Chronicles : The Historie of England | Page 7

and was nothing fauorable to
their lewd hypocrisie. But what is a king if his subiects be not loiall?
What is a realme, if the common wealth be diuided? By peace &
concord, of small beginnings great and famous kingdomes haue oft
times procéeded; whereas by discord the greatest kingdoms haue oftner
bene brought to ruine. And so it proued here, for whilest priuat quarels
are pursued, the generall affaires are vtterlie neglected: and whilest ech
nation séeketh to preferre hir owne aliance, the Iland it selfe is like to
become a desert.

But to procéed with our monasticall writers: certes they lay all the fault
in the king, saieng that he was a man giuen to no good exercise, he
delighted in fleshlie lustes and riotous bankettings and still sought
waies how to gather of his subiects what might be got, as well
[Sidenote: The misgouernement of the king.] by vnlawfull meanes as
otherwise. For he would for feined or for verie small & light causes
disherit his natiue subiects, and cause [Sidenote: Sicknesse vexeth the
people.] them to redéeme their owne possessions for great summes of
monie. Besides these oppressions, diuers kinds of sicknesses vexed the
people also, as the bloodie flix, and hot burning agues which then raged
through the land, so that manie died thereof. By such manner of meanes
[Sidenote: Treason in the nobilitie.] therefore, what through the
misgouernance of the king, the treason and disloialtie of the nobilitie,
the lacke of good order and due correction amongst the people, and by
such other scourges and mishaps as afflicted the English nation in that
season, the land was brought into great ruine, so that, where by strength
the enimie could not be kept off, there was now no hope but to appease
them with monie. By [Sidenote: The inhancing of the tribute paid to the
Danes.] reason hereof from time of the first agréement with the Danes
for 10 thousand pounds tribute, it was inhanced to 16000 pounds, (as
you haue heard) & after that to 20000 pounds, then to 24000 pounds, &
so to 30000 pounds, & lastlie to 40000 pounds, till at length the relme
was emptied in maner of all that monie and coine that could be found
[Sidenote: The death of quéene Elgina.] in it. In this meane time died
Elgina or Ethelgina the quéene. [Sidenote: Emma. _Hen. Hunt._]
Shortlie after it was deuised that the king should be a suter vnto
Richard duke of Normandie, for his sister Emma, a ladie of such
excellent beautie, that she was named the floure of Normandie. This
sute was begun and tooke such good successe, that the king [Sidenote:
1002. Emma daughter of R. duke of Normandie maried to K. Edgar.]
obteined his purpose. And so in the yeare of our Lord 1002, which was
about the 24 yeare of king Egelreds reigne, he maried the said Emma
with great solemnitie.
This mariage was thought to be right necessarie, honorable, and
profitable for the realme of England, because of the great puissance of
the Norman princes in those daies: but as things afterward came to

passe, it turned to the subuersion of the whole English state: for by such
affinitie and dealing as happened hereby betwixt the Normans and
Englishmen, occasion in the end was ministred to the same Normans to
pretend a title to the crowne of England, in prosecuting of which title,
they obteined and made the whole conquest of the land, as after shall
appeare. Egelred being greatlie aduanced (as he thought) by reason of
his mariage, deuised vpon presumption thereof, to cause all the Danes
within the land to be murthered in one day. Herevpon he sent priuie
commissioners to all cities, burrowes and townes within his dominions,
commanding the rulers and officers in the same, to kill all such Danes
as remained within their liberties, at a certeine day prefixed, being saint
Brices day, in the yeare 1012, and in the 34 [Sidenote: 1012. The 18 of
Nouember. The murder of the Danes.] yeare of king Egelreds reigne.
Herevpon (as sundrie writers agree) in one day & houre this murther
began, and was according to the commission and iniunction executed.
But where it first began, the same is vncerteine: some say at Wellowin
in Herefordshire, some at a [Sidenote: Hownhill, or Houndhill, a place
within Merchington parish beside the forest of Néedwood, somewhat
more than two miles from Vtoxcester.] place in Staffordshire called
Hownhill, & others in other places, but whersoeuer it began, the dooers
repented it after.
[Sidenote: The miserable state of this realme vnder the thraldome of the
Danes.] But now yer we procéed anie further, we will shew what rule
the Danes kept here in this realme before they were thus murthered, as
in some bookes we