London and the Kingdom - Volume I | Page 9

991, he had, with the consent of his witan, raised the sum of £10,000
with which he had bribed the Danish host. This was the origin of the
tax known as Danegelt, which in after years became one of the chief

financial resources of the Crown and continued almost uninterruptedly
down to the reign of Henry II. The effect of the bribe was naturally
enough to induce the enemy to make further depredations whenever in
want of money; and accordingly, a Danish fleet threatened London the
very next year (992) and again in 994. On this last occasion, the same
wretched expedient was resorted to, and the Danes were again bought
off.
(M27)
Nor was cowardice the only charge of which Ethelred was guilty. To
this must be added treachery and murder. In the year 1002, when he
married the daughter of the Duke of Normandy, hoping thereby to win
the Duke's friendship and to close the harbours on the French coast
against Sweyn, Ethelred issued secret orders for a massacre of all
Danes found in England. In this massacre, which took place on the
Festival of St. Brice (13th Nov.), perished Gunhild, sister of Sweyn.
Under these circumstances, it can scarcely be wondered at, that
thenceforth the Danish invasions became more frequent, more
systematic, and more extensive than ever.
For four years they continued their depredations "cruelly marking every
shire in Wessex with burning and with harrying." Then they were again
bought off with a sum of £36,000, and two years' respite (1007-8) was
gained.(41) It was a respite and no more. As soon as they had spent
their money, they came again, and in 1009 made several assaults on
London--"They often fought against the town of London, but to God be
praise that it yet stands sound, and they have ever fared ill."(42) Every
year they struck deeper into the heart of the country, and carried their
plundering expeditions from Wessex into Mercia and East Anglia.
(M28)
In 1011 Canterbury was taken and sacked, Alphage, the Archbishop,
being made prisoner, and carried away by the Danish fleet to
Greenwich. Finding it impossible to extort a ransom, they brutally
murdered him (19th May, 1012), in one of their drunken moods, pelting
him in their open court or "husting" with bones and skulls of oxen.(43)

The worthy prelate's corpse was allowed to be removed to London
where it was reverently interred in St. Paul's. A few years later, Cnut
caused it to be transferred with due solemnity to the Archbishop's own
metropolitan church of Canterbury.
(M29)
In the following year, Sweyn was so successful in reducing the
Northumbrians and the inhabitants of the five boroughs,(44) as well as
the towns of Winchester and Oxford, taking hostages from each as he
went, that he thought he might venture once more to attack London
itself; hoping for better success than had attended him on previous
occasions. He was the more anxious to capture London, because
Ethelred himself was there, but he again met with such determined
resistance, and so many of his followers were drowned in the Thames
that for the fourth time he had to beat a retreat.(45)
(M30)
Leaving London for a while, Sweyn proceeded to conquer that part of
England which still held out against him, and having accomplished his
purpose, was again preparing to attack the one city which had baffled
all his attempts to capture, when the Londoners themselves, finding
further opposition hopeless, offered their submission and left Ethelred
to take care of himself.(46) This he did by betaking himself to
Normandy, where he remained until Sweyn's death in the following
year (3rd Feb., 1014).
(M31)
Upon this event taking place, the crews of the Danish fleet assumed the
right of disposing of the English crown, and elected Sweyn's son, Cnut,
to be king. The English, however, compelled as they had been by
superior strength to submit to the father, were in no mood to accept
without a struggle the sovereignty of his son. The whole of the Witan at
once declared in favour of sending for Ethelred, with the assurance
"that no lord was dearer than their natural lord," if only he would
promise to govern them more justly than before.(47) Ethelred sent

word by Edmund his son that "he would be to them a kind lord, and
amend all the things which they eschewed, and all the things should be
forgiven which had been done or said to him, on condition that they all,
unanimously and without treachery, would turn to him." Pledges were
given and taken on either side, and thenceforth a Danish king was to be
looked upon as an outlaw.(48)
(M32)
When Ethelred arrived in England, he was accompanied according to
an Icelandic Saga,(49) by King Olaf, of Norway, who assisted him in
expelling the