THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH
When the eleventh century began its fourth decade, Canute was, with the
single exception of the Emperor, the most imposing ruler in Latin
Christendom. Less than twenty years earlier he had been a landless
pirate striving to dislodge an ancient and honoured dynasty; now he was
the lord of four important realms and the overlord of other kingdoms.
Though technically Canute was counted among the kings, his position
among his fellow-monarchs was truly imperial. Apparently he held in his
hands the destinies of two great regions; the British Isles and the
Scandinavian peninsulas. His fleet all but controlled two important
seas, the North and the Baltic. He had built an empire.
It was a weak structure, founded too largely on the military and
diplomatic achievements of a single man; but the King was young--in the
ordinary course of nature he should have lived to rule at least thirty
years longer--and with careful diplomatic effort, of which he was a
master, he might be expected to accomplish great things in the way of
consolidating his dominions. But instead of thirty years, the fates had
counted out less than half a dozen. In this period he was able to do
almost nothing to strengthen the bonds of empire. Canute's power did not
long remain at its zenith--the decline began almost immediately. In this
there is nothing strange; the marvel is in the fact that such an empire
was actually built.
Of Canute's many dominions, the kingdoms of Denmark, England, and Norway
had fairly distinct boundaries. Lothian might be in question between
England and Scotland; the Norwegian kings had claimed certain
territories across the Scandinavian watershed, Jemteland, a Norse colony
in Swedish possession; but otherwise the limits were tolerably definite.
The fourth division, the Slavic lands on the southern rim of the Baltic,
was a more indefinite area. Its limits are unknown; perhaps it should be
called a sphere of influence rather than a province. There were,
however, certain evident nuclei; the regions about the lower course of
the Oder with Jomburg as the chief city were doubtless the more
important part; in addition there was Semland in the extreme east of
modern Prussia, Witland a trifle farther west where the Vistula empties
into the sea; and doubtless some of the intervening territories. There
are indications that Danish settlements had also been planted in the
region of the modern city of Riga[358]; but as to their probable
relation to Canute's empire the sources are silent.
In addition to England, Canute possessed important territories elsewhere
in the British archipelago. The King of Scotland was his vassal, at
least for a part of his dominions; and we have seen that at least one
other Scottish king, probably from the extreme north of the island, had
done homage to Canute. It has also been shown that the Norse-Irish
kingdom of Dublin should, perhaps, be counted among his vassal states.
As King of Norway, Canute was lord of the Shetlands and the Orkneys,
perhaps also the Hebrides, and other Norse colonies on the west shores
of Scotland. The Faroes were not wholly subject and the Icelandic
republic still maintained its independence; but the straggling
settlements in far-off Greenland seem to have acknowledged their
dependence on the Norwegian crown.[359]
Any definite imperial policy Canute seems never to have developed. In
his own day the various units were nominally ruled by earls or
sub-kings, usually chosen from the King's own immediate family; but the
real power was often in the hands of some trusted chief whom the King
associated with the lord who bore the title. If time had been granted,
some form of feudalism might have developed out of this arrangement; but
it had few feudal characteristics in Canute's own day. It was evidently
Canute's intention to continue the scheme of one king for the entire
group of dominions, for at the imperial assembly at Nidaros, he placed
Harthacanute in the high-seat and gave him the administration of
Denmark, which was, after all, the central kingdom. The Encomiast bears
further testimony as to Canute's intention when he tells us that all
England had taken an oath to accept Harthacanute as king.[360] It seems
that Canute, to secure the succession to his legitimate son, had adopted
the Capetian expedient of associating the heir with himself in the
kingship while he was still living.
So long as obedience, especially in matters of military assistance, was
duly rendered, few difficulties were likely to arise between the supreme
lord of Winchester and his subordinates in Nidaros, Roeskild, or
Jomburg. As the union was personal, each kingdom retained its own laws
and its own system of assemblies, though this must have been true to a
less extent in the Slavic possessions, as these seem to have been
regarded almost as a Danish dependency. When the reign closed,
Harthacanute was governing Denmark; Sweyn assisted by his mother Elgiva
had charge of Norway, though at that moment the Norwegian rebels were in
actual control. Canute ruled England himself, not because it was
regarded as the chief or central kingdom, but more likely because it
could not with safety be entrusted to any one else.
