THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY
1028-1030
Canute was still in the Eternal City on the 6th of April, but it is not
likely that he remained in the South much later than that date. With the
opening of spring, hostilities might be renewed in Scandinavia at any
moment. That Canute expected a renewal of the war is clear from the
language of his message to Britain:
I therefore wish it to be made known to you that, returning by the
same way that I departed, I am going to Denmark, for the purpose of
settling, with the counsel of all the Danes, firm and lasting peace
with those nations, which, had it been in their power, would have
deprived us of our life and kingdom....
After affairs had been thus composed, he expected to return to England.
His plans, however, must have suffered a change. So far as we know,
warlike operations were not resumed that year; and yet, if any overtures
for peace were made, they can scarcely have been successful. Some time
later in the year Canute set sail for England; but with his great
purpose unfulfilled: for he had promised in his "Charter" to return to
Britain when he had "made peace with the nations around us, and
regulated and tranquillised all our kingdom here in the East." Not till
next year did he return to the attack on King Olaf Haroldsson. Hostile
movements across the Scottish border seem to have been responsible for
the postponement of the projected conquest. It is told in the
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ that as soon as Canute had returned from Rome he
departed for Scotland; "and the King of Scots submitted to him and also
two other kings, Mælbeathe and Jehmarc."
Malcolm, the son of Kenneth, was at this time ruler of Scotia, a kingdom
composed chiefly of the region between the Forth and the river Spey,
with various outlying dependencies. We do not know what called forth
hostilities between Malcolm and Canute at this time; but it is possible
that the inciting force may have been the Norwegian King, as
difficulties in Britain might lead Canute to abandon his Norse
pretensions. As overlord of the Orkneys and probably also of the
neighbouring Scotch coast lands, King Olaf naturally would be drawn into
diplomatic relations with the kings of Scone. The _Chronicle_ gives the
year of the expedition to Scotland as 1031; but it also places it in the
year of Canute's pilgrimage, which we know to have been made in 1027.
Malcolm rendered some sort of homage in 1027, but for what territories
we do not know. That he became Canute's vassal for all his possessions
is unlikely; he had already for a decade been the man of the English
King for Lothian; and the probabilities are that the homage of 1027 was
merely the renewal of the agreements entered into after the battle of
Carham in 1018. With the Northern war still unfinished, Canute cannot
have been in position to exact severe terms. Furthermore, the
acquisition of the Norwegian crown would bring to Canute important
possessions to the north and north-west of Malcolm's kingdom and place
him in a more favourable position for conquest at some future time.
Whether Malcolm realised it or not, further victories for Canute in
Scandinavia would mean serious dangers for the Scottish realms.
The identity of the other two kings, Mælbeathe and Jehmarc, is a matter
of conjecture. Mælbeathe was probably Macbeth, who as earl ruled the
country about Moray Firth, the Macbeth whom we know from Shakespeare's
tragedy. Skene believes that Jehmarc, too, must have ruled in the
extreme north or north-west, the region that was under Norse influence.
But the language of the _Chronicle_ need not mean that these kings were
both from Scotland; Munch's conjecture that Jehmarc was Eagmargach, the
Celtic King of Dublin after the Irish victory at Clontarf,[327] is at
least plausible. That Canute counted Irishmen among his subjects
appears from a stanza by Ottar the Swart:
Let us so greet the King of the Danes,
Of Irish, English, and Island-dwellers,
That his praise as far as the pillared heaven
May travel widely through all the earth.[328]
If Munch's identification is correct, it reveals a purpose of combining
all the Scandinavian West with the older kingdoms, a policy that must
have seemed both rational and practical. The homage of Malcolm and
Macbeth seems to be mentioned by Sighvat though here again the
chronology is defective, the submission of the kings "from far north in
Fife" being dated before 1026.
In the meantime Norway was not forgotten. During the year 1027, while
Canute was absent in Rome or busied with North British affairs, his
emissaries were at work in Norway still further undermining the
tottering loyalty of the Norwegian chiefs. No attempt was made at
secrecy--it was bribery open and unblushing. Says Sighvat the Scald:
Jealous foes of King Olaf
Tempt us with open purses;
Gold for the life of the lordly
Ruler is loudly offered.
