The king sailed from thence westward to England. It was then the case
that the Danish king, Svein Forked Beard, was at that time in England
with a Danish army, and had been fixed there for some time, and had
seized upon King Ethelred's kingdom. The Danes had spread themselves
so widely over England, that it was come so far that King Ethelred
had departed from the country, and had gone south to Valland. The same
autumn that King Olaf came to England, it happened that King Svein died
suddenly in the night in his bed; and it is said by Englishmen that
Edmund the Saint killed him, in the same way that the holy Mercurius
had killed the apostate Julian. When Ethelred, the king of the English,
heard this in Flanders, he returned directly to England; and no sooner
was he come back, than he sent an invitation to all the men who would
enter into his pay, to join him in recovering the country. Then many
people flocked to him; and among others, came King Olaf with a great
troop of Northmen to his aid. They steered first to London, and sailed
into the Thames with their fleet; but the Danes had a castle within. On
the other side of the river is a great trading place, which is called
Sudvirke. There the Danes had raised a great work, dug large ditches,
and within had built a bulwark of stone, timber, and turf, where they
had stationed a strong army. King Ethelred ordered a great assault;
but the Danes defended themselves bravely, and King Ethelred could make
nothing of it. Between the castle and Southwark (Sudvirke) there was a
bridge, so broad that two wagons could pass each other upon it. On the
bridge were raised barricades, both towers and wooden parapets, in the
direction of the river, which were nearly breast high; and under the
bridge were piles driven into the bottom of the river. Now when the
attack was made the troops stood on the bridge everywhere, and defended
themselves. King Ethelred was very anxious to get possession of the
bridge, and he called together all the chiefs to consult how they should
get the bridge broken down. Then said King Olaf he would attempt to lay
his fleet alongside of it, if the other ships would do the same. It was
then determined in this council that they should lay their war forces
under the bridge; and each made himself ready with ships and men.