BOOK Canute 1016. CHAP. XI. CANUTE the Great. CANUTE, from his warlike ability, surnamed the Brave; from his renown and empire, the the Great Great; from his liberality, the Rich; and, from his devotion, the Pious; obtained, on Edmund's death, the sovereignty of all England at the age of twenty. 2 THE Northerns have transmitted to us the portrait of Canute: he was large in stature, and very powerful; he was fair, and distinguished for his beauty; his nose was thin, eminent, and aquiline; his hair was profuse; his eyes bright and fierce. 3 He was chosen king by general assent; his partisans were numerous in the country, and who could resist his power? His measures to secure his crown were sanguinary and tyrannical; but the whole of Canute's character breathes an air of barbaric grandeur. He was formed by nature to tower amidst his contemporaries; but his country and his education intermixed his greatness with a ferocity that compels us to shudder while 1 Dr. Hicke's dedication to his Thesaurus. His baptismal name was Lambert. Frag. Isl. 2 Lang. 426. 2 The Knytlinga Saga, and Olave Tryggvason Saga, state Canute to have been but ten years old at his father's death. If so, he could be only twelve at his accession. This is not probable. One document speaks more truly. Snorre, in his Saga af Magnusi Goda, states Canute to have been forty when he died. This was in 1035; and therefore in 1016, he must have been twenty-one. Snorre's words are, "Eodem autumno vita functus est rex Knutus potens in Anglia idibus Novembris natus tunc annos quadraginta," c. iv. p. 7. 3 Knytlinga Saga, p. 148. XI. we admire. In one respect he was fortunate; his C HA P. mind and manners refined as his age matured. Canute The first part of his reign was cruel and despotic. the Great. His latter days shone with a glory more unclouded. His first policy was against the children of Ethelred and Edmund. One of his scallds, Sighvatr, sings, that all the sons of Ethelred he slew or banished. The Saxon annalist assures us, that he determined at first to exile Edwig, the halfbrother of Edmund; but finding the English nobles both submissive and adulating, he proceeded to gratify his ambition by taking the prince's life. The infamous Edric suggested to him a man, Ethelwold, a nobleman of high descent, who would undertake to accomplish his criminal desires. The king incited Ethelwold to the measure. Acquiesce with my wishes, and you shall enjoy securely all the honour and dignity of your ancestors. Bring me his head, and you shall be dearer to me than a brother." This was the language of a northern vikingr, to whom human life was of no value. Ethelwold affected a compliance; but his seeming readiness was but an artifice to get the child into his power, and to preserve his life. Edwig did not ultimately escape. The next year he was deceived by those whom he most esteemed; and, by Canute's request and command, he was put to death. 3 66 WITH the same guilty purpose, he seized Edward, and Edmund the children of the last king; 4 Attamen singulos. Deinceps filiorum Adelradi Vel interfecit Cnutus Vel proscripsit. Sigvatr Knutzdrapu, quoted in Knytl. Saga, p. 140. 1016. Canute 1016. BOOK but he was counselled that the country would not VI. endure their destruction. Alarmed from immethe Great. diate crime, he sent them to the king of Sweden, to be killed. This prince was too noble to be a murderer, and had them conveyed to Salomon, the king of Hungary, to be preserved and educated, One died; the other, Edward, married Agatha, the daughter of Henry, the German emperor; and their issue was Edgar Atheling, who will be remembered in a future reign. CANUTE, reserving to himself the immediate government of Wessex, committed East Anglia to Turketul, whose valour had greatly contributed to the subjection of England. He gave Mercia to Edric, and Northumbria to his friend Eric, the Norwegian prince. He made a public treaty of amity with the English chiefs and people, and by mutual agreement all enmities were laid aside. In the same year, the solemn compact was violated; for he slew three English noblemen without a fault. He banished Edwig, the king of the peasants, and divided the estates of the nobles among his Danish friends. THE punishment of Edric would have been a 6 Flor. Wig. 391. 7 Sine culpa. Flor. 391. Mailros, 155. The Encomium Emmæ says, he killed many princes: "Multos principum quadam die occidere pro hujusmodi dolo juberet." The dolus here alleged was, that they had deceived Edmund. Their real crime may have been that they were powerful, and that their submission was dubious. Ingulf, 58., and the Annals of Burton, 247., mention some of Edric's friends as killed. 8 Ceopla cýnz. Sax. Chron. 151. qui rex appellabatur rusticorum. Flor. Wig. 398. Bromton says he was the brother of Edmund, 907., but I doubt that this is an error. XI. 1016. homage to virtue from any other person than CHA P. Canute. The crime he prompted he should not Canute have punished. But it is an observation almost the Great. as old as human nature, that traitors are abhorred by their employers. In the first days of Canute's unsettled throne, he confirmed Edric in his Mercian dukedom; but having used the profligate Saxon to establish his dignity, on the next claim of reward, he expressed his latent feelings. Edric imprudently boasted of his services: "I first deserted Edmund, to benefit you; for you I killed him." Canute coloured; for the anger of conscious guilt and irrepressible shame came upon him. ""Tis fit, then, you should die, for your treason to God and me. You killed your own lord! him who by treaty and friendship was my brother! your blood be upon your own head, for murdering the Lord's anointed; your own lips bear witness against you." The villain who perpetrated the fact was confounded by the hypocrite who had countenanced it. Eric, the ruler of Norway, was called in, that the royal intention might be secretly executed. He struck down the wretch with his battle-axe, and the body was thrown from the window into the Thames, before any tumult could be raised among his partisans. The two sons of Ethelred, by Emma, were sheltered in Normandy. CANUTE married Emma, called also Elfgiva, 9 9 This narration is taken from Malsmb. 73. compared with Encom. Emmæ. The circumstances of his death are told differently, as usual. Florence admits that he was killed in the king's palace; but one says, that he was hanged; another, that he was strangled; another, that he was beheaded. Human testimony is characterised by these petty variations. 1018. VI. Canute BOOK the widow of Ethelred. He distinguished his next year by a most oppressive exaction: from the Great. London he compelled 10,500 pounds, and from the rest of the kingdom 72,000. 1018. 1025. To sooth the country, he sent home the largest portion of his Danish troops, keeping only forty vessels in England. In this he displayed the confidence of a noble mind. He maintained an exact equality, between the two nations, in ranks, council, and war. In 1019, England was so tranquil, that he went to Denmark, and passed the winter in his native country. CANUTE maintained his dignity with a severe hand. In 1020, after his return from the Baltic, he held a great council in the Easter festivity at Cirencester. At this he banished the duke Ethelwerd. In 1021, he also exiled the celebrated Turketul. In this year the Anglo-Saxons obscurely intimate, that Canute went to Denmark, where he was attacked by Ulfr and Eglaf, with a fleet and army from Sweden. In one struggle Canute was unsuccessful; but afterwards the young earl Godwin attacked the enemies of Canute by surprise, with the English troops, and obtained a complete victory. This event raised Godwin and the English very greatly in the king's estimation. 10 THE Eglaf was St. Olave, who had possessed himself of the kingdom of Norway. Canute, occupied by his English crown, made at first no pretensions to the Norwegian sceptre. " The submission of England gave him leisure to turn |