The poet was a Christian and seems to have taken grim satisfaction in the
teachings of the new faith regarding future punishment:
Men who sell for molten
Metal the gentle ruler
In swart Hell (they deserve it)
Shall suffer the keenest torture.[329]
The activities of the Danish envoys appear to have extended to all parts
of the country, though it seems likely that their success was greatest
in the West and South-west where they enjoyed the protection and
assistance of the mighty nobleman Erling Skjalgsson, who thus added
dishonour to stubborn and unpatriotic wilfulness. After Holy River
Canute apparently dismissed his fleet for the winter, in part at least,
and Erling returned to his estates at Soli.
With Erling Canute's envoys came north and brought much wealth with
them. They fared widely during the winter, paying out the money
that Canute had promised for support in the autumn before; but they
also gave money to others and thus bought their friendship for
Canute; and Erling supported them in all this.[330]
Evidence of this activity appears in a remarkable find of English coins
to the number of 1500 near Eikunda-sound, not far from Soli. The
treasure was brought to light in 1836; most of the coins bear the
effigies of Ethelred and Canute; all are from Canute's reign or
earlier.[331] The next year (1028) Canute sailed his fleet into
Eikunda-sound and remained there for some time; but there seems no
reason why English money should be secreted on that occasion. More
probably the treasure was part of the bribe money; the fact that it was
hidden would indicate that Canute's agents found the business somewhat
dangerous after all.
Gold alone does not account for Saint Olaf's downfall. There were other
reasons for the defection of the aristocracy, but these have been
discussed in an earlier chapter: there was dissatisfaction with the new
faith; there was dissatisfaction with a régime that enjoined a firm
peace everywhere, that aimed at equal justice for all without respect to
birth or station, and that enforced severe and unusual punishments;
there was also the memory of the days of the earls, when the hand of
government was light and the old ways were respected.
In 1028, Canute was ready to strike. Soon the news spread that a vast
armament was approaching Norway. "With fifty ships of English
thegns,"[332] the King sailed along the Low German shores to the western
mouth of the Lime Firth. Among the chiefs who accompanied him from
England were the two earls, Hakon and Godwin. One of Godwin's men found
his death in Norway, as we learn from a runic monument raised by one
Arnstein over the grave of his son Bjor, "who found his death in
Godwin's host in the days when Canute sailed [back] to England."[333]
The ships that the King brought from England were doubtless large and
well-manned: Canute's housecarles may have made up a considerable part
of the crews. At the Lime Firth an immense Danish fleet was waiting:
according to the sagas 1440 ships made up the fleet that sailed up to
the Norwegian capital Nidaros. Twelve great hundreds is evidently merely
a round number used to indicate unusual size; but that the armament was
immense is evident from the ease with which it accomplished its work. So
far as we know, the awe-stricken Norsemen made no resistance. In
addition to the English and Danish ships, there were evidently not a few
that were manned by the housecarles of disaffected Norwegian chiefs.
Olaf was informed of Canute's intentions and did what he could to meet
the invasion. Men were dispatched to Sweden to bring home the ships that
had been abandoned there nearly two years before. This was a difficult
undertaking, for the Danes kept close guard over the passages leading
out of the Baltic. Part of the fleet the Norsemen burned; with the rest
they were able to steal through the Sound after Canute had begun his
advance toward Norway. King Olaf also summoned the host, but there came
Few folk and little dragons.
What a disgrace that landsmen
Leave our lord royal
Unsupported. (For money
Men desert their duties.)
What forces the Norwegians were able to collect sailed up into Oslo
Firth, where King Olaf prudently remained till Canute had again departed
from the land.[334]
The northward progress of Canute's armament is told in a poem by
Thorarin Praise-tongue, who had composed an earlier lay to the King's
honour.[335] "The lord of the ocean" sailed from the Lime Firth with a
vast fleet. Canute seems to have cut across the strait to the
southwestern part of Norway, where the "war-trained men of Agdir saw in
terror the advance of the hero," for Canute's dragon gleamed with steel
and gold. "The swart ships glide past Lister" and soon fill
Eikunda-sound. And so the journey goes on past the Hornel-mount and the
promontory of Stadt, till the "sea-falcons glide into the Nid River."