So far as the Empire had any capital, that distinction appears to have
belonged to the ancient city of Winchester. Here in the heart of Wessex
was the seat of English government, the royal and imperial residence. We
naturally think of Canute's household as an English court; but it is
difficult to determine what racial influences were in actual control.
Nor do we know what was the official language in Canute's royal garth;
but the probabilities are that both Old English and Old Norse were in
constant use. The housecarles who guarded the royal person and interests
were in large part of Scandinavian birth or blood. The Norse poets who
sang praise-lays in the royal hall at Winchester sang in their native
dialects. Of the King's thegns who witnessed Canute's land grants, as a
rule about one half bear Scandinavian names; there can be little doubt
that most of these were resident at court, at all events those whose
names appear in more than one document.
Other nationalities, too, were represented at Winchester. In the
enrolment of housecarles, the King asked for strength, valour, wealth,
and aristocratic birth; not, it seems, for Danish or English ancestry.
The bishops that Canute sent from England to Denmark appear to have been
Flemings or Lotharingians. William who in a later reign became bishop of
Roeskild is said to have come to Denmark as Canute's private secretary
or chancellor; but William is neither a Northern nor a Saxon but a
Norman name. And thus with Dane and Angle, Norman and Norseman, Swede
and Saxon, Celt and German thronging the royal garth the court at
Winchester must have borne an appearance that was distinctly
non-English. As at other courts, men came and went; and the stories of
the splendours at Winchester were given wide currency. The dissatisfied
Norsemen who sought refuge in England found at Canute's court
greater magnificence than in any other place, both as to the number
in daily attendance and as to the furnishings and equipments of the
palaces that he owned and occupied.[361]
Sighvat the Scald, who had seen Rouen and visited Rome, was so deeply
impressed with the glories of Canute's capital that in his praise-lay he
introduced the refrain:
Canute was under heaven
The most glorious King.[362]
There seems also to have been a notable Slavic element in Canute's
retinue. Attention has been called to the King's Slavic ancestry: the
Slavic strain was evidently both broader and deeper than the Danish. One
of the King's sisters bore a Slavic name, Santslave[363]; another
sister, Gunhild, married a Slavic "king," Wyrtgeorn or Witigern,[364]
who may have been the Wrytsleof who witnessed an English land grant in
1026[365]; possibly he was visiting his English kinsfolk at the time.
Among the chiefs of the imperial guard was one Godescalc, the son of a
Slavic prince, though Danish on the maternal side; he, too, married into
the Danish royal family.[366]
The affairs of each separate kingdom were evidently directed from the
national capitals and administered largely by native functionaries. At
the same time, it seems to have been Canute's policy to locate Danish
officials in all his principal dominions, at least in the higher
offices. The appointment of Danes to places of importance in England has
been noted in an earlier chapter. With the subjection of Norway, a
number of Danes received official appointments in that kingdom. A
leading cause of the Norwegian revolt in 1034-1035 was the prominence
given to aliens in the councils of the regent Sweyn: "Danish men had in
those days much authority in Norway, but that was liked ill by the men
of the land."[367] On the other hand, no Englishman seems to have
received official responsibilities in the North except in the Church;
and it may be doubted whether Canute sent many Anglian prelates to his
realms in the east: the bishops that we have record of seem to have been
Normans, Flemings, or clerks from the Danelaw. When a court bishop was
to be found for the household of Earl Hakon, the choice fell upon
Sigurd, a Dane and a violent friend of Danish rule.
Of Canute's diplomacy the sources afford us only an occasional glimpse;
but the information that we have indicates that he entered into
diplomatic relations with almost every ruler of importance in Northern
and Western Europe. The King of Scotland became his vassal. The sagas
tell of an embassy to Sweden in the years preceding the attack on
Norway. During the same period Canute's cousin, the King of Poland,
apparently sought his alliance against the Germans. With the Emperor he
maintained the closest relations. The Norman dukes were bound to the
Danish dynasty by the noble ties of marriage. On his visit to Rome the
English King came into personal contact with the King of Burgundy and
His Holiness the Pope. Even to distant Aquitaine did the mighty monarch
send his ambassadors with messages of good-will in the form of
substantial presents. In a panegyric on William the Great, the Duke of
Aquitaine, Adémar of Chabannes writes that every year embassies came to
the Duke's court with precious gifts from the kings of Spain, France,
and Navarre, "and also from Canute, King of the Danes and the Angles";
and the chronicler adds that the messengers brought even more costly
presents away.[368] On one occasion "the King of that country [England]
sent a manuscript written with letters of gold along with other
gifts."[369] As this statement seems to have been written in 1028, and
as the author emphasises the fact that this beautiful codex had arrived
"recently," it seems probable that this embassy should be associated
with Canute's pilgrimage to Rome the year before. It is not strange that
Canute should wish to honour a prince like William; and it is only
natural that he should wish to placate a people who had suffered so
much, as the Aquitanians had, from the raids and inroads of his former
associates and his allies, the vikings and the Normans.
