VI. Canute 1016. 4 BOOK mind and manners refined as his age matured. The first part of his reign was cruel and despotic. His the Great. latter days shone with a glory more unclouded. His first policy was against the children of Ethelred and Edmund. One of his scallds, Sighvatr, sings, that all the sons of Ethelred he slew or banished. The Saxon annalist assures us, that he determined at first to exile Edwig, the half-brother of Edmund; but finding the English nobles both submissive and adulating, he proceeded to gratify his ambition by taking the prince's life. The infamous Edric suggested to him a man, Ethelwold, a nobleman of high descent, who would undertake to accomplish his criminal desires. The king incited Ethelwold to the measure. "Acquiesce with my wishes, and wishes, and you shall enjoy securely all the honour and dignity of your ancestors. Bring me his head, and you shall be dearer to me than a brother." This was the language of a northern vikingr, to whom human life was of no value. Ethelwold affected a compliance; but his seeming readiness was but an artifice to get the child into his power, and to preserve his life. Edwig did not ultimately escape. The next year he was deceived by those whom he most esteemed; and, by Canute's request and command, he was put to death." WITH the same guilty purpose, he seized Edward and Edmund, the children of the last king; but he was counselled that the country would not 4 Attamen singulos. Deinceps filiorum Adelradi Vel interfecit Cnutus Vel proscripsit. Sigvatr Knutzdrapu, quoted in Knytl. Saga, p. 140. 5 Flor. Wig. 390, 391. XI. Canute the Great. 1016. endure their destruction. Alarmed from imme- CHAP. diate crime, he sent them to the king of Sweden, to be killed. This prince was too noble to be a murderer, and had them conveyed to Salomon, the king of Hungary, to be preserved and educated. One died; the other, Edward, married Agatha, the daughter of Henry, the German emperor; and their issue was Edgar Atheling, who will be remembered in a future reign. CANUTE, reserving to himself the immediate government of Wessex, committed East Anglia to Turketul, whose valour had greatly contributed to the subjection of England. He gave Mercia to Edric, and Northumbria to his friend Eric, the Norwegian prince. He made a public treaty of amity with the English chiefs and people, and by mutual agreement all enmities were laid aside. In the same year, the solemn compact was violated; for he slew three English noblemen without a fault. He banished He banished Edwig, the king of the peasants, and divided the estates of the nobles among his Danish friends. THE punishment of Edric would have been a homage to virtue from any other person than Canute. The crime he prompted he should not have punished. But it is an observation almost 6 Flor. Wig. 391. 7 Sine culpâ. Flor. 391. Mailros, 155. The Encomium Emmæ says, he killed many princes: "Multos principum quadam die occidere pro hujusmodi dolo juberet." The dolus here alleged was, that they had deceived Edmund. Their real crime may have been that they were powerful, and that their submission was dubious. Ingulf, 58., and the Annals of Burton, 247., mention some of Edric's friends as killed. 8 Ceopla cýng. Sax. Chron. 151. qui rex appellabatur rusticorum. Flor. Wig. 398. Bromton says he was the brother of Edmund, 907.; but I doubt that this is an error. VI. 1016. BOOK as old as human nature, that traitors are abhorred Canute by their employers. In the first days of Canute's the Great. unsettled throne, he confirmed Edric in his Mercian dukedom; but having used the profligate Saxon to establish his dignity, on the next claim of reward, he expressed his latent feelings. Edric imprudently boasted of his services: "I first deserted Edmund, to benefit you; for you I killed him." Canute coloured; for the anger of conscious guilt and irrepressible shame came upon him. "Tis fit, then you should die, for your treason to God and me. You killed your own lord him who by treaty and friendship was my brother! your blood be upon your own head, for murdering the Lord's anointed; your own lips bear witness against you." The villain who perpetrated the fact was confounded by the hypocrite who had countenanced it. Eric, the ruler of Norway, was called in, that the royal intention might be secretly executed. He struck down the wretch with his battle-axe, and the body was thrown from the window into the Thames, before any tumult could be raised among his partisans. The two sons of Ethelred, by Emma, were sheltered in Normandy. 1018. CANUTE married Emma, called also Elfgiva, the widow of Ethelred. He distinguished his next year by a most oppressive exaction: from London he compelled 10,500 pounds, and from the rest of the kingdom 72,000. 9 This narration is taken from Malmsb. 73. compared with Encom. Emmæ. The circumstances of his death are told differently, as usual. Florence admits that he was killed in the king's palace; but one says, that he was hanged; another, that he was strangled; another, that he was beheaded. Human testimony is characterised by these petty variations. 1 CHAP. XI. Canute 1018. To soothe the country, he sent home the largest portion of his Danish troops, keeping only forty vessels in England. In this he displayed the the Great. confidence of a noble mind. He maintained an exact equality between the two nations, in ranks, council, and war. In 1019, England was so tranquil, that he went to Denmark, and passed the winter in his native country. CANUTE maintained his dignity with a severe hand. In 1020, after his return from the Baltic, he held a great council in the Easter festivity at Cirencester. At this he banished the duke Ethelwerd. In 1021, he also exiled the celebrated Turketul. In this year the Anglo-Saxons obscurely intimate, that Canute went to Denmark, where he was attacked by Ulfr and Eglaf, with a fleet and army from Sweden. In one struggle Canute was unsuccessful; but afterwards the young earl Godwin attacked the enemies of Canute by surprise, with the English troops, and obtained a complete victory. This event raised Godwin and the English very greatly in the king's estimation.10 THE Eglaf was St. Olave, who had possessed himself of the kingdom of Norway. Canute, occupied by his English crown, made at first no pretensions to the Norwegian sceptre." The submission of England gave him leisure to turn the eye of ambition to the mountains of Norway.12 Claims, those slight veils with which states desirous of war always cover their unjust projects, to conceal their deformity from the giddy populace; claims adapted to interest the passions of 10 Sax. Chron. 154. Matt. West. 405. 11 Snorre, vol. ii. p. 144. 12 Snorre, p. 212. 1025. VI. Canute the Great. BOOK vulgar prejudice, existed to befriend Canute. His father had conquered Norway; his relation, Haco, had been driven from it. Many of the people who had most loudly welcomed St. Olave, had become dissatisfied at his innovations, and invited Canute to interfere. 13 1025. THE detail of the struggle between Canute and St. Olave need not be narrated here. Ulfr at first was among the enemies of Canute. He was afterwards pardoned and reconciled"; and in the king's conflict with the Swedes, was the means of saving Canute's life. 15 Ar a feast in Roschild, Canute, according to Snorre, quarrelled with Ulfr at gaming. The indignant Jarl prudently retired. Canute taunted him on his cowardice for withdrawing. "Was I a coward when I rescued you from the fangs of the Swedish dogs?" was the answer of the irritated Ulfr. Canute went to his couch, and slept upon his resentment; but his fierce and haughty soul waked in the morning to demand blood. He sent his mandate, and Ulfr was stabbed in a church which he had entered.16 Canute descended so far beneath the courage of a hero, as to corrupt the subjects of Olave from their fidelity by money.17 Canute supported his insidious negotiations by a powerful fleet. Fifty ships of English thanes were with him; and every district in Norway which he approached accepted him as its lord.18 He exacted for hostages the sons and dearest 13 Snorre, 212, 213. 14 See Snorre, 26-69.; and compare Saxo's account, 195, 196. 17 Flor. Wig. 393. Theodoric, p. 29. Snorre, 278. |