ETHELRED THE UNREADY.
The Retirement of Dunstan--Character of Ethelred--Sweyn in
Denmark--Character of the Invasions and the Resistance--The
Danegeld--The Arrival of Sweyn--Ethelred's Expedition--The
Massacre of St. Brice's Day--Return of Sweyn--Defeats of the
English--Edric Streona--Failure of the English Fleet--Treacheries
of Edric--Death of St. Alphege--Sweyn's Conquest of
England and his Death--Return of Ethelred and Departure of
Canute--Misgovernment of the King--Canute's Return and the Death
of Ethelred.
On the death of Edward, his half-brother Ethelred was elected by the
Witena-gemot, much to the dislike of Dunstan, who, it is said, foretold
how disastrous the new reign would be. And now the great prelate's
active career came to an end. His enemies had of late years been rapidly
growing in strength, and it only needed the accession of a king who was
unfriendly towards him to cause him to retire to his diocese. There he
spent the remainder of his life (he died in 988), occupying his time in
administering its affairs, and in cultivating literature and art. Faults
he may have had of disposition and temper; but a careful investigation
of the facts of his life would appear to prove that, although he
made mistakes more than once, his career as a whole was eminent for
statesmanship, and resulted in benefit to his country.
Bereft of his guiding hand, the kingdom was soon in a miserable plight.
Even Dunstan would have found it difficult to keep the ship from sinking,
and Ethelred was utterly unfit for such a task. His character shows no
redeeming features; he was weak, cowardly, and revengeful; whenever he
made an effort it was too late or in the wrong direction. He surrounded
himself with foreign favourites on whose advice he trusted, and sought
to oppose the Danish invaders, not by organising armies, but by marriage
alliances and diplomacy.
The third period of the Danish invasions begins in this reign; when the
Danes proceed to conquer England for their own. The reason why the old
enemy now became particularly formidable is to be sought in the changes
which were taking place in the north of Europe. There Denmark had become
a formidable monarchy in close alliance with Norway and Sweden. For the
first ten years of Ethelred's reign, however, it was not in a position
to become aggressive, owing to the struggle that was going on between
Harold Bluetooth and his son Sweyn. This terminated in the triumph of the
latter, who drove out his father and re-established idolatry throughout
the land. Having made himself supreme in Denmark, Sweyn determined to add
England to his dominions.
It was owing to the fact that Denmark was divided by a struggle for the
throne, that for the first ten years of the reign the descents upon
England were of an intermittent character; nevertheless, they were
extremely harassing, seeing that the English had not only an enormous
extent of coast to guard, but never knew the exact spot at which their
enemies would land.
Frequently when their army was in one part of the kingdom the invaders
would debark at another, and before it could march to the place
threatened, the barbarians would collect their booty and retire to their
ships. The only efficient remedy for these misfortunes would have been
to equip a powerful fleet, so as to have encountered the Danes at sea;
but the youth and inexperience of the king prevented such a step, and the
island was exposed, in consequence, to outrage, murder, and pillage.
Ethelred's efforts to stop these raids seem to have been inadequate,
and he made matters worse by quarrelling with his great men. He had
some dispute with the Bishop of Rochester, and proceeded to ravage his
lands, oblivious of the fact that a disunited realm would fall an easy
prey to a determined invader. All the English, however, were not equally
unpatriotic; for when, in 991, the Danes, headed by two brothers, Justin
and Guthmund, with whom was Olaf, the king of the Norwegians, invaded the
country and plundered Ipswich, and then went into Essex, they were met at
Maldon by Byrhtnoth, the alderman of the East Saxons. In the battle which
followed, the alderman was slain, after a very brave resistance, and a
fine old-English song was written about the fight, the greater part of
which is still extant.
In spite of this bold, spirited conduct on the part of the English hosts,
which showed that the nation had plenty of valour left in it, Ethelred
began in this year the craven and short-sighted practice of buying off
the Danes. For this purpose a tax, called the Danegeld, was levied,
probably on cultivated lands, and was continued on one pretext or another
long after the occasion for it had passed away. The first bribe paid to
the Danes amounted to ten thousand pounds, and it obviously acted only as
a further incentive to the rapacious hordes.
Gradually the hopes of the English grew very faint indeed, and we begin
to hear of treachery and of battles converted into defeats by desertions
to the enemy. At last, in 994, Sweyn himself appeared, accompanied by
Olaf of Norway. The two kings, with a powerful fleet, sailed up the
Thames, with the intention of making themselves masters of London. The
courageous resistance of the inhabitants, however, obliged them to retire
without obtaining possession of the city.
Determined not to be disappointed in the chief object of their
expedition, which was plunder, the two Danish kings directed their troops
into the interior of the island, levying contributions in Kent, Sussex,
and Hampshire. The sufferings of the inhabitants became intolerable.
