When King Canute saw that the kings of Norway and Sweden steered
eastward with their forces along the coast, he sent men to ride night
and day on the land to follow their movements. Some spies went forward,
others returned; so that King Canute had news every day of their
progress. He had also spies always in their army. Now when he heard that
a great part of the fleet had sailed away from the kings, he turned back
with his forces to Seeland, and lay with his whole fleet in the Sound;
so that a part lay on the Scania side, and a part on the Seeland side.
King Canute himself, the day before Michaelmas, rode with a great
retinue to Roeskilde. There his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf, had prepared a
great feast for him. The earl was the most agreeable host, but the king
was silent and sullen. The earl talked to him in every way to make him
cheerful, and brought forward everything which he thought would amuse
him; but the king remained stern, and speaking little. At last the earl
proposed to him a game at chess, which he agreed to; and a chess-board
was produced, and they played together. Earl Ulf was hasty in temper,
stiff, and in nothing yielding; but everything he managed went on well
in his hands; and he was a great warrior, about whom there are many
stories. He was the most powerful man in Denmark next to the king. Earl
Ulf's sister Gyda was married to Earl Gudin (Godwin) Ulfnadson; and
their sons were Harald king of England, and Earl Toste, Earl Valthiof,
Earl Morukare, and Earl Svein. Gyda was the name of their daughter, who
was married to the English king Edward the Good.