With respect to his immediate neighbours, Canute's policy was usually
absorption or close friendship. What he felt he could add to his
dominions, he added; where this was not possible, he sought peace and
alliance. His diplomacy must have concerned itself especially with three
states: Normandy, Sweden, and the Empire. As to his relations with
Sweden after the encounter at Holy River, history is silent; but war was
evidently avoided. Canute probably regarded any effort to extend his
territories eastward as an unwise move, so long as the disappointed
Norwegian chiefs continued to show signs of unrest and rebellion.
With Normandy he lived in continuous peace for more than a decade, until
Robert the Devil took up the cause of the exiled princes. That Canute
feared a move in this direction seems evident; and as Queen Emma's
influence at Rouen was probably weakened by the death of Richard the
Good (1027), it was no doubt in the hope of strengthening his position
at the ducal court that Canute sought the title of duchess for his
widowed sister. As we have seen, his success was only temporary, and for
a time war seemed imminent. But the confused situation in the French
kingdom at this time proved Canute's salvation. In the civil war that
followed the accession of Henry I. to the French throne in 1031, Robert
of Normandy took a leading part on the King's side; and it was largely
due to his efforts that Henry finally overcame his enemies.[370]
Meanwhile, the sons of Ethelred and Emma had to wait several years
before another opportunity appeared with sufficient promise to tempt the
exiles back across the Channel. For soon after the French King was
safely enthroned, famine came upon Normandy, an affliction that led
Robert the Devil to think of a visit to the grave of Christ. The journey
was undertaken but on the return the Duke died in Asia Minor (1035).
His successor was William who finally conquered England; but William was
a child and Canute had no longer any fears from that direction. A few
months after Robert's death the King of England also closed his earthly
career. Had Robert survived Canute, it is likely that some of the
results of Hastings might have come thirty years earlier than they did.
After 1019, when Canute ascended the Danish throne, the attitude and
plans of the Emperor became an important factor in Northern diplomacy.
The Empire was a dangerous neighbour; the Ottos had apparently been
ambitious to extend their authority throughout the entire Jutish
peninsula. But during Canute's reign neither power could afford to
offend the other; and the Danes were therefore able to keep continued
peace along the southern borders of the kingdom. At one time, when the
Emperor found himself in serious difficulties, Canute was able to drive
a hard bargain and exchange his friendship for a strip of imperial
territory.
It is not likely that the German kings looked with much favour on Danish
expansion at the mouths of the Vistula and the Oder, but they were not
in position to prevent it. In 1022, when Canute made his expedition to
Wendland, the Emperor Henry II. was absent in Italy, striving, as usual,
to reduce disorder.[371] Two years later he died, and Conrad of
Franconia was chosen King of the Germans. His election was the signal
for uprisings and plots almost along the whole length of the border, in
Poland, in Lorraine, and in Lombardy.[372] Boleslav, King of the Poles,
died in the following year (1025), but his successor continued the
policy of hostility to the Germans and seems to have sought the alliance
of his cousin Canute against the Teutonic foes.[373] Conrad, too, sought
Canute's friendship and was able to outbid his Polish rival. It was
agreed that there should be perpetual peace between Conrad and Canute,
and to cement the good understanding and secure its continuance in years
to come, Canute's little daughter Gunhild, who could not yet have been
more than five or six years old, was betrothed to Conrad's son Henry,
who was, perhaps, three years older.[374] The covenant was kept, and
Henry received his bride about ten years later (1036), after the death
of Canute. The bridegroom was the mighty Emperor Henry III., though he
did not attain to the imperial dignity before the death of Conrad in
1039. Gunhild was crowned Queen of Germany and as a part of the ceremony
received the more honoured German name Kunigund; but she never became
empress, as she died in 1038.[375]
In return for his friendship, Canute received the mark of Sleswick, a
strip of land between the Schley and the Eider, that Henry the Fowler
had taken from the Danes a century before. Thus the Eider once more
became the boundary of the Danish kingdom. But apart from territorial
acquisitions, Canute was doubtless glad to conclude the treaty, as he
was just then planning the conquest of Norway. The negotiations with
Conrad were probably concluded in the year 1025 or 1026, though more
likely in the former year.[376]
Perhaps at the same time the German King invited his ally to participate
in his coronation as Emperor; for in 1027 Canute journeyed to Rome to
witness the great event. There can be little doubt that on this occasion
the pledges were renewed. But even in the absence of formal treaties
there was small occasion for Conrad to make trouble for his neighbour to
the north. The years following his coronation in Rome saw four serious
revolts in Germany; not till 1033 was real order restored in Conrad's
kingdom.