At important points Canute landed and summoned the franklins to formal
assemblies. The summons were generally obeyed: the franklins swore
allegiance to the new King and gave the required hostages. Wherever
there was occasion to do so, the King appointed new local officials
from the elements whose loyalty he believed he could trust. He spent
some time in Eikunda-sound where Erling Skjalgsson joined him with a
large force. The old alliance was renewed and Erling received promise of
all the region between the great headlands of Stadt and the Naze, with a
little additional territory to the east of the latter point. This was
more than the lord of Soli had ever controlled before. The terms have
not been recorded, but Canute was always liberal in his promises.[336]
When Nidaros was reached, the eight shires of the Throndelaw were
summoned to meet in a grand assembly, the Ere-thing, which met on the
river sands at the mouth of the Nid. As Throndhjem was counted the most
important region of the kingdom, the Ere-thing throughout the middle
ages enjoyed a prominence of its own as the assembly that accepted and
proclaimed the Norwegian kings. Here then, Canute was formally
proclaimed the true King of Norway, and the customary homage was
rendered.[337]
There was no need of going beyond Nidaros. Thor the Dog, Harek of
Tjotta, and other great lords from the farther North were present at the
Ere-thing and took the oaths of allegiance. Thor came in Canute's fleet;
Harek joined the King at Nidaros. On these two chiefs the King depended
for support in the Arctic regions. In return for their allegiance they
received enlarged franchises and privileges, among other things the
monopoly of the trade with the Finnish tribes.[338]
The conclusions of the Ere-thing concerned Norway alone. A little later
a larger assembly was called, a joint meeting of the chiefs of Norway
and of the invading army--magnates from England, Denmark, and Norway;
possibly the warriors, too, had some voice in this assembly. Here then,
in the far North on the sands of Nidaros, was held the first and only
imperial assembly, so far as our information goes, that Canute ever
summoned. It was called to discuss and decide matters of interest common
to all the three realms--especially was it to hear the imperial will,
the new imperial policy.
Canute was yet a young man--he had not advanced far into the
thirties--but prudence, perhaps also wisdom, had developed with the
years. He realised that his own person was really the only bond that
held his realms together; but he also understood that direct rule was
impracticable. The Norse movement was essentially a revolt from Olaf,
not a popular demand for union with Denmark. Among the Danes, too, there
was opposition to what smacked of alien rule, as is shown by the
readiness with which the magnates had received the revolutionary plans
of Earl Ulf. No doubt it was with reluctance that Canute announced a
system of vassal earls and kings; however, no other solution can have
seemed possible.
To his nephew Hakon he gave the vice-royalty of Norway with the earl's
title and dignity. Whether the entire kingdom was to be included in
Hakon's realm may be doubted; Southern Norway, the Wick, which was as
yet unconquered, was an old possession of the dynasty of Gorm and may
have been excepted. "Next he led his son Harthacanute to his own
high-seat and gave him the kings-name with the government of the Danish
realms."[339] As Harthacanute was still but a child a guardian must be
found, and for this position Canute seems to have chosen Harold, the son
of Thurkil the Tall,[340] his own foster-brother, if tradition can be
trusted. Harold at this time was apparently in charge at Jomburg, where
he had probably stood in a similar relation to Canute's older son Sweyn
who was located there. It is significant that the only one who is
awarded the royal title is Harthacanute, the youngest of the King's
three sons; but he was also the only one who was of legitimate birth.
There can be little doubt that Canute intended to make Harthacanute the
heir to all his realms. Of these arrangements Thorarin Praise-tongue
sings in his lay:
Then gave the wise
Wielder of Jutland
Norway to Hakon
His sister's son.
And to his own son
(I say it) the old dark
Halls of the ocean,
Hoary Denmark.[341]
Among the Norwegian chiefs who thus far had remained neutral was Einar
Thongshaker, the archer of Swald. But now that the Ere-thing had acted
and had renounced its allegiance to Olaf, Einar promptly appeared and
took the required oaths. King Canute felt the need of binding the proud
magnate closely to the new order of things, and along with gifts and
increased feudal income went the flattering phrases that next to those
who bore princely titles Einar should be the chiefest in the kingdom,
and that he or his son Eindrid seemed, after all, most suited to bear
the rule in Norway, "were it not for Earl Hakon."[342]
There remained the formality of taking hostages, sons, brothers, or near
kinsmen of the chiefs, "or the men who seemed dearest to them and best
fitted." The fleet then returned to the South. It was a leisurely sail,
we are told, with frequent landings and conferences with the yeomanry,
especially, no doubt, in the shires where no assemblies had been
summoned on the northward journey. When King Olaf heard of Canute's
return, he moved farther up the Oslo Firth and into one of its arms, the
Drammen Firth. Here he apparently left his ships while he and his men
withdrew some distance into the interior. King Canute did not pursue
him. He sailed along the south shores to the Oslo Firth and up to
Sarpsborg, where an assembly of the freemen accepted him as King. From
Sarpsborg he returned to Denmark, where he seems to have spent the
winter. Not till the following year did he care to risk a return to
England; but at that time his Norse rival was treading the path of exile
across the Baltic (1029).
