CHARACTER OF THURKILL. itle of Martyr. He had at least as good a right to it as many martyrs of earlier times, who brought on themselves a death which they might have avoided by provoking or challenging their heathen enemies. 391 CHAP. V. enters the 1012. Soon after the Archbishop's murder, the forty-eight The money paid to the thousand pounds, the ransom of England, was paid, oaths Danes. were sworn, and the Danish fleet dispersed. But Thurkill, Thurkill whose whole conduct had shown a distinct leaning to English Christianity, now entered the English service. As we service. afterwards find him a zealous Christian, he was doubtless baptized now, if he had not been already baptized by Ælfheah. He brought with him forty-five ships, the crews of which were to receive food and clothing from the King and engaged in return to defend England against every enemy. of Thurkill. Thurkill is a character of much interest, in many points Character resembling, on a smaller scale, his wonderful countryman Cnut. He entered England on an errand of destruction, and he was gradually won over to be the stoutest defender of the land which he came to ravage. He was not a mere Pallig, to accept English wealth and honours, and then to go over to the enemy at the first opportunity. When he swore oaths to Ethelred, he honestly devoted himself to the master whose bread he ate. He fought valiantly for England, and his ships for a while were the only refuge where the native King of the English could find shelter. 1 The Chronicles and Florence mention the engagement of the fortyfive ships without mentioning Thurkill. But as they all represent him as being in the English service the next year, there can be no doubt that this was the time of his change of side. So Encom. Emmæ, ed. Maseres, p. 7. The statement of William of Malmesbury (ii. 176) that Thurkill now received some kind of settlement in East-Anglia (habebat Orientales Anglos suæ voluntati parentes) is in no way improbable in itself, and it falls in curiously with the confused statement of Osbern (see above, p. 385) about the intended partition of England between him and Eadric. But both Osbern and William are very bad authorities for anything relating to Thurkill. 2 See above, p. 337. CHAP. V. If, at a later time, we find him again on the Danish sid it was probably not till death had released him from a personal obligations to his first master, certainly not English Ealdormen had set him the example of acknow ledging the foreign King. The struggle between E mund and Cnut might fairly appear to him to be: struggle between two candidates for the English Crown in which he, as a Dane, might without dishonour tak the side of his own countryman. Swend's It is probable that the defection of Thurkill hastened the last inva last act of this stage of the Danish invasions. sion of England. We have now not heard anything of Swend personally for nine years. He had meanwhile been busily engaged in warfare nearer home; but, as regards England, he clearly was only biding his time. On the one hand, the country was thoroughly weakened and disheartened, and seemed to stand ready for him to take possession. On the other hand, as far as material help went, England had gained considerably by the accession of the valiant Thurkill and his followers. To chastise Thurkill, at least to guard against the possible consequences of his conduct, seems to have been the immediate occasion of Swend's greatest and last invasion. But this motive can have done little more than hasten a purpose which was already fully determined. Swend had no doubt long resolved on the complete conquest of England; but he may well have seen that Thurkill's new position rendered his own presence immediately Roger of Wendover (i. 441), whose chronology of this time is exces sively confused, makes Swend present in England at the death of Ælfheah; on the payment of the tribute, the Danes and English make a league of brotherhood to have one heart and one soul; Swend goes back to Denmark; the massacre of Saint Brice takes place, and then Swend comes again! 2 See very distinctly in the Encomium Emmæ, p. 7. William of Malmes bury (ii. 176) again slanders Thurkill, making him invite Swend. SWEND'S LAST INVASION. 393 ecessary, lest his schemes should be supplanted by the CHAP. v. stablishment of a rival Danish dynasty in the country.1 However this may be, Swend set forth, accompanied by is son Cnut, afterwards so famous, and reached England cence of n July. The magnificence of his fleet is described in the Magnifinost glowing colours.2 There is no doubt that, savages Swend's is they appear in warfare, the Northern nations of that fleet. age had made considerable progress in many of the arts. The fact is abundantly proved by the antiquities of that time and of earlier times which still remain. And the adornment of the ships which were so dear to the heart of every Northern warrior3 was a favourite form of splendour. There may doubtless be some exaggeration, but there is also doubtless a certain measure of truth, in the account of Swend's splendid fleet, of the birds and dragons on the tops of the masts which showed the way of the wind, of the figures of men and animals in gold, silver, and amber, which formed the signs of the ships, the lions, the bulls, the dolphins, and, what we should hardly have looked for, the centaurs. With this fleet, armed with the whole force of Denmark, Swend crossed the sea, and came first to Sandwich. He then changed his course, and sailed to the mouth of the Humber, to a country among Swend sails whose population the Danish element was large. The work Humber. of so many valiant Kings, of Eadward, of Æthelstan, of Eadmund, was undone in a moment. The North of England was again severed from the West-Saxon monarchy. The 1 Encom. Em. p. 7. “Turchil . . . magnam partem exercitûs tui abducens, vicisse se gaudet: et nunc meridianam partem provinciæ victor obtinet, ac mavult ibi exsul degens, amicusque factus Anglorum, quos tuâ manu vicit, gloriari, quam, exercitum reducens, tibi subdi, tibique victoriam adscribi.” 