There was another power that Canute could not afford to antagonise or
even ignore: no mediæval monarch could long flourish if he overlooked
the needs of the Church. During the first years of his English kingship,
Canute does not seem to have sought to conciliate the clergy; but after
a few years he apparently adopted a new policy and strove to ally
himself with the priesthood. It was as king of England that he first
succeeded in forming such an alliance; in his other kingdoms, the
ecclesiastical problem assumed a somewhat different form.
With the head of Christendom, Canute's relations seem to have been
cordial throughout his entire reign. It was the papacy that made the
first move to establish such relations: in 1019 Archbishop Lifing
brought a message back from Rome replete with good advice which seems to
have nattered the young Dane. The pilgrimage to Rome doubtless
strengthened the bond; especially must the King's later efforts to see
that the proper church dues were collected have pleased the Popes of
that period. For the papacy had fallen low in that age: the Pope whom
Canute visited was only a layman up to the day of his election to the
sacred office; his successor Benedict is said to have been a mere boy
when he was elevated to the papal dignity, though authorities differ as
to his age. There was, therefore, little likelihood of any conflict so
long as the Peter's pence were regularly transported to Rome. A new
papacy was to come; but Hildebrand had not quite reached manhood when
Canute went to his rest.
Canute's ecclesiastical policy in England, at least during the closing
years of his reign, seems to have aimed at greater control than had been
the case earlier. The friendship and active good-will of the Church
could best be secured by carefully choosing the rulers of the Church. As
a Christian court, the royal household at Winchester had in its
employment a regular staff of priests, nine of whom are mentioned in the
documents. Canute honoured his priests; he seems to have invited them to
seats in the national assembly; he called them in to witness grants of
land. Finally, he honoured several of them still further by appointing
them to episcopal office: at least three of Canute's clerks received
such appointments before the reign closed.[377] His successor inherited
his policy and several more of Canute's chapel clerks were honoured in
Edward's time. The policy was not new: even in Carolingian times the
royal chapel had been used as a training school for future prelates, and
there are traces of a similar practice in England long before Canute's
time. But so far as the Dane was concerned, the plan was probably
original: we cannot suppose him to have been very well informed as to
precedents more than two centuries old.
In Norway the problem was how to christianise and organise the land, and
Canute had no great part in either. The Danish Church, however, was
growing in strength and developing under conditions that might produce
great difficulties: it was the daughter of the German Church; it was
governed by an alien prelate.
The primacy of the Northern churches belonged to the see of Bremen, the
church from which the earliest missionaries had gone forth into Denmark
and Sweden. While this primacy was in a way recognised, in practice,
the Northern kings in the early years of the eleventh century paid small
regard to the claims of the archbishop. The two Olafs depended mainly on
England and the neighbouring parts of the Continent for priests and
prelates; and Canute, as King of England, seems to have planned to make
the Danish Church, too, dependent on the see of Canterbury. At this time
Unwan was Archbishop of Bremen; for sixteen years he ruled his province
with a resolute hand and for the most part with strength and wisdom.