[Illustration: SCANDINAVIA AND THE CONQUEST OF NORWAY]
While Canute was being hailed as King at Sarpsborg, Olaf was in hiding
two or three days' march distant, probably in the Ring-realm. When he
learned of the enemy's departure, he promptly returned to Tunsberg and
tried to resume his sway. The situation was desperate, but he wished to
make a last appeal to the Norsemen's feeling of loyalty to Harold's
dynasty. And now another fleet sailed up the western shores, this time
the King's own. Only thirteen ships steered out of Tunsberg harbour and
few joined later. The season was the beginning of winter, a most
unfavourable time for aggressive operations. When King Olaf had rounded
the Naze, he learned that his old enemy, Erling Skjalgsson, had been
levying forces in considerable numbers. Olaf managed, however, to
intercept Erling's ship and overpowered the old chief after a furious
struggle. "Face to face shall eagles fight; will you give quarter?"
Erling is reported to have said when Olaf remarked on his bravery. The
King was disposed to reconciliation; but during the parley one of his
men stepped up and clove the rebel's head. "Unhappy man," cried the
King, "there you struck Norway out of my hand!" But the overzealous
housecarle was forgiven.[343]
The news of Erling's death fired the whole coast. The magnates realised
at once that retreat was now impossible: they must maintain the cause of
Canute. Nowhere could King Olaf land, everywhere the yeomanry called for
revenge. From the south came the sons of the murdered man in vigorous
pursuit; in the north Earl Hakon was mustering the Thronder-folk.
Finally King Olaf was forced into one of the long inlets that cut into
the western coast. Here he was trapped; flight alone was possible; but
before him lay wild mountain regions, one of the wildest routes in
Norway. It was midwinter, but the crossing was successful, though the
sufferings and difficulties must have been great. Exile was now the only
choice; the journey continued to the Swedish border and thence across
that kingdom and the Baltic Sea to Russia.[344]
When Canute returned to England, Norway was apparently loyal, peaceful,
and obedient. So far as we know, he never again visited the North.
The rule of Earl Hakon was brief: a year and a half at most. Of the
character of his government we have no information; but the
good-natured, easy-going son of Earl Eric was not a man to antagonise
the Norwegian aristocracy. His lack of aggressive energies was
thoroughly appreciated at Winchester: it is difficult to determine
whether Canute's attitude toward his nephew is to be ascribed to bad
faith or lack of faith; at all events, the King seems anxiously to have
sought a pretext to remove him.
Among the noble families of Thronde-land, perhaps none ranked higher
than the house of the Arnungs. Arne Armodsson was a mighty chief and,
while he lived, a good friend of King Olaf. Of his five surviving sons
four were faithful to the King till he fell at Stiklestead. As we have
noted elsewhere, the family also had connections with Olaf's enemies:
Arne's daughter was the wife of Harek; his son Kalf was married to the
widow of Olvi who had been executed at the King's orders for practising
heathen rites; somewhat later Olvi's son Thorir was slain for treason
(1027?). When Olaf left Norway, Kalf deserted him and not long
afterwards made peace with Earl Hakon and became his man. The sagas
attribute this step to the influence of his wife Sigrid and her brother,
Thor the Dog. Sigrid is represented as a woman of the legendary type,
possessed of a demon of revenge. She had lost much: a husband for his
fidelity to the old gods; a son for suspected treason; another in an
effort to take vengeance for his brother. To this motive was added that
of ambition, which was, perhaps, that which chiefly determined Kalf's
actions. Canute seems to have been anxious to secure the active support
of this influential noble and probably had expressed a desire for an
interview; for in the spring following the conquest (1029), Kalf
prepared his ship and sailed to England.[345]
It must have been clear to Canute that continued peace in the North was
not to be hoped for. That King Olaf Haroldsson, who had begun his career
as a viking while he was yet a mere boy and who was still young, strong,
and virile, would be content with permanent exile was unthinkable.
