DANISH RAVAGES IN NORTHUMBERLAND. 311 least was still open; the ancient Colony of Agrippina was CHAP. v. already a chief mart of Teutonic commerce; as early as the days of Charles and Offa, commerce between England and the Empire was a matter of special interest on both sides; and now, in the days of Ethelred, the Men of the Emperor, alone among the natives of foreign lands, were emphatically spoken of as "worthy of good laws, even as we ourselves." the North The great merchant city was thus saved, mainly, as we Ravages in shall often find it in these wars, by the valour of her own of England. citizens. The Northmen, baffled in their attack on Lon- 993. don, turned their course northward; they stormed King Ida's fortress of Bamborough, the earliest seat of Northumbrian royalty; they then turned back to the mouth of the Humber, and ravaged the country on both sides of that river. The men of Lindesey and Deira were no less ready to defend their country than the men of London and East-Anglia; but they had less worthy leaders. Just as a battle was be- Treason ginning, the English commanders set the example of flight. Frithegist, Their names were Fræna, Frithegist, and Godwine, two of and Godthem at least old servants of Eadgar's, and it is distinctly implied that the cause of their cowardice and treachery was that they were themselves of Danish descent, and that they therefore sympathized with the invaders rather than with those whom it was their duty to defend.3 1 See W. Malm. i. 93. Cf. above, p. 39. 2 Thorpe, i. 300. Homines Imperatoris, qui veniebant in navibus suis, bonorum legum digni tenebantur, sicut et nos." 3 The Chronicles say simply, "ba onstealdon þa heretogan ærest þone fleam þæt wæs Fræna and Godwine and Friðegist." Florence expands somewhat; "Duces exercitus, Frana videlicet, Frithogist, et Godwinus, quia ex paterno genere Danici fuerunt, suis insidiantes, auctores fugæ primitus exstiterunt." The words "ex paterno genere" would imply that the earlier Danish settlers, like the followers of Cnut and of William afterwards, often took English wives. Also Florence translates "heretogan" by duces exercitus," lest "heretogan" should be taken to imply the permanent rank of Ealdorman. Neither Fræna nor Frithegist ever held that rank. They sign charters in abundance, from the days of Eadgar onwards, but never with 66 of Fræna, wine. CHAP. V. Wales. Border warfare with the Welsh. Our narrative is thus far, on the whole, straightforward Affairs of and intelligible, but two difficult questions now present themselves. Were these Scandinavian invasions accompanied by any efforts on the part of the Celtic inhabitants of Britain to shake off the English supremacy? Was Æthelred, while thus attacked by foreign invaders, himself engaged in foreign disputes and wars, perhaps in actual invasion of a foreign country? As far as the Welsh are concerned, it would be alike impossible and unprofitable to try to trace out all the details of the border warfare which was constantly going on along the Mercian frontier. The English Chronicles scarcely ever condescend to speak of the vicissitudes of these endless skirmishes, while the Scandina- Welsh Chronicles are full of them. They tell us of a good many incursions of the "Saxons," but they are far fuller of the ravages of the "Black Pagans," who were probably much oftener Norsemen from Ireland and the Western Islands than actual Danes from Denmark. And it is small honour to the Emperor of all Britain that his plan of buying off the heathen ravagers had perhaps been forestalled by a vassal prince of Wales. This prince, Meredydd, son of Owen, seems to have spread his dominion over the greater part of the modern Principality, and in vian incursions in Wales. 988. any higher rank than that of "Minister" or " Miles." Fræna signs a great many charters long after this. In 995 he signs two of Escwig, Bishop of Dorchester (Cod. Dipl. iii. 286, 288), which may imply that he belonged to Lindesey and not to Deira. Of Godwine we may suspect that he also was of Lindesey, that he reformed, and obtained the rank of Ealdorman. Godwine, Ealdorman of Lindesey, died at Assandun in 1016, is most likely the man here spoken of; but Godwine is so common a name that it is impossible to say to whom all the signatures of "Godwine minister" belong. Sometimes two Godwines sign without further distinction. 1 So it stands in the English version of the Brut y Tywysogion, in anno; "And Maredudd, son of Owain, paid to the Black Pagans a tribute of one penny for each person." But in the Annales Cambriæ the transaction takes the milder form of a redemption of captives; "Maredut redemit captivos a gentilibus nigris, nummo pro unoquoque dato." 2 His own dominions are described (Brut, 991) as Dyfed, Ceredigion, AFFAIRS OF WALES. 991. 