Unwan was displeased when he learned that Canute was sending bishops
from England to Denmark; we have already seen how he managed to make a
prisoner and even a partisan of Gerbrand, who, like Unwan himself, was
doubtless a German. This must have been in 1022 or 1023, more likely in
the former year. Aided by Gerbrand, who acted as mediator, Unwan was
able to make Canute recognise his primacy. Adam of Bremen mentions great
gifts that Unwan sent to Canute,[378] but these were probably not the
determining consideration. In 1022, Canute was fighting the Slavs and
adding territory that would naturally belong to the mission fields of
Bremen, and it would hardly be wise to make an enemy of one whose
historic rights had been admitted by earlier Danish kings. Till Unwan's
death in 1029, the King and the Archbishop were fast friends. Unwan
served as mediator between Canute and the Emperor when the alliance
was formed in 1025 (?)[379] and otherwise served the Danish King. It
seems probable that a personal acquaintance was formed, for Adam tells
us that Unwan rebuilt Hamburg and spent considerable time there,
"whither he also invited the very glorious King Canute ... to confer
with him."[380]
[Illustration: THE HYBY STONE (Monument from the first half of the
eleventh century; raised to a Christian as appears from the cross.)]
The _entente_ that was thus formed seems also to have affected mission
operations in Norway. It is likely that Unwan demanded that King Olaf
should no longer be allowed to recruit his ecclesiastical forces in
England; for soon after the date that we have assumed as that of the new
treaty, Bishop Grimkell appeared as King Olaf's ambassador at Unwan's
court. The Bishop, who was evidently a Northman from the Danelaw,
brought the customary gifts and the prayer that Unwan would accept the
Anglian clerks and prelates then in Norway as of his province and that
he would further increase the clerical forces of the kingdom.[381] Thus
in the years 1022-1023, the rights of Hamburg-Bremen were recognised
everywhere.
Unwan was succeeded in the province by Libentius, the nephew of an
earlier Libentius who had held the metropolitan office in Bremen before
Unwan's day. He was of Italian blood and therefore not likely to be
burdened with German sympathies. Before everything else, says the good
Master Adam, he entered into friendly relations with the King of the
Danes.[382] But during Libentius' as well as Unwan's primacy Canute
seems to have selected the bishops for his Danish as well as for his
English sees.
During the closing years of his life, Canute's policy was completely
identified with that of the mediæval Church as regards his attitude
toward heathen and un-Christian practices. So long as the Norwegian
problem was unsettled, the King dared not take a decided stand against
the old faith, as he was too much dependent on heathen or semi-heathen
assistance against King Olaf. But after the conquest there was no reason
for further delay, and the English Church got its desired legislation.
In two comparatively long enactments, one ecclesiastical and one
secular, all the old and important church laws were re-enacted and
various new provisions added.[383] Archbishop Dunstan was canonised and
given May 13th as his mass day.[384] Added protection was given to
churches and to the ministers of the altar: outlawry was to be the
punishment for slaying a priest.[385] It was carefully explained that
the privileges of the priesthood were due to the exalted character of
the divine office; for
great is the exorcism and glorious the consecration that cast out
devils and put them to flight whenever baptism is celebrated or the
host is consecrated; and holy angels are present to watch over the
sacred act and through the power of God to assist the priests so
long as they worthily serve Christ.[386]
Sundays and other church holidays were to be properly kept; and no
commercial transactions were to be tolerated on Sundays, nor were the
public courts to hold sessions on those days except in cases of extreme
necessity.[387] Due attention was to be given to the seasons when the
Church prescribed fasting; but it was explicitly stated that except in
the case of penitents, no fasting was to be required between Easter and
Pentecost, or from Christmas to the close of the week following
Epiphany,[388] the joyous period of the Northern Yule-tide.
It seems clear that enactments of this sort would be necessary only in
regions where there might still be a considerable number of recent
converts with whom the observance of Christian rites and customs had not
yet become a habit. It may be, therefore, that these laws were
particularly intended for certain parts of the Danelaw. Perhaps it was
the need of improving the religious conditions in the Danish settlements
that inspired the royal demand for general instruction in the
fundamentals of the Christian faith.
And we order every Christian to learn at least so much that he can
understand clearly the teachings of the true faith, and to learn
thoroughly the Pater Noster and the Credo.[389]
Some attention is also paid to ecclesiastical finance. Fines were
provided for neglect in the payment of church dues; part of these were
to be paid to the bishop. The Anglo-Saxons were in the habit of making
contributions for church lights at the feast of the Purification
(Candlemas, February 2d), at Easter Eve, and on All Saints' day
(November 1st). A fortnight after Easter plough alms were to be paid. A
tithe of young beasts was due at Pentecost. Peter's pence were
contributed on Saint Peter's day (August 1st). A tithe of the harvested
crops was due at All Saints' day. The last tax of the year was the
church scot which was paid at Martinsmas (November 11th). All these
contributions are specifically mentioned and urged in Canute's laws for
the English Church.[390]
The second part of Canute's legislation, the secular laws, is a document
of considerable length, of which only a comparatively small part is
copied from the earlier "dooms." It deals with a variety of subjects,
several of which may be classed as religious rather than secular. A very
important act was the definition and prohibition of heathendom and
heathen practices.
