shamefully slaughtered him: they cast upon him bones and the heads of oxen, and then one of them struck him with an axe-iron on the head, so that with the blow he sank down, and his holy blood fell on the earth, and his holy soul he sent forth to God's kingdom. And on the morrow the body was carried to London, and the bishops Ednoth and Elfhun, and the townsmen, received it with all reverence, and buried it in St. Paul's minster ; and there God now manifesteth the miraculous powers of the martyr "."

Ethelred takes forty-five of the Danish ships into his pay.

A.D. 1013. Sweyn arrives at Sandwich with his fleet, in the summer.

He overruns East Anglia and Northumbria, and receives hostages from every shire.

Leaving his ships and the hostages with his son Canute, he proceeds southward, and captures Oxford and Winchester, but is repulsed from London, "where much of his people was drowned in the Thames, because they kept not to any bridge."

Sweyn proceeds to Bath, when the western shires submit to him. "And when he had thus succeeded, then went he northward to his ships; and then all the people held him for full king."

"And after that the townsmen of London submitted, and delivered hostages, because they dreaded lest he should utterly undo them. Then Sweyn ordered a full tribute, and provisions for his army during the winter; and Thurkill ordered the like for the army which lay at Greenwich; and for all that, they plundered as oft as they would."

King Ethelred sends his queen and the athelings, Edward and Alfred, to Normandy; he soon follows them, and remains there till after the death of Sweyn.

The body was removed to Canterbury by command of Canute in the year 1023, before which date this passage must have been written.

A.D. 1014. "In this year King Sweyn ended his days at Candlemas, (Feb. 3) I and all the fleet then chose Canute for king."

...

"Then counselled all the witan who were in England, clergy and laity, that they should send after King Ethelred; and they declared that no lord were dearer to them than their natural lord, if he would rule them rightlier than he had before done. Then sent the king his son Edward hither with his messengers, and ordered them to greet all his people; and said that he would be to them a loving lord, and amend all those things which they all abhorred, and each of those things should be forgiven which had been done or said to him, on condition that they all, with one consent, would be obedient to him, without deceit. And they then established full friendship, by word and by pledge, on either half, and declared every Danish king an outlaw from England for ever. Then, during Lent, King Ethelred came home to his own people, and he was gladly received by them all.”

The people of Lindsey (Anglo-Danes) make a compact with Canute, "that they should find him horses, and that afterwards they should all go out together and plunder."

King Ethelred attacks them with his full force, and Canute retires to his ships.

Canute comes to Sandwich, "and there he caused the hostages to be put on shore who had been delivered to his father, and cut off their hands, and ears, and noses."

The Northmen defeated at Clontarf (near Dublin), by Brien Boru, who is himself slain, April 23 (Good Friday).

A great sea-flood, which washed away many vills and a countless number of people, Sept. 28.

A.D. 1015. Siferth and Morcar, the chief thanes in the Seven Burghs, treacherously slain by Edric.

Probably the Five Burghs already named (p. 96), with the addition of Chester and York,

Edmund the atheling takes Siferth's widow from the convent of Malmesbury, marries her, and obtains possession of the burghs.

Canute ravages Wessex, and subdues it. He is joined by Edric with 40 ships.

A.D. 1016. Canute and Edric pass into Mercia; “and they ravaged, and burned, and slew all that they could come at."

A force is gathered against them, and headed by King Ethelred, but, being apprehensive of treachery, he retires to London, and the troops disperse.

Canute passes into Northumbria, where, by the advice of Edric, he kills Uhtred the ealdorman, son-inlaw of Ethelred, and appoints Eric in his stead.

Canute returns to Wessex, and prepares for an expedition against London.

Edmund the atheling retires to London.

"Then befel it that King Ethelred died, before the ships arrived. He ended his days on St. George's massday (April 23), and he held his kingdom with great loss and under great difficulties, the while that his life lasted."

EDMUND IRONSIDE.

EDMUND, the eldest son of Ethelred, succeeded him, but after many fierce contests with Canute, he found himself obliged to agree to a partition of his kingdom, and he died shortly after, most probably by assassination. By his wife Algitha, the relict of Siferth, he left two sons, Edward and Edmund, who were exiled by Canute. Edwy the Churl king (the king of the people, or popular favourite), banished by Canute, is by some writers said to have been a son of Edmund, but the point is not satisfactorily established.

¡This popular name is first met with in Florence of Worcester.

A.D. 1016. “All the witan who were in London, and the townsmen, chose Edmund to be king; and he strenuously defended his kingdom the while that his time lasted."

Edmund leaves London, and overruns Wessex.

"Then came the ships to Greenwich at Rogation days (May 7). And within a little space they went to London, and they dug a great ditch on the south side, and dragged their ships to the west side of the bridge; and afterwards they ditched the town around, so that no one could go either in or out; and they repeatedly fought against the town, but the townsmen strenuously withstood them."

Edmund fights with the Danes at Pen, by Gillingham, in Dorsetshire, and at Sceorstan, (Shirestone, near Burford), then relieves London, and two days after defeats the Danes at Brentford.

Edmund retires into Wessex, when the Danes again besiege London; "and they beset the town around, and strongly fought against it, as well by water as by land. But the Almighty God delivered it."

The Danes retire from London, proceed up the Orwell, and ravage Mercia. "Then King Edmund assembled, for the fourth time, all his forces, and went over the Thames at Brentford, and went into Kent, and the army fled before him, with their horses, into Sheppy; and the king slew as many of them as he could come up with." Edric comes over to the king at Aylesford, and dissuades him from following up his victory.

The Danes again pass through Essex into Mercia. Edmund pursues them, but, being betrayed by Edric, is defeated at Assandun, (Assingdon, near Rochford 3), "and all the nobility of the English race was there destroyed."

66

j Formerly erroneously placed at Ashdown, near Saffron Walden.

Canute pursues Edmund into Gloucestershire. "Then counselled Edric the ealdorman and the witan who were there, that the kings should be mutually reconciled. And they delivered hostages mutually; and the kings came together at Olanege, near Deerhurst, and they confirmed their friendship as well by pledge as by oath, and settled the tribute for the army. And then they separated with this reconcilement; and Edmund obtained Wessex, and Canute Mercia. And the army then went to their ships, with the things that they had taken. And the men of London made a truce with the army, and bought themselves peace; and the army brought their ships to London, and took up their winter quarters therein.

"Then at St. Andrew's mass (Nov. 30) died King Edmund, and his body lies at Glastonbury, with his grandfather Edgar."

CANUTE.

CANUTE, the son of Sweyn, already in possession of the greater part of England, succeeded to the whole on the death of Edmund, and secured his throne by a marriage with Emma, the widow of Ethelred. He undertook several foreign expeditions, in the course of which he conquered Norway; he also made a pilgrimage to Rome, and he did much to repair the ravages of war in England; restoring minsters and churches, and promulgating equitable laws. Canute died in 1035, leaving three sons, Sweyn, Harold and Harthacnut", and a daughter, Gunhilda", who married the emperor Henry III.

The isle of Alney, near Gloucester. I See p. 136.

m

Commonly styled Hardicanute.

She was the daughter of Emma, and like her was famed for her beauty. She was accused of infidelity, but being vindicated by the wager of battle she withdrew from her husband's court, and died at Bruges. August 21, 1042.

I