789. The Danish Raven, according to the story, opened its mouth and fluttered its wings before a victory, but held its wings down before a defeat. The legend is well known; I get it on this occasion from the Encomiast, whose tale is chiefly valuable as witnessing to the presence of Thurkill. See Appendix VV.
790. Flor. Wig. “Interea Canutus paullatim in æquum locum suos deducit.”
791. Ibid. “Rex Eadmundus aciem, sicuti instruxerat, velociter movet, et repente signo dato Danos invadit.” This seems to imply the charge down hill. In the rhetoric of Henry of Huntingdon we may spy out fragments of a ballad which may have rivalled those of Brunanburh and Maldon; “Loco regio relicto ... cucurrit terribilis in aciem primam. Vibrans igitur gladium electum et brachio juvenis Edmundi dignum, modo fulminis fidit aciem,” &c. So Hist. Ram. lxxii. (Gale, i. 433); “Ædricus ... videns Ædmundum furore fulmineo hostium aciem penetrantem.” Cf. Draco Normannicus, i. 318;
As the Danes no doubt keep their shield-wall, we may compare the charge of the Alemanni in the battle of Strassburg, Ammianus, xvi. 12; “Barbari in modum exarsere flammarum, nexamque scutorum compagem, quæ nostros in modum testudinis tuebatur, scindebant ictibus gladiorum adsiduis.”
Mark that the sword is still the English weapon.
792. Chron. “Eadric ... aswác swa his cynehlaforde and ealre Angelcynnes þeode.”
794. Chron. “And eall Angelcynnes duguð þar wearð fordon.”
796. Will. Malms. ii. 180. “Ulfkillus Est-Anglorum comes, perpetuam jam famam meritus tempore Swani, quando, primus omnium piratas adorsus, spem dedit posse illos superari.”
798. See the story in Appendix AA.
799. Florence, by an odd forestalling, calls him “Lindicolinensis.”
800. “Qui ad exorandum Deum pro milite bellum agente convenerant,” says Florence. So the Ramsey historian (lxxii.); “Qui, cum multis aliis religiosis personis, juxta morem Anglorum veterem, ibidem convenerant, non armis, sed orationum suppetiis, pugnantem exercitum juvaturi.” Yet I confess that the calm way in which the Chronicles reckon the prelates among the slain alongside of the ealdormen looks to me the other way.
802. Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne, fills a prominent place in the wars of the ninth century. See the Chronicles in the years 823, 845. (Cf. 871 and Will. Malms. ii. 131, for other fighting prelates of that age.) Of Ealdred’s exploits, mostly unlucky, we shall hear much in the course of the next fifty years. Another warrior Bishop will be found in the Chronicles under the year 1056.
803. Enc. Emm. ii. 11.
804. Enc. Emm. ii. 11. “Londoniam repetentes, saniora sibi quærunt consilia.” I do not fully understand these words.
805. Hist. Ram. lxxiii.; Hist. Elien. ii. 21 (Gale, 502; Stewart, 196). The Ramsey historian grudges the possession of Eadnoth’s body to the rival house, and will hardly believe the miracles which were said to vindicate the claim of Ely. It is rather odd that the Ely historian mentions neither the miracles nor the burial of Eadnoth, but he goes on to say that the Ely monks went to the field with certain of the relics of their church, which were lost. Some, he says, said that Cnut carried them away and placed them at Canterbury. Such a pious robbery would be quite in harmony with Cnut’s later character.
806. Fl. Wig. 1016. “Occisus est in ea pugna ... totus fere globus nobilitatis Anglorum, qui nullo in bello majus umquam vulnus quam ibi acceperunt.” W. Malms. ii. 180. “Ibi Cnuto regnum expugnavit, ibi omne decus Angliæ occubuit, ibi flos patriæ totus emarcuit.” H. Hunt. M. H. B. 756 B. “Illic igitur miranda strages Anglorum facta est; illic occisus est ... omnis flos nobilitatis Brittanniæ.” For the entry in the Chronicles, see p. 393, note 3.
807. See Appendix WW.
808. Flor. Wig. “Licet invitus, ad ultimum quum consentiret.”
809. On this conference between Eadmund and Cnut, and the process by which in most later accounts it has grown into a single combat between the rival Kings, see Appendix WW.