Heathendom is the worship of idols, namely the worship of heathen
gods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, fountains or rocks or
forest trees of any sort; also to practise witchcraft or to commit
murders in any manner, whether in sacrifices or in auguries, or to
busy oneself with any such delusion.[391]
As it is not customary to forbid what is never performed, we have in
this enactment evidence for a persisting heathendom on English soil. In
the Scandinavian colonies pagan practices were probably hard to uproot;
at the same time, it is not likely that the old faith was a force that
needed to be considered any longer.
The matter of Christian marriage is dealt with in both the secular and
the ecclesiastical laws. It was difficult to enforce the regulations of
the Church on this subject and particularly among the vikings, whose
ideas as to the binding force of marriage were exceedingly vague.[392]
Canute forbade clandestine marriages; to the old law that a man should
have but one wife he added the important provision that "she should be
his legally espoused wife."[393] He also gave the protection of the
state to widows and virgins who preferred to remain unmarried.[394]
Other important enactments deal with matters of finance, especially with
the King's share in the fines assessed in the courts, his income from
his estates, and coinage and counterfeiting; there are also important
laws that look toward the security of persons and of property. The
principle of equality before the law is distinctly stated: the magnates
were to have no unusual privileges in the courts of justice.
Many a powerful man will, if he can and may, defend his man in
whatever way it seems to him the more easy to defend him, whether
as freeman or as _theow_ (serf). But we will not suffer that
injustice.[395]
With the legislation of Canute, the development of Old English law comes
to a close. Various tracts or customals of considerable importance were
composed in the eleventh century, some of which may have been put into
form after the close of Canute's reign; but of these we know neither the
authors nor the date. The "Laws of Edward" that the Norman kings swore
to maintain were in reality the laws of Canute; for when the
Anglo-Norman lawyers of the early twelfth century began to investigate
the subject of Old English law, they found its most satisfactory
statement in the legislation of the mighty Dane. In the _Quadripartitus_
these laws occupy the most prominent place; while the compilations that
Liebermann has called the _Instituta Cnuti_ and the _Consiliatio Cnuti_
are scarcely more than translations of Canute's legislation for church
and state.[396]
So great was the Danish King's reputation as a lawmaker in the twelfth
century that he was even credited with enactments and institutional
experiments with which he never had any connection. Toward the close of
that century an official of the royal forest, as it seems, drew up an
elaborate law for the King's hunting preserves which he tried to give
currency and authority by ascribing it to Canute.[397] The Dane was not
indifferent to the chase, but he did not find it necessary to make it
the subject of extensive legislation. In his secular laws the subject is
disposed of in a single sentence: "And let every man forego my hunting,
wherever I wish to have it free from trespass, under penalty of the full
fine."[398]
In the so-called "Laws of Edward the Confessor" it is stated that the
_murdrum_ fine originated in the reign of Canute. It is well-known that
William the Conqueror found it necessary to take special measures for
the protection of his Normans from assassination at the hands of
Englishmen who were seeking vengeance; he decreed, therefore, that the
hundred where the murder of a Norman was committed should see that the
criminal was given proper punishment or pay a heavy fine in case of
default. The twelfth-century lawyer who drew up the "Laws of Edward"
evidently believed that in this matter William was following a precedent
from Danish times.[399] But though it seems that Canute was obliged to
legislate for the protection of his Danish officials and subjects in
Norway, there is no good evidence for any corresponding decree in
England.