2 Encomium Emmæ, pp. 8, 9. 3 Compare the saying of Thurkill just before; he will give any quantity of gold and silver, anything except his ship, to redeem the life of Ælfheah. Compare the description of the splendid ship given by Godwine to Harthacnut, Flor. Wig. 1040. Archbishop Ælfric also leaves King Æthelred his best ship with its accoutrements. Cod. Dipl. iii. 351. up the submit. 1013. 942. CHAP. V. Danish King sailed up the Trent, pitched his camp at Gainsborough, and all the country on the Danish side of Wat ling-Street submitted without resistance.1 Embassies came Northum in from all parts of the North. The Northumbrians first berland, Lindesey, submitted under their Earl Uhtred, the King's son-in-law. and the We have seen him acting bravely before2 and we shall see Five Boroughs him acting vigorously again, but just now he did nothing to } check the panic, even if he were not the first to be carried away by it. Next came the men of Lindesey, and, somewhat later, the men of the Five Boroughs. The reduction 920-22. of that famous Confederacy had been reckoned among the most renowned exploits of Eadward and of Eadmund ;* but their mention now shows that they must still have retained some measure of independence and mutual connexion. Before long, all the population north-east of Watling-Street had acknowledged Swend. From all these districts he took hostages, whom he entrusted to his son Cnut, who was left in command of the fleet. He also required horses and food for his army, and, more than this, the contingents of the shires which had submitted had to follow him, willingly or unwillingly, in his onward march. With this force he then crossed Watling-Street, and struck south-west, into the strictly English districts of his horrible Mercia, into the one part of England which had as yet Swend enters Mercia; ravages. escaped ravage, some districts of which could hardly have seen war since the days of Elfred. The distinction be 1 This occupation of the North is referred to in the confused narrative of William of Jumièges. See above, p. 372. 2 See above, p. 358. 3 He "soon" (sona) submitted, say the Chronicles; "sine cunctatione" says Florence. William of Malmesbury (ii. 176) makes the most of it: "Non quod in illorum mentibus genuinus ille calor, et dominorum impa tiens, refriguerit, sed quod princeps eorum Uhtredus primus exemplum dederit." ↑ See above, p. 64. 5.66 Sibi lectos auxiliarios de deditis sumens," says Florence. This seems also implied in the words of the Chronicles; " And hể þá wende syððan sudweard mid fulre fyrde." Fyrd always means the legal military array of an English district; the Danish army is always here. SWEND RAVAGES MERCIA. 395 tween the Danish and English districts was clearly marked CHAP. V. in his treatment of the two. Hitherto we have heard of no ravages, but, when he was once within the purely English border,1 his cruelties became horrible, and they were carried on in the most systematic way. He "wrought the most evil that any host might do;" he is even charged with directly ordering, as his rule of warfare,2 the ravage of fields, the burning of towns, the robbery of churches, the slaughter of men, and the rape of women. fashion he passed through the country to Oxford, which and Winhad already risen from its ashes. The town was saved by speedily submitting and giving hostages. Winchester itself did the like. Swend then marched upon London; Swend repulsed He had to en- from Lon In this Submission of Oxford chester. but here his success was very different. counter, not only a valiant resistance, but also il luck of don. a different kind.3 Many of his men, unable to find either ford or bridge, were drowned in the Thames. At last he assaulted the city. But the heart of the citizens was as strong as when they beat off both Swend and Olaf Trygg- [994.] wesson nineteen years before. Not only was King Æthelred, who probably did not add much to the vigour of the defence, within the city, but the brave Dane Thurkill was there, faithfully discharging the duties of his new 1 The Chronicles distinctly mark the geographical limit of his ravages; "And syððan hé com ofer Watlinga stræte, hi wrohton þæt mæste yfel þe ænig here don mihte." 2 Flor. Wig. in anno. "Suis edictum posuit, videlicet, ut agros vasta rent," &c. 3 William of Malmesbury (ii. 177) in the middle of his confused narrative of this reign, lavishes a vast amount of fine writing on this siege of London. The drowning of the Danes in the Thames is attributed to the valour of the citizens, with which it clearly had nothing to do. His character of the Londoners does not badly describe that of the English generally; "Laudandi prorsus viri, et quos Mars ipse collatâ non sperneret hastâ si ducem habuissent." But the Londoners had a leader, only William persistently refuses to name any honourable act of Thurkill's. ↑ Florence ventures to say, "Æthelredus. . . muros viriliter defendit,” &c. But this is only a sort of grammatical compliment. |