810. So I infer from the proceedings of Cnut after the death of Eadmund.
811. As Glaukos and Diomêdês, Il. vi. 230 et seqq.; Hektôr and Aias, vii. 303. Compare the brotherhood among the early Moslems; Muir’s Life of Mahomet, iii. 17. The same institution is found among the Dalmatian Morlacchi, where the sworn brothers or sisters (Pobratimi and Posestrime) were united by a special religious ceremony. See Fortis, Viaggio in Dalmazia, i. 58 (cf. Grote’s Greece, ii. 117); Petter, Dalmazien, i. 226. It seems to exist among other Slaves as well, and we shall come across other cases in our own story.
812. “Armis et vestibus mutatis,” says Florence, but, if the tradition as to the personal stature of the two kings be correct, a judgement of Cyrus would have been presently needed to restore the clothes to their former owners.
813. See the extract from the Encomium in Appendix WW.
814. See Appendix XX.
815. Chronn. “His lic lið on Glæstingabyrig mid his ealdan fæder Eadgare.”
816. On the Glastonbury tombs, see Willis, Architectural History of Glastonbury, p. 33. The first burying-place of Eadmund was before the high altar (Will. Malms. de Ant. Glast. Eccl. ap. Gale, p. 306). His tomb must have been removed on the Invention of Arthur in the time of Henry the Second.
817. “De bellis vero regis Edmundi, et de fortitudine ejus, nonne hæc scripta sunt in historiis veterum cum laude summa?” H. Hunt. M. H. B. 755 D.
In a Melrose manuscript, lately printed at Göttingen (for which I have to thank Dr. Pauli), there are verses in honour of Eadmund’s later Scottish descendant William the Lion and of Eadmund himself. His panegyric runs;
His battles and victories are reckoned at twelve;
A West-Saxon poet might perhaps not have added;
Such a reign as Eadmund’s was not likely to be rich in documents. There is one charter (Cod. Dipl. iii. 369) of “Eadmundus æðeling rex,” granting lands “æt Pegecyrcan” (Peakirk in Northamptonshire) to the New Minster at Winchester. Its style, less turgid than that of most Latin documents of the kind, may be characteristic either of the man or of the circumstances of the time. The time when Eadmund was most likely to exercise acts of sovereignty in Northamptonshire would be in the autumn of 1016, between the battles of Otford and Assandun, when he was drawing troops from Lindesey and other distant parts of the kingdom.
818. Our authorities for this period are nearly the same as those for the reign of Æthelred. The Chronicles and Florence are still our main guides, and, as Florence draws nearer to his own time, he more commonly inserts independent matter which is not to be found in the Chronicles. We get the same kind of supplementary help as before from the secondary English authorities, the later and the local writers. We have the same hard task as before in trying to reconcile the English accounts with the various Scandinavian sagas and chronicles. The Encomium Emmæ becomes of greater importance, but it must still be used with caution, as it is clear that the writer, though contemporary, was deeply prejudiced and often very ill informed. We now also begin to draw our first help from one most valuable document, the contemporary Life of Eadward the Confessor, published by Mr. Luard. This was written, between the years 1066 and 1074, by one who was intimately acquainted with Godwine and his family, and it helps us to many facts and aspects of facts which are not to be found elsewhere. But the most important point with regard to our authorities for this time is that we must now cease to quote the English Chronicles as one work. The differences between the various copies now begin to assume a real historical importance. The narratives often differ widely from each other, and often show widely different ways of looking at men and things. They show that something very like the distinction of Whig and Tory can be traced as far back as the eleventh century. I first pointed out the difference of feeling which the different Chronicles display with regard to Godwine in a paper on the Earl’s Life and Death, in the Archæological Journal for 1854–1855. Since that time Mr. Earle, in the Introduction to his “Two of the Saxon Chronicles Parallel,” has gone fully and exhaustively into the matter from his point of view, and has given what may be called biographies of the various records which are commonly confounded under the name of “the Saxon Chronicle.” I shall hereafter follow Mr. Earle’s nomenclature (grounded on that of Jocelin, Secretary to Archbishop Parker), and shall quote them as follows. The manuscript commonly quoted as “C. C. C. C. clxxiv.” I quote as the Winchester Chronicle. For our period this Chronicle contains only a few entries added at Canterbury. “Cott. Tib. B. i.” is the Abingdon Chronicle, the only one hostile to Godwine. “Cod. Tib. B. iv.” is the Worcester Chronicle. “Bodl. Laud. 636” is the Peterborough Chronicle, strongly Godwinist. (This part however was composed at Worcester, the Chronicle being transcribed and continued at Peterborough.) “Cott. Domit. A. viii.” is Canterbury, the least valuable of all, but of more importance now than in earlier times.