313 the year of the Battle of Maldon we distinctly find him, CHAP. V. not only at war with the English, but in league with the Northmen. A Prince of Gwent and Morganwg,' in com- War with Meredydd. pany with an English commander whose name appears to have been Æthelsige, ravaged the Kingdom of Meredydd as far as Saint David's, in return for which Meredydd, with an army of heathen mercenaries,2 ravaged Morganwg, the dominions of the Welsh ally of England. One would be more anxious to know what was the position of Scotland at this time. The reception of Swend by Kenneth, if it be historical, might seem to point to an unfriendly feeling towards England; but we have no notices of Scottish affairs till some years later. relations A more important question still now presents itself. As Ethelred's far as we can gather from most imperfect and contra- with Nor dictory accounts, it appears that it was during these years mandy. that the first direct intercourse between England and Normandy took place, and that that intercourse was of an unfriendly, if not a directly hostile, kind. The quarrel Disputes seems to have arisen from the hospitable reception which from the was given in the Norman ports to the piratical fleets shelter given in which were engaged in the plunder of England. The old Normandy connexion with Denmark, and the good services which vessels. had been rendered by King Harold, were not forgotten Gower, and Cydweli, answering to the modern counties of Pembroke, Cardigan, Caermarthen, and part of Glamorgan. In 985 he conquered Mona or Anglesey, Merioneth, and Gwynedd generally. 1 He is called Owen, Guyn, and Etwin, the last a very unlikely name. His English ally appears in the Brut as "Eclis the Great, a Saxon prince from the seas of the south." The Annals call him Edelisi, clearly Æthelsige, but he can hardly be the East-Anglian Thegn, the son of Æthelstan. 2 Brut y Tywysogion, 991. "Maredudd hired the Pagans willing to join him." 3 The difficulties connected with the relations between Ethelred and Normandy are so great that I reserve their discussion for an Appendix, and simply give in the text what seems to me the most probable version. arising to Danish 988. CHAP. V. in Normandy. The kind reception thus due to the Danes in general may have extended itself even to those who were in fact Harold's rebellious subjects, warring against the champion of the faith common to Normandy and England. The Norman ports lay most conveniently open for the sale of the plunder of Wessex; it is even possible that some of the inhabitants of those parts of Normandy where the old Danish spirit still lingered may have joined their heathen kinsmen in incursions on the opposite coast.1 Considering the chronology, it seems most likely that the invasion of Somersetshire which took place in the year of Dunstan's death was aided and abetted by Richard's subjects in one or other of these ways. A dispute thus arose between Ethelred and the Duke; whether it led to open war is uncertain. At any rate it assumed importance enough to call for the intervention of the common Father of Christendom. The reigning Pope, John the Fifteenth, stepped in to reconcile two Christian Princes who were Pope John Weakening one another in the presence of threatening, if not triumphant, heathendom. Leo, Bishop of Trier, was sent by the Pontiff to the court of Æthelred on a message of peace. He thence went to Duke Richard at Rouen, accompanied by an English embassy, consisting of Æthelsige, Bishop of Sherborne, and two Thegns named Leofstan and Æthelnoth, who are no otherwise distinguished, but whose names are attached to many of the charters of the time. Peace was concluded on the terms that neither party should receive the enemies of the other, nor the subjects of either, unless provided with passports from their own sovereign.2 Reconciliation brought about by the Fif teenth. 991. 1 This is the conjecture of Lappenberg, ii. 153, Eng. Tr. 2 Will. Malm. ii. 166. "Et de hominibus Regis vel inimicis suis nullum Ricardus recipiat, neque Rex de suis, sine sigillo eorum." Sigillum does not necessarily imply a seal in the later sense; a signature of any kind is enough. RELATIONS BETWEEN ENGLAND AND NORMANDY. 315 CHAP. V. connexion from this There can be no doubt that in these transactions we may discern the germs of much that came to pass in later Increasing years. The first recorded intercourse between the courts between England of Rouen and Winchester paved the way for that chain and Norof events which was at last to enthrone a descendant of mandy Richard in the royal city of Æthelred. Each country time. now began to feel the importance of the other, whether as a friend or as an enemy. As we go on in the reign of Ethelred, we shall find intercourse of all kinds with Normandy growing more frequent at every step. And, for the first and the last time in the common history of the two countries, the Roman Bishop appears in his proper character of a common peacemaker and father. The next Pontiff who mingles in a strife between a King of the English and a Duke of the Normans appears in quite another light. §3. From the first dispute with Normandy to the Massacre of Saint Brice. 991-1002. bined ex pedition of Swend. We must now again come back to the consecutive nar- Great comrative of the Danish wars. In the year after the sack of Bamborough and the ignominious flight of the Thegns Olaf and of Lindesey, the invasions began again on a more terrible 994. scale. They were no longer the plundering expeditions of private Wikings, or of the sons of Kings spending their hot youth in this wild warfare against their neighbours. They were no longer the expeditions of adventurous chieftains and their followers seeking to better their fortunes by winning themselves new homes at the point of the sword. The two mightiest powers of the North were now joined together in a momentary league to compass the utter subjugation of England. Instead of the sea-rovers of a few years back, the invaders are now two powerful Kings with royal fleets and armies at their disposal. Olaf, King of |