A similar conclusion has been reached as to Canute's responsibility for
the institution known as frankpledge. Tithing and surety, two Old
English institutions which were the roots of the later frankpledge, are
mentioned in the laws of Canute; but they were still distinct. The
tithing, normally a group of ten, was charged chiefly with the duty of
assisting in the pursuit of criminals; not until its members had been
pledged to a duty of mutual suretyship, each being held responsible in
certain respects for the behaviour of all his associates in the group,
did the tithing develop into the pledge.[400]
In Canute's empire there were at least two institutional systems, those
of England and of the North. In some respects both had attained a high
development. The question how far these systems influenced each other as
the result of the union is a difficult one: the union of the crowns was
of short duration and the institutional changes that seem to indicate
borrowing may be due in large part to earlier contact through the
Danelaw. With the Northmen came a new conception of personal honour and
a new term for criminality of the most dishonourable type, the _nithing_
name. Norse rules were introduced into court procedure. Administrative
areas came to bear Norse appellations, as the wapentake in the Danelaw
generally and the riding in Yorkshire.[401] These facts, however, belong
in large measure to the earlier development, though it doubtless
continued through the reign of Canute and longer.
But though Scandinavian ideas of law had long flourished on English
soil, it was not till Canute's day that they were formally accepted as a
part of the Anglo-Saxon legal system. In penal legislation a new spirit
appeared: there was less mercy and punishments became more
severe--exile, mutilation, and forfeiture of life more common. If the
ordeal should convict a man of a second offence, the penalty might be
the loss of the hands or the feet, or of both. Still further mutilation
was decreed if the criminal should continue to commit grave offences;
"but let the soul be spared."[402] The same penalties were not always
provided for both sexes: a faithless husband might have to pay the
ancient money fine for man-slaughter; a sinning wife was to suffer the
loss of all her property and her ears and nose.[403] Certain
institutions of Scandinavian origin took on a peculiar form during
Canute's reign: for instance, the guard of housecarles in its English
and later Danish form, and the office of staller or the King's spokesman
at the popular assemblies, which office seems to have been introduced
into England in Canute's day.[404]
It is still more difficult to determine what results the union had for
the institutional development of Denmark. On only one point have we
clear evidence: Canute was the first Danish King to begin a systematic
coinage of money. Coins were stricken in Denmark before his day, but
there was no organised system of mints. Canute supplied this need, using
the English pattern. He brought moneyers from his western kingdom and
located them in the chief cities of Denmark; coins have come down to us
that were stricken by these moneyers in the cities of Roeskild,
Ringsted, Odense, Heathby (Sleswick), and Lund.[405]
On the other hand, Canute's Norwegian legislation shows clear traces of
Anglo-Saxon influence. Of his three kingdoms, Norway, doubtless, had the
least efficient constitution. In Norway there was much liberty, but also
much disorder; emphasis was placed on personal rights, especially on
those of the aristocracy; but such emphasis is too frequently subversive
of good government. The Dane was a believer in strong, orderly
administration: it was his purpose to introduce European principles
into the Norse constitution. Had he been personally in control he might
have succeeded but his deputies at Nidaros were unequal to the task;
discontent and rebellion were the result.
For the laws that the new regents proclaimed in Norway, the Norsemen
were inclined to lay all blame on Sweyn's mother, Elgiva (Alfiva, the
Northmen called her), Canute's mistress of olden time. But there can be
little doubt that in this matter she and her son merely carried out the
King's instructions. The laws fall into three classes: revenue
legislation, police and military ordinances, and a new definition of
penalties.[406]
A new tax that apparently affected the entire population was the demand
that at Christmas time every hearth should contribute certain "gifts": a
measure of malt, the leg of a full-grown ox, and as much unspun flax as
could be held between the thumb and the middle finger. This reminds one
somewhat of the English ferm, a contribution that was due from the
various counties. It was also enacted that the franklins should assist
in erecting buildings on the royal estates, and that merchants and
fishermen and all who sailed to Iceland should pay certain dues to the
King.
A law that was clearly aimed at the ancient practice of blood feud
provided that murder should entail the loss of lands as well as of
personal property; also that the King alone should take inheritance
after an outlaw. In those same years Canute decreed in England that
whoever committed a deed of outlawry should forfeit his lands to the
King. The new Norse laws also forbade any subject to leave the land
without permission, on pain of outlawry. Parallel to this is the English
law that ordered forfeiture for leaving one's lord, with the difference
that in Norway the King himself was the lord. It was also decreed that
the testimony of a Dane should outweigh that of ten Norsemen, the
purpose of which was clearly to secure the lives of Danish officials and
soldiers.
It was further provided that every male above the age of five years
should be counted one of seven to equip a soldier. It may be that this
provision was suggested by the Old English custom of grouping five hides
of land (originally the lands of five households) for similar purposes.
