The Northmen in Britain

We need not give much attention to the reign of Harald, the son and successor of Canute. Though he reigned for over four years, there is no good act told of him. The unfortunate son of Ethelred, Alfred the Ætheling, came over to England about this time to try to recover his kingdom, but he was seized by Earl Godwin, his eyes put out, and most of his companions killed or mutilated. The young prince was sent to Ely, where he lingered for a time, living a miserable existence on insufficient food, and finally died, being buried in Ely Cathedral. Harald’s next act was to drive Emma, the late King’s wife, out of the kingdom. Emma was not his own mother; the chronicles show that he and Sweyn were Canute’s sons by another wife. For some time Queen Emma was protected by Earl Godwin, who was rapidly rising into power, and whose own son, another Harald (spelled in English Harold), was soon to reign over the kingdom; but as soon as the Danish King saw himself safely seated on the throne he drove her out upon the sea, without any kind of mercy, in stormy weather. This was the second time this woman with a strange history was forced to take refuge abroad. She went at first back to Normandy, where she had taken refuge as Ethelred’s wife, but being ill-received there, she passed on to Bruges, where the Earl of Flanders43 welcomed her kindly. It is difficult to imagine the feelings of this queen, allied as she was to the house of the English kings by her marriage with Ethelred, and to the Danish kings, their worst enemies, by her marriage with Canute: when her son Alfred the Ætheling came to England, hoping to see his mother, she was not permitted to see him, even had she wished it, or able to prevent the evil deeds of his enemies. She remained in Flanders until her other son, Edward the Confessor, came to the throne, when she returned to Winchester. She is said to have been inordinately fond of money and jewels, and to have accumulated great hoards of wealth. She was sincerely attached to Canute, but would do nothing for her elder sons, the children of Ethelred; when Edward the Confessor came to the throne he complained greatly of this, and took from her all her possessions, saying that she had never aided him with money when he was in need. She died dishonoured at Winchester in 1052.

When Harald died at Oxford in 1040, the English, “thinking that they did well,” as the Chronicle says, sent at once for Hardacanute to come from Denmark and occupy the throne of his father Canute and his half-brother Harald. They hoped little from Ethelred’s sons, but much from this son of the great Canute, whom they had rarely seen, for most of his life had been passed in Denmark. He, too, was the son of Emma, and seemed destined to unite the two races of Danes and English into one nation. Their hopes in him were disappointed, as we shall see. But first we must retrace our steps a little and tell the history of this prince. When Canute returned from his visit to Denmark in 1026 he had left his young son, then only nine years of age, to replace him there. He placed him under the charge of a very distinguished man, Earl Ulf,44 who had married Canute’s sister and became the father of Svein, or Sweyn, who afterwards was King of Denmark. Earl Ulf was left to act as regent of Denmark during Hardacanute’s childhood; but Queen Emma, the lad’s mother, was ambitious that her son should actually reign, boy though he was. She persuaded Ulf to have him proclaimed an independent king, without the knowledge of his father, Canute. She secretly got hold of the King’s seal and sent it off to Denmark, writing a forged letter, which was supposed to be from King Canute himself, and which she signed with his name, commanding Ulf to have Hardacanute crowned King of Denmark. The earl called together an assembly of the nobles and declared that Canute had commanded him to have Hardacanute crowned king; he produced in proof of this Canute’s seal and the forged letter written by Queen Emma. In consequence of this the nobles consented to take the boy for their king. Just at this moment the news arrived that King Olaf was coming from Norway with a great fleet, and was to be joined by the King of Sweden, as we have related.45 Ulf and the nobles gathered their troops together and went to Jutland, but they saw that the army coming against them was far too great for them to meet alone so they were forced to send for help to King Canute, fearful as they were as to how he would regard their doings.

When Canute came with his army to Limfiord, where they were awaiting him, they sent to beg Queen Emma to find out whether he were annoyed or not. When Emma told the King, and promised that Hardacanute would pay any fine he might demand if he should consider that the boy had done wrong, Canute replied that he was sure that Hardacanute had not acted on his own responsibility. “It has turned out exactly as might have been expected,” he said. “He, a mere child without understanding, is in a hurry to have a crown on his head; but when an enemy appeared the country would easily have been conquered unless I had come to his aid. If he wants me to forgive him, let him come to me at once and lay down this mock title of king that he has taken, and I will see what is to be done.”

