements vary as to the number of ships[101] and we know nothing as to the strength of the host; but it seems likely that twenty thousand men is not an extreme estimate.

The entire North a.s.sisted in its make-up, though it may be that the Norse contingent under Earl Eric did not arrive till later in the year.[102] The distance to the earl's garth in the Thronder country was long; the Norwegian chiefs lived scattered and apart; a large force could, therefore, not be collected in haste.

Again the Encomiast seizes the opportunity to describe a Northern fleet. He mentions particularly the gleaming weapons of the warriors on board; the flaming shields that hung along the gunwales; the figureheads bright with silver and gold--figures of lions, of men with threatening faces, of fiery dragons, and of bulls with gilded horns. And he asks who could look upon such an armament and not fear the King at whose bidding it came. The warriors, too, were carefully selected:

Moreover, in the whole force there could be found no serf, no freedman, none of ign.o.ble birth, none weak with old age. All were n.o.bles, all vigorous with the strength of complete manhood, fit for all manner of battle, and so swift on foot that they despised the fleetness of cavalry.[103]

There is evidently some exaggeration here; the numerous "n.o.bles" were probably plain freemen; still, it is clear that Canute led a valiant, well-equipped host.

But Canute was not the only adventurer who sailed in quest of kingship in 1015. While the youthful Prince was mustering his fleet in the straits of Denmark, Olaf the Stout was in Britain preparing to sail for Norway on a similar errand--to win a crown. But here all similarity ceases; two merchant ships and fewer than two hundred men made up the force that began the Norse revolt. Still, Olaf Haroldsson, too, was successful and bore the crown of Norway till he fell in war with Canute in 1030.

After the expulsion of the Danes from England the year before, Olaf seems to have returned to piracy; there is some evidence that he took part in an expedition of this sort along the coasts of Gaul as far as Aquitaine. On his return he seems to have visited Normandy, where he may have learned of Canute's intentions and preparations. The probability is strong that he was also informed of the part that Eric was to have in the venture, for he seems carefully to have timed his departure so as to reach Norway just after the earl had left the country to join Canute. He first sailed to England, stayed for a time in Northumberland, where he made the necessary preparations, and thence proceeded to the west coast of Norway.[104]

Fortune smiled on the bold adventurer. Soon after he had landed he learned that Hakon was in the neighbourhood and set out to capture him.

In this he was successful: Olaf's ships were merchant ships, and the young unsuspecting earl rowed into a sound where the enemy was waiting for him and pa.s.sed in between the supposed merchant vessels. Olaf had stretched a rope from ship to ship, and when the earl's boat was directly between them, Olaf's men pulled the rope till Hakon's boat capsized. The young chief and a few of his followers were saved. Olaf gave him quarter on condition that he should leave Norway, surrender his rights to sovereignty, and swear never more to fight against his stout opponent. Hakon took the required oaths and was permitted to depart. He hastened to England and reported the matter to his uncle Canute. But the English campaign had only fairly begun, so Canute was in no position to interfere. Hakon remained long with Canute, and in time was invested with an English earldom.[105]

Meanwhile, the Danish fleet had arrived at Sandwich; but from Kent, Canute did not sail north to his former friends in the Humber lands; he reverted to the old viking practices of harrying the Southwest, Dorset, Wilts and Somerset.[106] Whether this was his original plan cannot be known: it may be that the news of Edmund's activity in the Danelaw was to some extent responsible for this move. It was now autumn of the year 1015; but if England hoped that the host would soon follow viking customs and retire into winter quarters, the country was doomed to bitter disappointment; for the enemy now had a leader who saw no need of rest, who struck in winter as well as in summer.

Canute also differed from earlier chiefs in his ideas of conduct on the battle-field. The viking band, as a development of the Teutonic comitatus, was naturally inspired with its ideas of honour and valour.

When the challenge to combat had been accepted, it was the duty of the warrior to conquer or perish with his leader; and it was the chief's duty to set an honourable example for his men. It was this spirit that animated King Olaf Trygvesson at Swald when his men urged the feasibility of flight before the battle had really begun. "Strike the sails," he commanded. "My men shall not think of flight; never have I fled from combat."[107]

The young Dane brought no such ideas to the campaign that he was now on the point of beginning. Being by race more a Slav than a Dane, it may be that he did not readily acquire Germanic ideas. His training with the Jomvikings, perhaps in his early youth, at least now in his British camp, where veterans from Jom were numerous and Thurkil the Tall was the chief warrior, ran counter to such notions. The Jomvikings would retreat, sometimes they would even take to flight, as we infer from a runic inscription that reads like a rebuke for cowardly retreat.[108]