819. Cnut or Knud, in one syllable, is this King’s true name, and the best Latin form is Cnuto, according to the usual way of Latinizing Scandinavian names. See above, p. 165. The form Canutus seems to have arisen from Pope Paschal the Second’s inability to say Cnut. The later King Cnut, the supposed martyr, was therefore canonized by him as “Sanctus Canutus.” See Æthelnoth’s Life of Saint Cnut, capp. iv. vi. xxxiii. (Langebek, iii. 340, 382). The writer, an English monk settled in Denmark, thinks the lengthening of the name a great honour, and compares it with the change from Abram to Abraham; but he somewhat inconsistently cuts down his own name to Ailnothus.
820. Nothing can be made of the unintelligible story in Snorro (c. 25; Laing, ii. 21, and see Appendix VV), according to which the sons of Æthelred and Emma, assisted by Olaf of Norway and his foster-father Rane, made an unsuccessful attempt upon England after Eadmund’s death. The tale may have arisen from some confusion with the later attempt on behalf of the Æthelings made by Duke Robert of Normandy. Snorro is throughout, as we shall often have occasion to see, most ill informed on English affairs. Can this Rane be the same as Ranig, whom we find Earl of the Magesætas twenty years later?
823. On Cnut’s apparently territorial title, see Appendix M.
824. On the accession of Cnut to the whole kingdom, see Appendix TT.
825. I borrow the title from Florence’s description of Cnut’s son Harold, “Rex Merciorum et Northhymbrorum,” in recording the analogous event of 1037.
826. On the brothers of Eadmund who were living, see Appendix SS.
828. Fl. 1016. “Fratres et filios Eadmundi omnino despexerunt, eosque reges esse negaverunt.” Compare the former exclusion of the whole house of Æthelred. See above, p. 381.
829. Fl. 1017. “Fœdus etiam cum principibus et omni populo (see Appendix Q) ipse, et illi cum ipso percusserunt.”
830. See Appendix TT.
831. On the two Eadwigs, see Appendix YY.
832. The fourfold division is well marked in a Charter of Æthelred (Cod. Dipl. iii. 314), which is said to be witnessed by thegns “ǽgðer ge of West-Sexan, ge of Myrcean, ge of Denon, ge of Englon.” The “Danes” here must mean the Northumbrians, and the “English,” distinctively so called, the East-Angles.
833. Florence calls Thurkill and Eric comites, Eadric alone dux. I conceive that comes is meant to translate eorl, and dux to translate ealdorman. Probably Eadric kept the English title; if so, it was its last use in the old half-kingly sense, and in a year or two the title dies out altogether from the Chronicles, though its use still goes on in private documents, and even in Cnut’s own Laws.
835. So we now apply the title of Lord Lieutenant—the nearest modern approach to the ancient Ealdorman—both to the Viceroy of the ancient kingdom of Ireland and to the military chief of a single county.
836. On the origin of Godwine, see Appendix ZZ.
837. Vita Eadw. ap. Luard, p. 392. “Quum consilio cautissimus, tum bellicis rebus ab ipso rege probatus est strenuissimus. Erat quoque morum æqualitate tam cunctis quam ipsi regi gratissimus, assiduo laboris accinctu incomparabilis, jocunda et prompta affabilitate omnibus affabilis.” Presently he is “profundus eloquio.” William of Malmesbury also (ii. 197) speaks of Godwine’s eloquence; “Homo affectati leporis, et ingenue gentilitia lingua eloquens, mirus dicere, mirus populo persuadere quæ placerent.”
838. See Appendix ZZ.
839. See Appendix AAA.
840. On the marriage of Cnut and Emma, see Appendix BBB.
841. Will. Malms, ii. 181. “Ut, dum consuetæ dominæ deferrent obsequium, minus Danorum suspirarent imperium.”
842. See Appendix VV.
843. Hen. Hunt. M. H. B. 752 A. “Emma, Normannorum gemma.” So Godfrey, Prior of Winchester, in the Epigrammata Historica printed in Wright’s Satirical Poets, ii. 148;
844. Flod. A. 951; Richer, ii. 101; Palgrave, ii. 619. Lewis himself was much younger than his wife Gerberga, daughter of Henry the Fowler and widow of Gilbert of Lotharingia.