Canute must further have realised that his power in Norway had no secure
foundation: bribery could not be employed forever; heathendom was a
broken reed. His representative was weak, or, as Canute is said to have
put it, too "conscientious"; in a crisis he was not to be trusted. Einar
Thongshaker was of doubtful loyalty and furthermore had nearly passed
the limits of active life. But here was Kalf, young and influential,
wealthy and strong.
Canute therefore proposed to Kalf that if Olaf should reappear in Norway
he was to raise the militia and lead the host against him. He thus
became, in a way, Canute's personal, though unofficial, representative
in the kingdom, with a higher title in prospect:
I will then give you the earl's dignity and let you govern Norway;
but my kinsman Hakon shall fare back to me; and for that he is
best suited, as he is so conscientious that I scarcely believe he
would do as much as hurl a single shaft against King Olaf, if they
were to meet.[346]
Kalf listened joyfully; Canute's speech appealed to him; "and now he
began to yearn for the earlship." An agreement was made, and soon Kalf's
ship, laden with gifts, was again sailing eastward over the North Sea.
Bjarne the Poet recalls these gifts and promises in a praise-lay of
which we have fragments:
The lord of London made promise
Of lands ere you left the westlands
(Since there has come postponement):
Slight was not your distinction.[347]
A few months later the vice-royalty was vacant. Soon after Kalf's return
to Norway, Hakon sailed to England; Canute had apparently sent for him.
The sources are neither clear nor wholly agreed on this matter; but
practically all place the journey in some relation to Hakon's betrothal
to Gunhild, Canute's niece, the daughter of his sister Gunhild and a
Slavic prince, Witigern. It was late in the year before Hakon was ready
to return--sometime after Martinsmas (November 11th); says Florence of
Worcester.[348] His ship never reached Norway; it went down in a
tempest in the Pentland Firth, probably in January, 1030.
The English sources have it that Canute in fact exiled Hakon, though
formally he sent him on a personal mission; but the chroniclers are
evidently in error in this matter. When these writers speak of outlawry,
they mean exile from England; and Hakon was no longer an English
resident. Still, it is extremely probable that Hakon had been deprived
of his ancestral dignities, that he had been transferred to a new field.
Two possibilities appear to fit into the situation: the Earl may have
been transferred to the north-western islands or to Jomburg. The
Norwegian dependencies along the Scottish shores, the Orkneys and other
possessions, passed to Canute when he assumed the Norwegian crown. The
fact that Hakon's ship went under on the shores of the Orkneys may
indicate that he had an errand in those waters, that Canute had created
a new jurisdiction for his easy-going nephew.
Still more is to be said for the alternative possibility. Canute had
clearly decided to supersede Hakon in Norway. He had already, it seems,
selected his illegitimate son Sweyn for the Norse governorship. The
promotion of Sweyn would create a vacancy in Jomburg; perhaps Hakon was
intended as Sweyn's successor at that post. At any rate, the King was
planning a marriage between the Earl and a kinswoman of his own who was
of the Slavic aristocracy, a marriage that would secure for the Earl a
certain support among the Wendish nobility. The prospective bride was
probably in Wendland with her kinsmen at the time; at any rate she was
not on the ship that went down in the Swelchie of Pentland Firth; for a
few years later we find Gunhild the widow of one whose history is
closely associated with Jomburg, Harold, the son of Thurkil the Tall,
the Harold who in 1030 was administering Danish affairs in the name of
Harthacanute. Florence tells us that in 1044, Gunhild was exiled from
England with her two sons, Thurkil and Heming.[349] Two fierce brothers,
it will be recalled, led the Jomvikings into England in 1009,--Thurkil
and Heming. No doubt the exiled boys were Harold's sons, named in honour
of their stately grandfather and his valiant brother.
Once more Norway was without a ruler. The news of Hakon's death was not
long in reaching the Throndelaw, and the leaders of the various factions
seem to have taken prompt measures to provide a satisfactory régime.
Einar Thongshaker, mindful of Canute's earlier promises, got out his
ship and repaired to England. As usual the diplomatic King was prodigal
with promises and professions of friendship: Einar should have the
highest place in the Norse aristocracy, a larger income, and whatever
honours the King could give except the earl's authority,--that had been
assigned to Sweyn, and messengers had already been dispatched to
Jomburg with instructions to the young prince to assume control at
Nidaros.[350]
The old warrior cannot have been pleased. It is likely that his loyalty
received a violent shock. Knowing that an attempt would be made to
restore Olaf to the throne, he apparently decided to assume his
customary neutral attitude; at any rate, he would not fight under Kalf
Arnesson's banner. So he lingered in England till the trouble was over
and Sweyn was in charge of the kingdom.