The Queen sent this message to her son, and begged him not to delay his coming. “For,” she said, “it is plain that you have no force to stand against your father.” Indeed, this was very true, for as soon as the army and people of Denmark heard that King Canute the Old was in the land they all streamed away from Hardacanute to him with one consent; so that Earl Ulf and his party saw that either they must make their peace with Canute at once or fly the country. All pressed Hardacanute to go to his father and try to make terms, and this advice he followed. When they met he fell at his father’s feet, and laid the kingly seal on his knee. Canute took Hardacanute by the hand, and placed him beside him in a seat no lower than he had occupied before. Then Ulf took courage and sent his son Sweyn, Canute’s nephew, a boy of the same age as Hardacanute, to plead for him, and to offer himself as hostage for his future loyalty. King Canute bade him tell his father to assemble his men and ships and come to him, and then they would talk of reconciliation. This the earl did, and together they met the Kings of Norway and Sweden at the battle of Helga River, where, as we saw, many of their ships were swept away by Olaf’s dam.

But Canute had never forgiven Earl Ulf for his treachery to him; and while they were lying in wait for the enemy’s fleet in the Sound it happened that Earl Ulf invited him to a banquet to try to make peace between them. The earl was a most agreeable host, and endeavoured in every way to entertain and amuse the King, but Canute remained silent and sullen, and his face was stern. At last the earl proposed that they should play a game of chess, and a chess-board was set out for them. When they had played awhile the King made a false move, at which Earl Ulf took the King’s knight; but the King put the piece back on the board and told the earl to make another move. At this the earl grew angry, for he was hasty of temper, stiff, and in nothing yielding; he threw over the chess-board, stood up, and went away. The King said: “Runnest thou away, Ulf the coward?” The earl turned at the door and said: “If thou hadst come to battle at Helga River thou wouldst have run farther than I run now if I had not come to thy help. Thou didst not call me Ulf the coward when the Swedes were beating thee like a dog,” and with that he went out and retired to bed. The King also retired, but not to forget the words of Ulf. Early in the morning, while he was dressing, he was overcome by his anger, and said to his footboy: “Go to Earl Ulf and kill him.” The youth was afraid to disobey, but after a while he came back to the King. “Did you kill Earl Ulf?” said the King. “I did not kill him,” said the youth, “for he was gone to church.” At that the King called Ivar, his chamberlain, and said to him: “Go thou and kill the earl, wherever he is.” Ivar went to the church, and up to the choir, and thrust his sword through the earl, who died on the spot. He came back to the King, with his bloody sword in his hand. “Hast thou killed the earl?” said Canute. “I have killed him,” said he. “Thou hast done well,” said the King.

After the murder was committed the monks ordered the doors of the church to be closed and locked. But the King sent a message that they were to be opened and high Mass sung. Then Canute gave a great gift of property to the church, and rode down to his ships, and lay there till harvest with a very large army.

When men fell away from King Olaf and joined Canute, as we have related before, so that Norway fell under his sway, Canute determined to return to England. He had Earl Hakon proclaimed Governor of Norway, and his son Hardacanute he led to the high seat at his side, gave him the title of king, and with it the dominion of Denmark. He himself took hostages from all the great lords for their fidelity, and returned to England.

When Earl Hakon died, Canute’s elder son, Sweyn, succeeded him in Norway, but shortly after St Olaf’s fall at the battle of Stiklestad his son Magnus had been accepted as King of Norway by the people, and Sweyn saw that he could not stand before him: so he retired to Denmark, where his brother Hardacanute received him with kindness and gave him a share in the government of Denmark. There is little good to be said of Hardacanute except this one thing, that he was kind to his brothers and sisters, and even to his half-brother, Edward the Confessor, who succeeded him on the throne of England; for, after Hardacanute became King of England, the gentle Edward, wearied with wandering and exile from his native country, came to England, and was most lovingly welcomed by Hardacanute, and allowed to live in peace, so that he was more happy than his brother Alfred, or indeed than any other of his family. In other ways Hardacanute was a man with little to recommend him, wild, undisciplined, and childish. The English had cause to regret that they had chosen him to succeed the great Canute and his feeble son Harald.