845. See Appendix BBB.
849. Flor. Wig. 1017.
850. This rumour is preserved by the so-called Bromton, 907. Though the authority of this writer is as low as anything can be, the trait is characteristic, and savours of a contemporary scandal-monger.
851. Sigrid, widow of Eric the Victorious, and mother of Olaf of Sweden, was mother of Cnut by her second marriage with Swegen. J. Magni Hist. Goth. xvii, 17, 18 (Rome, 1554) Olaf died in 1018. Swedish tradition says much of his friendship and hereditary alliance with England, especially with King “Mildredus” or “Eldredus,” of all which I find no trace in English history.
852. Adam Brem. ii. 50, 56.
853. Florence, followed by Roger of Wendover, calls the Hungarian King Solomon. But Solomon did not begin to reign till 1063. Stephen died in 1038. Thwrocz, Chron. Hung. c. xxxiv.; Scriptt. Rev. Hung. (Wien 1746), p. 98. The Chronicles at this stage are silent on the matter, but the poem in the Worcester Chronicle under 1057 says that Cnut sent Eadward “on Ungerland to beswicane”—Sweden is not mentioned. Adam of Bremen (ii. 51) gives them another refuge; “in Ruzziam exsilio damnati.” So Karamsin, Hist. de Russie, ii. 48.
854. So Florence; “in nativitate Domini, cum esset Lundoniæ.” A different order of events might perhaps be inferred from the Chronicles; but Florence is clearly more careful in his arrangement in this place.
855. “Æðelmæres þæs greatan,” say the Abingdon, Worcester, and Peterborough annalists. What kind of greatness is implied? This may be the Æthelweard who is said to have failed to slay Eadwig; but this Æthelweard and this Æthelmær must be distinguished from the real or supposed brothers of Eadric. So Brihtric must be distinguished from the Brihtric of the year 1009.
856. See Appendix CCC.
857. Hist. Eves. 84. “Cnuto ... fecit occidi Edricum ... cum quo etiam et aliis pluribus suis militibus, quidam potens homo, Normannus vocabulo, frater scilicet hujus Leofrici comitis, perimitur ejus jussione.”
859. Florence (1017) asserts their injustice; the victims died “sine culpa.”
860. As Lappenberg (ii. 200) seems to think, on the strength of a passage in the Ramsey History, c. 84. If this be the necessary meaning of the Ramsey writer, his authority is very small on such a point, and the general course of Cnut’s conduct looks quite the other way.
861. See Appendix SS.
863. On the different versions of the tale, see Appendix DDD.
864. So Florence; “Quia timebat insidiis ab eo aliquando circumveniri, sicut domini sui priores Ægelredus et Eadmundus frequenter sunt circumventi.”
867. See Appendix CCC.
868. Thietmar, viii. 5. “In Anglis triginta navium habitatores piratæ a rege eorum, Suenni regis filio, Deo gratias, occisi sunt; et qui prius cum patre hujus erat invasor et assiduus destructor provinciæ, nunc solus sedit defensor, ut in Libycis basiliscus arenis cultore vacuis.”
869. It took some time to collect these large sums. Thus the Danegeld voted in 1011 was paid in 1012. See above, pp. 350–355. This Danegeld is referred to in Heming’s Worcester Cartulary, 248 (Mon. Angl. i. 595), a passage to which I shall have to refer again.
870. £10500, according to the Abingdon and Worcester Chronicles and Florence. £11000, according to the Peterborough and Canterbury Chronicles.
872. The Abingdon Chronicle has only, “And Dene and Engle wurdon sæmmæle æt Oxnaforda.” The Worcester annalist makes the important addition, “to Eadgares lage.” So Florence; “Angli et Dani apud Oxenafordam de lege regis Eadgari tenenda concordes sunt effecti.”
874. William of Malmesbury has a remarkable passage to this effect; “Omnes enim leges ab antiquis regibus, et maxime ab antecessore suo Ethelredo latas, sub interminatione regiæ mulctæ perpetuis temporibus observari præcepit [Cnuto]; in quarum custodiam etiam nunc tempore bonorum sub nomine regis Edwardi juratur, non quod ille statuerit, sed quod observarit.” (ii. § 183.)
876. “Incomparabilis Eadgarus,” says Cnut in his Glastonbury Charter, which, if spurious, as marked by Mr. Kemble (Cod. Dipl. iv. 40), is at least older than William of Malmesbury (ii. § 185).