Ethelred once more had recourse to money, and promised the enemy a
large sum, on condition that they ceased their cruelties and quitted the
kingdom: the offer was accepted. The weak, cowardly monarch afterwards
received the King of Norway as a friend and ally. Olaf quitted the
country after taking an oath, which he kept, never to come back any more.
His colleague, Sweyn, had formed far different projects. When he returned
home, he left his fleet at Southampton to keep the English in awe; and
also to receive the payment of the money promised. No sooner had he taken
his departure than his admiral became impatient for the tribute.
So matters went on until the year 1000, the Danes making descents upon
all parts of the coast, and defeating such bodies of Englishmen as
ventured in the field against them. Ethelred meanwhile did nothing to
help his unfortunate subjects. He even allowed his forces to harry and
oppress them. And as if the Danes were not enough to occupy him, he
actually made an abortive expedition against the King of Cumberland,
because he refused to pay the Danegeld, and even sent a fleet to harry
the lands of Richard the Good of Normandy because he received Danish
ships in his ports. The English were driven away ignominiously, and
Ethelred shortly afterwards made peace with Richard, and in 1002 married
his sister Emma, called the Pearl of Normandy on account of her beauty.
In 1001 the Danes invaded Devonshire, but were driven off from Exeter,
and defeated at Pinhoe; nevertheless, they gained much booty, and ravaged
the southern coast until they were bought off once more with a large sum
of money. Suddenly Ethelred bethought himself of a device by which he
might, at one blow, rid himself of a great portion of his opponents. As
might be expected of a weak prince, his project was a cruel one, being
neither more nor less than the massacre of all the Danes who had remained
behind in England. To carry out this barbarous as well as useless policy,
a vast conspiracy was entered into; and on the 13th of November, St.
Brice's day, 1002, all the invaders were put to death, with circumstances
of the most shocking barbarity.
The sister of Sweyn was not spared. Her name was Gunilda, and she is said
to have been married to a noble Dane settled in England, named Pallig.
Being a Christian, she had exerted all her influence with her brother to
bring about the peace. Her children were first murdered in her presence,
and their unhappy mother was afterwards slain.
Sweyn received the news of this massacre from some Danes, who succeeded
in getting on board a vessel ready to sail for Denmark. Their relation
of the cruelties of the English to those of his nation would have been
sufficient to arouse him; but when informed of his sister's barbarous
murder, he was seized with all the rage that such a crime was likely to
excite in a vindictive nature. He solemnly swore he would never rest till
he had revenged the atrocious outrage. It was not, therefore, with intent
to plunder that he made a second expedition into England, but to destroy
the whole country with fire and sword. However, as he did not doubt that
Ethelred would take precautions to oppose his entrance, he would not sail
without securing a place where he might safely land his troops. Exeter
was then governed by a Norman, Hugh, placed in that important trust by
the influence of the queen, in full confidence that, as her countryman,
her husband might rely on his devotion and fidelity.
To this man Sweyn secretly despatched an emissary, with the offer of a
great reward, provided he would assist him in his enterprise. The traitor
yielded to the temptation, and allowed not only the fleet of the invader
to enter his ports, but the Danes to land without offering the least
opposition.
After debarking his forces, Sweyn marched them to Exeter, and as the
first-fruits of his vengeance not only massacred the inhabitants, but
after plundering the city broke down its wall. Wherever the furious
monarch led his army the same cruelties were repeated; submission was
useless, for he knew not the meaning of the word "mercy."
He then appeared in Wiltshire, where the people were prepared to meet
him. But they had a traitor in command, who pretended to be ill, and so
the English levies dispersed. Sweyn, therefore, burnt some of the chief
towns, and then sailed homewards for the winter.
Early the next year, however, he returned, landing, it is supposed, at
Yarmouth, and took the city of Norwich, which he burned to the ground.
Ulfcytel, the alderman of the East Angles, gave him an immense sum of
money to induce him to spare that part of the country from any further
ravages. Regardless of his promises, the invader had no sooner received
the tribute than he attacked Thetford, and destroyed it; which breach of
faith so incensed Ulfcytel, that he collected as many troops as possible,
and posted himself between the invaders and the fleet, in the hope of
cutting them off. The Danish king marched back to give him battle,
and the English were beaten, after a severe contest. The Danes were
afterwards driven from England by famine.
At the termination of the scarcity, another expedition of the enemy
landed at Sandwich, in Kent, and Ethelred levied an army to oppose them;
on hearing which, the Danes retreated to the Isle of Thanet, well knowing
that the English, who served at their own expense, would soon disperse.
The event proved that their calculation was a just one; tired of waiting
for an enemy who refused to come from their stronghold, the soldiers of
Ethelred quickly melted away, and the unlucky king procured a peace only
upon the payment of £36,000.