Hardacanute came almost as a stranger to England when Harald died in 1040. He had not been in the country since his babyhood, and he was unknown to the English, as they were to him. His first act showed his savage disposition. He caused the dead body of Harald, his half-brother, to be dug up and the head cut off and thrown into the Thames; but it was dragged up soon after in a fisherman’s net, and the Danes buried it in their cemetery in London. His next act was to impose an intolerable tribute on the country in order to pay the shipmen in his fleet a heavy sum of money. This aroused so much opposition that two of his collectors were murdered in Worcester, upon which he sent his Danish commanders to ravage and burn the whole country and carry off the property of the citizens. It was not long, therefore, before all that had been gained of good friendship and understanding between the Danes and English by the wise rule of Canute was lost again and they hated each other as much as before. Nor was there any regret when, two years after his arrival in this country, the people learned that Hardacanute had fallen down in a fit while he was drinking at Lambeth, and that he had died without recovering his speech.

Instantly their thoughts turned to the race of their English kings, and before Hardacanute was buried beside his father at Winchester they had already chosen Edward as their king. He was crowned at Winchester, on the first day of Easter (1043), amid the rejoicings of the people, and with much pomp. Thus came to an end the union of Denmark and England, and with it the mighty sovereignty of which Canute dreamed, and which his own force of character had brought about. Norway and Denmark reverted to their own line of kings, and Edward and his successors sought no more to re-establish the great consolidation of nations over which Canute ruled.

But the power of the Danes in this country, though crippled and broken, did not immediately come to an end: they played a large part in English history for another twenty-four years, when the conquest of England by the Normans brought to our shores another branch of the great Northern family of nations and bound them to us for ever. William the Conqueror was descended from Rolf the Ganger, or Walker, the viking chief who had called the land he conquered in the North of France Normandy, or “the Northman’s Land,” in memory of the country from which he had come. The Dukes of Normandy were never part or parcel of the French people amongst whom they made their home in the North of France, but they speedily felt themselves at home amongst the English and Danish population in England, for the same blood flowed in the veins of Saxon, Dane, and Norman. All alike traced their origin to the free countries of the North.

During the intervening space of which we have now to speak the Kings of Denmark and Norway more than once revived their claim on England; but the time for such a union had gone by, and the English people no longer desired to become a portion of the Danish realm: they felt themselves strong and independent enough to stand alone.

The first case of which we speak was a claim made by King Magnus the Good, son of St Olaf. No sooner was he seated firmly on the throne of Norway and become ruler of Denmark than he began to think of laying claim to England, as his predecessors had done. He sent ambassadors to King Edward the Confessor, with his seal and the following letter: “Ye must have heard of the agreement that I and Hardacanute made, that whichever of the two survived the other should have all the land that the other possessed. Now it hath so turned out, as you have doubtless heard, that I have taken the Danish dominions after Hardacanute. But before he died he had England as well as Denmark; therefore I consider that, in consequence of our agreement, I own England also. Therefore I will that thou now deliver me my kingdom; and if not I will seek to take it by force of arms; and let him rule it to whom fate gives the victory.”

When King Edward read the letter and heard this demand he replied: “It is well known to all of you that King Ethelred, my father, rightfully ruled this kingdom, both according to the old and new law of inheritance. So long as I had no kingly title I served those above me, in all respects as those do who have no claim to the kingdom. Now I have received the kingly title and am consecrated king. If King Magnus come here with an army, I will gather no army against him; but he shall only get the opportunity of taking England when he first hath taken my life. Tell him these words of mine.”46

The ambassadors went back to King Magnus and gave him this message.

King Magnus reflected a while, and answered thus: “I think it wisest, and that it will succeed best, to let King Edward have his kingdom in peace, so far as I am concerned, and that I keep the kingdoms that God hath put into my hands.” This was the last time that a King of Denmark laid formal claim to the throne of England.