877. “Nec dicto deterius fuit factum,” says William of Malmesbury, ii. 183. So in ii. 181; “Ita quum omnis Anglia pareret uni, ille ingenti studio Anglos sibi conciliare, æquum illis jus cum Danis suis in consessu, in concilio, in prœlio, concedere.”
879. Adam Brem. ii. 63. “Aliquando visitans Danos, aliquando Nortmannos [Norwegians], sæpissime autem sedit in Anglia.”
881. Chronn. in anno; Fl. Wig.
882. On the exploits and marriage of Godwine see Appendix EEE.
883. Saxo (193) tells the tale at length. Florence also (1049) admits the pedigree; “Ulfus, filius Spraclingi, filius Ursi.” “Ursus” is seemingly the half-human Biorn, not the bear himself. Cf. Appendix WWW.
884. See Appendix ZZ.
885. He signs, as far as I know, only two Charters; one (Cod. Dipl. iv. 15) in company with Leofwine, the other (Cod. Dipl. vi. 190) in company with Leofric. This last, which is very unusual, is not signed by Godwine, and the “Harold eorl” who signs it must, as I shall presently show, be distinguished from his son.
886. Saxo, 195–7. See Appendix GGG.
887. All the Chronicles, and also Florence, mention this banishment of Æthelweard.
888. On Godwine’s West-Saxon earldom, see Appendix AAA.
889. Chron. and Flor. Wig. in anno.
890. See Appendix II.
891. The Canterbury Chronicle is fuller than the others on this head, calling the building “an mynster of stane and lime.” This is one of the passages which have been strangely applied to prove that stone architecture was hardly known in England before the Norman Conquest. Any one who knows the buildings of Essex, as compared with those of Somerset or Northamptonshire, will at once see that the notice of a stone building as something singular must be purely local. The present church of Ashington contains no detail earlier than the last years of the twelfth century; but I suspect that the walls are mainly those of Cnut’s minster.
892. Will. Malms. ii. 185, and see below.
893. Chron. Cant. “And gief hit [the minster] his anum preoste þas nama was Stigand.” William of Malmesbury (ii. 181) calls it “basilica,” but goes on to say, “Nunc, ut fertur, modica est ecclesia presbytero parochiano delegata.” The words “minster,” “monasterium” (as applied to the church as distinguished from the conventual buildings), “moutier,” are used very vaguely, and often mean merely a church of any kind.
894. Perhaps the little collegiate church of Battlefield, founded to commemorate Henry the Fourth’s victory, called the Battle of Shrewsbury, is a nearer parallel to Assandun than Battle Abbey or Batalha.
896. I assume, with Mr. St. John (Four Conquests, ii. 69), that this Stigand is no other than the future Archbishop. Stigand the priest signs charters of Cnut in 1033 (Cod. Dipl. iv. 46) and 1035 (vi. 185), and one without date (vi. 187), and one of Harthacnut in 1042 (iv. 65). He seems to be the only person of the name who signs. He was chaplain to Harold Harefoot (Fl. Wig. 1038), as well as to Cnut and Eadward.
897. Chron. and Fl. Wig. in anno. See Appendix NN.
898. See Appendix NN and SS.
899. See Appendix QQQ.
900. Eric’s last signature is in 1023. Cod. Dipl. iv. 26.
901. See Appendix FFF.
902. Fl. Wig. 1029. “Timebat enim ab illo vel vita privari vel regno expelli.” Hakon’s connexion by marriage with Cnut rests on the authority of Florence, in anno. His blood-kindred as his sister’s son comes from Snorro, c. 19 (Laing, ii. 15).
903. Snorro, c. 139 (Laing, ii. 192). This is what Florence (1029) must mean, when he says, “Quasi legationis causa, in exsilium misit.”
904. The Chronicles contain no mention of Hakon’s banishment, but the Abingdon Chronicle mentions his death at sea in 1030; “And þæs geres ǽr ðám fórferde Hacun se dohtiga eorl on sǽ.” Florence (1030) records his death at sea, but also mentions the other account. In the wild invective of Osbern (Trans. S. Elf. ap. Ang. Sac. ii. 144) we have an Earl Hakon, perhaps the same, who stabs himself; “propono ducem Haconem proprio se mucrone transverberantem.” A charter of 1031 (Cod. Dipl. iv. 35), with a signature of Hakon, must be spurious or inaccurate in its date.