Ethelred, on their departure, gave one of his daughters in marriage to
Edric, surnamed Streona (the gainer), the instigator of the massacre of
St. Brice's Day, whom he had lately created Alderman of Mercia; but his
new son-in-law, instead of assisting him, as he had a right to expect,
leagued with the Danes, and betrayed the kingdom on every occasion. The
year after the treaty, the Danish king demanded a similar sum of £36,000,
pretending that it was a yearly tribute which the English had agreed
to pay. Ethelred, by the advice of his council, employed the money in
fitting out a powerful fleet, the command of which was given to Brihric,
the brother of the new Alderman of Mercia. This measure obliged the enemy
to retire.
Brihric was no sooner in command than he used his authority to ruin
Wulfnoth, a noble who was his enemy, and began to accuse him of crimes to
the king, who lent but too willing an ear to his rival. Finding his ruin
determined upon, Wulfnoth persuaded nine of the captains of the fleet to
put to sea with him, which they did, plundering the English coasts and
committing fearful ravages. The admiral, incensed at his escape, set out
with eighty ships to give him chase; but a terrible storm arising, he
lost a great part of them, and the rest fell into the hands of Wulfnoth.
Thus was the fleet which should have been the safeguard of the kingdom
lost and destroyed.
Taking advantage of this state of affairs, the Danes, who had their spies
both in the court and country of England, prepared another expedition.
Two fleets arrived in the kingdom--one in East Anglia, under Thurkill;
and the second in the Isle of Thanet, commanded by two leaders, Heming
and Eglaf. They attacked the city of Canterbury, and would, doubtless,
have destroyed it, had not the inhabitants ransomed it at an enormous
sum.
Whilst the Danes were pillaging Kent, Ethelred drew an army together to
oppose their ravages; and as soon as he was ready, he posted himself
between them and their ships to prevent them from embarking and carrying
off their booty. Probably he might have executed his project, and
gained much advantage, considering the superiority of his forces, if
Edric had not found means to relieve the Danes. The traitor, perceiving
their danger, represented to the king, his father-in-law, that it would
be more prudent to let them retire, than hazard a battle, which might
prove fatal to him; and this pernicious advice made such impression on
the weak-minded monarch, that he suffered the Danes to depart with all
their plunder, unmolested. But instead of sailing for Denmark, as it was
expected, they threw themselves into the Isle of Thanet; from which,
during the whole winter, they made incursions into the neighbouring
counties, and even made several attempts upon London; in which, however,
they were always repulsed. During this period, Ulfcytel of East Anglia,
willing once more to try the fortune of a battle in the defence of his
territory, had the misfortune to be overthrown.
Hitherto the Danes had wanted cavalry, on account of the difficulty of
transporting horses from Denmark; but as soon as they were in possession
of East Anglia, which abounded with horses, they mounted part of their
troops, and by that means extended their conquests. Shortly after, they
subdued Essex, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire,
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Kent,
Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and Devonshire, whilst Ethelred,
who had scarce anything left, kept himself shut up in London, not daring
to take the field and stop their progress. In all the above-named
counties, London and Canterbury were the only places in the king's power.
But at length the last was attacked so vigorously that it was captured,
plundered, and reduced to ashes; and Alphege, the archbishop, being taken
prisoner, was afterwards murdered by these barbarians at Greenwich, to
which place, the station of their ships, they had brought him.
In the old church of Greenwich, on the top of the partition wall between
the nave and the chancel, was formerly the following inscription: "This
church was erected and dedicated to the glory of God, and the memory
of St. Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury, here slain by the Danes,
because he would not ransom his life by an unreasonable sum of money,
An. 1012." He was first buried at St. Paul's in London, and afterwards
removed to Canterbury. He was honoured as a martyr, and stands in the
Roman Martyrology on the 19th of April. The money, £8,000, being paid,
the greater part of the Danish fleet dispersed.
In 1013, however, Sweyn returned, and proceeded to conquer the whole of
England. He began from the north-east, and soon the Danish settlements
had submitted to him, and their example was followed by all the English
to the north of Watling Street. Mercia was forced to yield after it
had been cruelly ravaged, and then the Danish warrior took Oxford and
Winchester, the chief towns of the old kingdom of Wessex. Leaving his
son Canute with the fleet, he on a sudden laid siege to London, where
Ethelred was shut up. Though he was but ill provided with necessaries
to besiege in form a place of such importance, he imagined the citizens
would be terrified at his menaces; but finding they were not moved by
them he desisted from his enterprise, and passed on and ravaged the
western parts of Wessex, where he found no opposition to his arms.
