England While the English were congratulating each other upon their late deliverance from an inveterate enemy, Sweyn king of Denmark, who had been informed of pider their treacherous cruelties, appeared off the western Grankhaft coasts with a large fleet, meditating slaughter, and fuDen rious with revenge. The English vainly attempted to Ja to summon their forces together; treachery and cowardice still operated to dispirit their troops, or to dissipate them. To these miseries a dreadful famine was added, partly from the bad seasons, and partly from the decay of agriculture: For a while they supposed that the Danish devastations would be retarded by the payment of thirty thousand pounds, which the invaders agreed to accept; but this, as in the former cases, afforded but a temporary relief. For a while they placed some hopes in a powerful navy, which they found means to equip; but this was soon divided and dispersed, without doing them any service. Nothing therefore now remained, but their suffering the just indignation of the conqueror, and undergoing all the evils that war, inflamed by revenge, could inflict. During this period, a general consternation, together with a mutual diffidence and dissension, prevailed. Cessations from these calamities were purchased, one after another, by immense sums; but as they afforded only a short alleviation of the common A. D. distress, no other resource remained at last than 1013. that of submitting to the Danish monarch, of swearing allegiance to him, and giving hostages as pledges of sincerity. Ethelred was obliged to fly into Normandy, and the whole country thus came under the vragebaum, power of Sweyn, his victorious rival. Versuch der The death of Sweyn, which happened about six weeks England after, seemed to offer a favourable opportunity of rend storing Ethelred to the throne, and his subjects to their In liberties. Accordingly he seized it with avidity: but his misconduct was incurable; and his indolence, credulity, and cowardice obstructed all success. At length, after having seen the greatest part of the kingdom seized by the insulting enemy, after refusing to head his troops to oppose them, he retired to London, where he ended an inglorious reign of thirty-seven years by a natural death, leaving behind him two sons, the elder of whom, Edmund, succeeded to his crown and his misfortunes. Edmund, his son and successor, received the A.D. Theilung de surname of Ironside, from his hardy opposition 1016. Lundin to the enemy; but this opposition seemed as ineffectual de Dünen to restore the happiness of his country as it was to conti- und gla nue him in the possession of the throne. He was opposed by one of the most powerful and vigilant monarchs then in Europe; for Canute, afterwards surnamed the Great, succeeded Sweyn as king of Denmark, and also as general of the Danish forces in England. The contest between these two monarchs was therefore managed with great obstinacy and perseverance; the first battle that was fought appeared indecisive; a second followed, in which the Danes were victorious: but Edmund still having interest enough to bring a third army into the field, the Danish and English nobility, equally harassed by these convulsions, obliged their kings to come to a compromise, and to divide the kingdom between them by treaty. Canute reserved to himself the northern parts of the kingdom; the southern parts were left to Edmund : but this prince being murdered about a month after the treaty by his two chamberlains, at Oxford, Canute was left in peaceable possession of the whole kingdom. Allein besitz Canute, though he had gratified his ambition in ob- Canute taining possession of the English crown, yet was obliged all-inat first to make some mortifying concessions; and, in ff. order to gain the affections of the nobility, he endeavoured to gratify their avarice. But as his power grew stronger, and his title more secure, he then resumed those grants which he had made, and even put many of the English nobles to death, sensible that those who had betrayed their native sovereign would never be true to him. Nor was he less severe in his exactions upon the subordinate ranks of the people, levying at one time seventy-two thousand pounds upon the country, and eleven thousand more upon the city of London only. Canet's Having thus strengthened his new power by effectuPryirung. rging ally weakening all who had wealth or authority to withstand him, he next began to show the merciful side of his character. Nor does it seem without just grounds that he is represented by some historians as one of the first characters in those barbarous ages. The invectives which are thrown out against him by the English writers seem merely the effect of national resentment or prejudice, unsupported by truth. His first step to reconcile the English to his yoke, was, by sending back to Denmark as many of his followers as he could safely spare. He made no distinction between the English and Danes in the administration of justice, but restored the Saxon customs in a general assembly of the kingdom. The two nations thus uniting with each other, were glad to breathe for a while from the tumult and slaughter in which they had involved each other; and to confirm their amity, the king himself married Emma, the sister of Richard, duke of Normandy, who had ever warmly espoused the interests of the English. yout England, Count Canute, having thus settled his power in England beyond the danger of a revolution, made a voyage to Denmark, as his native dominions were attacked by the king of Sweden. In this expedition Godwin, an Eng ..lish earl, was particularly distinguished for his valour, and acquired that fame which laid a foundation for the immense power he acquired during the succeeding reigns. In another voyage he made to Denmark, he attacked Norway; and, expelling Olave from his kingdom, annexed it to his own empire. Thus, being at once king of England, Denmark, and Norway, he was considered as the most warlike and potent prince in Europe; while the security of his power inclined his temper, which was naturally cruel, to mercy. As his reign was begun in blood, he was, towards the Canut au end of it, willing to atone for his former fierceness by dort seinen acts of penance and devotion. He built churches, endow-Character. ed monasteries, and appointed revenues for the celebration of mass. He even undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, where he remained a considerable time; and, besides obtaining from the pope some privileges for the English school erected there, he engaged all the princes through whose dominions he passed, to desist from those heavy impositions which they were accustomed to exact from the English pilgrims. The piety of the latter part of his life, and the resolute valour of the former, were topics that filled the mouths of his courtiers with flattery and praise. They even affected to think his power uncontrollable, and that all things would be obedient to his command. Canute, sensible of their adulation, is said to have taken the following method to reprove them. He ordered his chair to be set on the sea-shore while the tide was coming in, and commanded the sea to retire. "Thou art under my dominion," cried he: "the land upon which I sit is mine; I charge, thee, therefore, not to approach, nor dare to wet the feet of thy sovereign." He feigned to sit some time in expectation of submission, till the waves began to surround him; then, turning to his courtiers, he observed, that the titles of lord and master belonged only to Him whom both earth and seas were ready to obey. Thus feared and respected, he lived many years honoured with the surname of Harald Great for his power, but deserving it still more for his virtues. He died at Shaftesbury, in the nineteenth year of his reign, leaving behind three sons, Sweyn, Harold, and Hardicnute. Sweyn was crowned king of Norway; Hardicnute was put in possession of Denmark; and Harold succeeded his father on the English throne. A. D. Harold, surnamed Harefoot, from his swiftness dor Has 1035. in running, upon his first coming to the crown met Jeufufs. with no small opposition from his younger brother, Har Hardiz cnute dicnute. But, by the intervention of the nobles, a com- |