Kalf did not go to England; he was busy carrying out his promises to
Canute. For hardly had the merchant ships brought rumours of Earl
Hakon's death, before Olaf's partisans took measures to restore their
legitimate King. Some of the chiefs set out for Russia; and when
midsummer came, King Olaf's banner was advancing toward the Norwegian
capital. Kalf was prepared to meet him. As it was not known what route
Olaf might choose to take or in what region he would set up his
standard, the forces of the yeomanry were divided, the southern magnates
under the leadership of the sons of Erling undertaking to meet the King
if he should appear in the south-east, while the northern host under
Kalf, Harek, and Thor the Dog was preparing to hold the Throndelaw.
[Illustration: STIKLESTEAD (From a photograph.)]
The host that gathered to oppose the returned exile was wholly Norse: no
Dane or Englishman seems to have fought for Canute at Stiklestead, The
only alien who is prominently mentioned in this connection is Bishop
Sigurd, a Danish ecclesiastic who had served as Hakon's court bishop and
was a violent partisan of Canute. All the western coast as far as to the
Arctic seems to have been represented in the army of the franklins,
which is said to have numbered 14,400, four times the number that fought
for the returned King.
Still, the disparity of forces was not so great after all. Most of the
kingsmen were superb warriors, and all were animated with enthusiasm for
Olaf's cause. It was otherwise in the host of the yeomanry; many had
small desire to fight for King Canute, and among the chiefs there was an
evident reluctance to lead. Kalf had, therefore, no difficulty in
securing authority to command--it was almost thrust upon him.
The battle was joined at Stiklestead farm, about forty miles north-east
of the modern Throndhjem. The summer night is short in the Northlands
and the long morning gave opportunity for careful preparation. At noon
the armies met and the battle began. For more than two hours it raged,
King Olaf fighting heroically among his men. Leading an attack on the
hostile standard, he came into a hand-to-hand conflict with the chiefs
of the yeomanry and fell wounded in three places.[351]
Saint Olaf's day is celebrated on July 29th, and it is generally held
that the battle was fought on that date. Some historians have thought
that it was really fought a month later on the last day of August.
Sighvat was that year on a pilgrimage to Rome, and was consequently not
an eye-witness; but his lines composed after his return are,
nevertheless, one of the chief sources used by the saga-men. The poet
alludes to an eclipse of the sun on the day of the battle:
They call it a great wonder
That the sun would not,
Though the sky was cloudless,
Shine warm upon the men.[352]
Such an eclipse, total in that very region at the hour assigned to the
climax of the fight, actually occurred on August 31st. It is generally
held, however, that the eclipse came to be associated with the battle
later when the search for miracles had begun.
The reaction was successfully met, but without any assistance from
Canute. Sweyn had prepared a large force of Danes, commanded it seems by
Earl Harold, and had hastened northward; but had only reached the Wick
when the battle of Stiklestead was fought. It seems strange at first
thought that no English fleet was sent to assist Kalf and his
associates. It is not likely that Canute depended much on the fidelity
of the Northmen--he understood human nature better than most rulers of
his time; nor had he any means of knowing how widely the revolt would
spread when the former King should issue his appeal. The key to his
seeming inactivity must be sought in the international situation of the
time: England was just then threatened with an invasion from the south,
a danger that demanded a concentration of military resources on the
shores of the Channel.
The accounts that have come down to us of the relations of England and
Normandy during the latter half of Canute's reign are confused and
contradictory; but a few facts are tolerably clear. Some time after the
murder of Ulf (1026), Canute gave the widowed Estrid in marriage to
Robert the Duke of Normandy (1027-1035).[353] It may be that on his
return from Rome in the spring of 1027 Canute had a conference with
Robert, who had succeeded to the ducal throne in the previous February.
But whether such a meeting occurred or not, Robert had serious trouble
before him in Normandy and no doubt was eager for an alliance with the
great King of the North. The marriage must have taken place in 1027 or
1028; a later date seems improbable. The father of William Bastard is
not famous for conjugal fidelity and may not have been strongly
attracted by the Danish widow; at any rate, he soon repudiated her,
perhaps to Estrid's great relief, as Duke Robert the Devil seems not to
have borne his nickname in vain. The characteristics of the Duke that
most impressed his contemporaries were a ferocious disposition and
rude, untamed strength.