Snorre believes that these laws were Danish in origin; but it is more
likely that they grew out of Canute's experience with Anglo-Saxon custom
and the principles of Continental feudalism, though it is possible that
some of them had been introduced into Denmark earlier in the reign and
came to Norway from the southern kingdom.
[Illustration: RUNIC MONUMENT FROM UPLAND, SWEDEN (Shows blending of
Celtic and Northern art.)]
FOOTNOTES:
[358] Steenstrup, _Normannerne_, i., 195-199.
[359] Munch, _Det norske Folks Historie_, I., ii., 704, 705.
[360] _Encomium Emmæ_, ii., c. 19. The Encomiast is intensely partisan
and much given to exaggeration; but we cannot reject the statement as to
the English oath without convicting him of a worse fault for which there
was scarcely a sufficient motive at the time when the _Encomium_ was
composed.
[361] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 130.
[362] _Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, ii., 135-136.
[363] Steenstrup, _Venderne og de Danske_, 64-65. The name occurs in the
_Liber Vibæ_ of Winchester in a list of benefactors. See above p. 57.
[364] Steenstrup, _Venderne og de Danske_, 65. Florence of Worcester,
_Chronicon_, i., 199.
[365] Kemble, _Codex Diplomaticus_, No. 743.
[366] After Canute's death, Godescalc returned to his native country and
took up the cause of Christian mission effort among the heathen Wends.
Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., cc. 64, 75.
[367] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 247.
[368] _Mon. Ger. Hist., Scriptores_, iv., 134; Adémar's _Chronicle_,
ii., c. 41.
[369] Migne, _Patrologia Latina_, cxli., col. 122: sermon by Adémar.
Migne considers the sermon of doubtful genuineness, possibly because he
thought its delivery should go back to 998, when in reality 1028 seems
to be the correct date.
[370] Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, II., ii., 162.
[371] Manitius, _Deutsche Geschichte_, 322-323.
[372] Manitius, _Deutsche Geschichte_, 360-361, 365, 389 ff.
[373] _Ibid._, 369-370.
[374] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 54.
[375] _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 409.
[376] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 54. Manitius (_Deutsche Geschichte_, 370)
believes the cession was not made before 1035.
[377] Larson, _The King's Household, in England_, 140-142.
[378] _Gesta_, ii., c. 53.
[379] _Gesta_, ii., c. 54.
[380] _Ibid._, c. 58.
[381] _Ibid._, c. 55; iv., c. 33.
[382] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 62.
[383] Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 278 ff.
[384] _Canute_, c. 17, I.
[385] _Ibid._, cc. 3, 4; _II. Canute_, c. 39.
[386] _I. Canute_, c. 4, 2.
[387] _Ibid._, c. 15.
[388] _Ibid._, c. 17.
[389] _I. Canute_, c. 22.
[390] _Ibid._, cc. 8-10.
[391] _II. Canute_, c. 5, 1.
[392] On this point the Norse sources furnish evidence everywhere. For
the condition among the Scandinavians in Britain, see the account of the
"Siege of Durham" published among the writings of Simeon of Durham
(_Opera Omnia_, 215-220).
[393] _I. Canute_, c. 7, 3.
[394] _II. Canute_, cc. 52, 52, I, 74.
[395] _II. Canute_, c. 20, I.
[396] For the text of these compilations (including the forged forest
law) see Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 529-546, 612-626.
The documents have been made the subject of a series of studies by F.
Liebermann, the results of which are summed up in Pollock and Maitland,
_History of English Law_, i., 100-101.
[397] Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 620.
[398] _II. Canute_, c. 80, I.
[399] Liebermann, _Gesetze der Angelsachsen_, i., 642; _Leges Edwardi
Confessoris_, c. 16.
[400] On this subject see Morris, _The Frankpledge System_, c. i.
[401] On this subject the most important work is Steenstrup's _Danelag_
(_Normannerne_, iv.); see especially pp. 75-76, 85-92, 175 ff.; also
_Normannerne_, iii., 366-368.
[402] _II. Canute_, c. 30, 5.
[403] _Ibid._, c. 50 ff.
[404] Larson, _The King's Household in England_, c. 7.
[405] _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 404-405.
[406] Snorre, _Saga of Saint Olaf_, c. 239.