However, as he could not be satisfied whilst London was out of his power,
he resolved to besiege it once more; but whilst he was preparing for
the siege with greater precaution than before, he had information of
Ethelred's departure from thence. This worthless prince, ever dreading to
fall into the hands of an enemy he had so cruelly injured, and perceiving
himself unsafe in England, retired into Normandy with all his family,
upon which the Londoners resolved to submit to the King of Denmark, to
whom all the rest of the kingdom was now subject; and now Sweyn was
looked upon as King of England without any opposition, no one in the
kingdom daring to dispute his title.
It does not appear that Sweyn was ever crowned. His first act of
sovereignty was to levy a heavy tax to pay his Danish troops, by whose
assistance he had conquered England. But at any rate his reign was
exceedingly brief, for he died in 1014. Some writers say that he was
poisoned, others that he died of a cold, while a third set declare that
he was killed by the apparition of St. Edmund, formerly King of East
Anglia, armed with a lance, in order to save the town and monastery in
which his canonised bones lay from being plundered by the invaders. This
is only a legendary version of what was probably a fact, that shortly
before his death Sweyn had contemplated an attack on the town of Bury St.
Edmunds.
[Illustration: MARTYRDOM OF ALPHEGE. (_See p._ 60.)]
On the death of Sweyn, Canute, his son, was proclaimed king; but their
common danger had given something like energy and combination to the
councils of the English. They recalled Ethelred from his exile in
Normandy, and pledged themselves to support him on the throne against the
Danes, whose government was arbitrary, cruel, and oppressive.
Ethelred at first was unwilling to trust to their promises, being
apprehensive of a design to deliver him into the hands of his enemies;
but being encouraged by the reception met with by his son, whom he had
sent before to sound the people's inclinations, he returned to England,
and was welcomed with every demonstration of joy; and his subjects
swore allegiance to him again, as if he had begun a new reign, his
flight being considered as a sort of abdication of the crown. He, on
his part, promised to reform whatever was amiss; and the eagerness of
the English to throw off a foreign yoke, made them flock to the king
with such zeal and haste that he soon found himself at the head of a
powerful army. His first expedition plainly showed his misfortunes had
made no alteration in him; for instead of marching against the Danes,
he employed his forces to be revenged on the men of Lindsey--one of the
three divisions of Lincolnshire; the other two being named Holland and
Kesteven. The inhabitants of the first-named division, it appeared, had
provided the Danes with horses, and had also offered to join them. After
Ethelred had punished these traitors, he prepared to march and fight the
enemy, who little expected so sudden a revolution. Although Canute was
undoubtedly a great prince, and had the same forces his father Sweyn had
conquered England with, he did not think fit to hazard a battle; but, on
the contrary, before Ethelred was advanced near enough to oblige him to
fight, he led his troops to the sea-side, and embarking them, set sail
for Denmark. Before his departure, he ordered the hands, noses, and ears
of the hostages he had in his power to be cut off, leaving them thus
mangled on the shore.
As soon as Ethelred found himself freed from the Danes, he took no heed
of his promise to his subjects, but on the contrary resumed his old
maxims, and imposed, on various pretences, excessive taxes, which raised
much murmuring among the nobles and people. To these causes for public
discontent he added others of a more private nature, which destroyed all
the hopes entertained of his amendment. Morkar and Sifforth, the chief
men of the five Danish boroughs, were sacrificed to his avarice. To
draw these two earls into his power, the king convened the Witena-gemot
at Oxford, where he caused them to be murdered, and then seized their
estates, as if they had been condemned by the common forms of justice.
Algitha, widow of Sifforth, was shut up in a monastery, to which
circumstance she was indebted for her later good fortune; for Edmund, the
king's eldest son, passing that way some time after, was desirous to see
one so renowned for her beauty, and fell so desperately in love with her,
that he married her even against his father's consent.
The calm enjoyed by England lasted only a year, for in 1015 Canute came
again. Edward being sick, his brave son Edmund, called Ironside for his
deeds of valour, and Edric Streona were sent against the enemy with two
armies gathered from the north and south of England. Edric, however, true
to his previous villainies, first attempted to murder the gallant youth,
and then went over to Canute with a considerable body of troops and forty
ships of war. Edmund retired northward, leaving Canute in possession of
Wessex.
The next year was the last of this disastrous reign. There was much
resultless fighting in which Ethelred refused to support his son, because
there were traitors in the English camp. Gradually the area of war moved
northwards, and Canute entered York, placing his own earl, Eric the Dane,
over the Northumbrians. (We find that the Danish title of earl now begins
to supplant that of alderman, which had been used by the English for
the military governor of a shire.) Edmund thereupon gave up the useless
struggle, and joined his father in London. He had not long been there
when the king died, in 1016, at the early age of forty-eight, having done
all that a false and incapable man could, during the reign, to bring the
nation to ruin.