It is likely, however, that the break with Canute is to be ascribed not
so much to domestic infelicity as to new political ambitions; at the
court of Rouen were the two sons of King Ethelred, Edward and Alfred,
who had grown to manhood in Normandy. It apparently became Robert's
ambition to place these princes on English thrones, which he could not
hope to accomplish without war. An embassy was sent to Canute (perhaps
in 1029), somewhat similar to the one that Canute had sent to Norway a
few years before, bearing a similar errand and equipped with similar
arguments. Evidently the Norman ambassadors did not receive kind
treatment at the English court. Their report stirred the Duke to great
wrath; he ordered a fleet to be prepared for an invasion of
England.[354] Most likely that was the time, too, of the Duchess
Estrid's disgrace.
The expedition sailed, but a storm sent, as William of Jumièges
believes, by an overruling Providence, "who had determined that Edward
should some day gain the crown without the shedding of blood," drove the
fleet in a westerly direction past the peninsula of Cotentin to the
shores of Jersey. Robert was disappointed, but the fleet was not
prepared in vain: instead of attacking England, the Duke proceeded
against Brittany and forced his enemy Duke Alain to seek peace through
the mediation of the Church at Rouen.[355]
These events must have occurred after Canute's return from the
North,--in the years 1029 and 1030. No other period seems possible; it
is not likely that the threatened hostilities could have been later than
1030, for in 1031 a new King, Henry I., ascended the French throne and
Robert the Devil became involved in the resulting civil war.[356]
If our chronology is correct, the summer of 1030 saw the Northern Empire
threatened from two directions; in Norway it took the form of revolt; in
Normandy that of threatened invasion. In both instances legitimate
claimants aimed to dislodge a usurper. The danger from the South was by
far the greater; Olaf's harsh rule had not yet been forgotten by the
Norsemen, nor had they yet experienced the rigours of alien rule.
England was quiet and apparently contented; but what effect the
pretensions of the Ethelings would have on the populace no one could
know. We may be sure that Canute was ready for the invader; but so long
as the Norwegian troubles were still unsettled, he wisely limited
himself to defensive operations.
It is also related, though not by any contemporary writer, that Canute
was dangerously ill at the time of the Norman trouble, and that he at
one time expressed a willingness to divide the English kingdom with the
Ethelings.[357] Whether he was ill or not, such an offer does not
necessitate the inference either of despair or of fear for the outcome.
The offer if made was doubtless a diplomatic one, on par with the
promises to the Norwegian rebels, made for the purpose of gaining time,
perhaps, until Norway was once more pacified.
But fortune had not deserted the great Dane. When autumn came in 1030,
the war clouds had passed and the northern skies were clear and
cheerful. Canute's Norwegian rival had gone to his reward; his Norman
rival was absorbed in other interests. Without question Canute was now
Emperor of the North.
FOOTNOTES:
[327] _Det norske Folks Historie_, I., ii., 673.
[328] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 157 (Vigfusson's translation with
slight changes).
[329] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 134.
[330] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 161.
[331] Munch, _Det norske Folks Historie_, I., ii., 741.
[332] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1028.
[333] _Afhandlinger viede Sophus Bugges Minde_, 8.
[334] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 168.
[335] _Ibid._, c. 172.
[336] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 170.
[337] _Ibid._
[338] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 170.
[339] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 171.
[340] _Ibid._, c. 183.
[341] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 159.
[342] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 171.
[343] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, cc. 174-176.
[344] _Ibid._, cc. 177 ff.
[345] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 183.
[346] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 183.
[347] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii.,163.
[348] _Chronicon_, i., 184-185.
[349] _Chronicon_, i., 199.
[350] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 194.
[351] For details of the battle see Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, cc.
215-229.
[352] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 142.
[353] The evidence for this marriage is discussed by Freeman in _Norman
Conquest_, i., Note ppp.
[354] William of Jumièges, _Historia Normannorum_, vi., c. 10.
[355] William of Jumièges, _Historia Normannorum_, vi., cc. 10, 11.
[356] This was followed by a famine in the duchy (1033) which probably
induced the Duke to make his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre on the
return from which he died (1035).
[357] William of Jumièges, _Historia Normannorum_, vi., c. 12.