Chronicles : The Historie of England | Page 7

concord, of small beginnings great and famous kingdomes haue oft times proc��eded; 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 s��eketh to preferre hir owne aliance, the Iland it selfe is like to become a desert.
But to proc��ed 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 red��eme 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 agr��ement 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 qu��ene Elgina.] in it. In this meane time died Elgina or Ethelgina the qu��ene. [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 N��edwood, 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 proc��ed anie further, we will shew what rule the Danes kept here in this realme before they were thus murthered, as in some bookes we find recorded. Whereas it is shewed that the Danes compelled the husbandmen to til the ground & doo all maner of labour and toile to be doone about husbandrie: the Danes liued vpon