the tributary king of Mercia, and most of the prelates and great men of the realm; yet their deliberations were but of little effec for the Danes, who swarmed over the island like devouring locusts, plundered the city twice within the ensuing twenty years, and massacred numbers of its inhabitants. The first time of their obtaining possession was in 839, when they committed, says Rapin, unheard-of cruelties, sacking the city, and murdering most of the inhabitants;'* the next was in 851, or 852, when having landed from a fleet of 350 sail,† they pillaged and laid waste by fire, both London and Canterbury. In the same year, however, their whole army was routed at Okely, in Surrey, after a most sanguinary and bloody conflict, in which but very few Danes escaped the sword. This victory freed the country from its ravagers till about 860, when the Danes renewed their invasions, and being continually reinforced by fresh bodies from beyond sea, they were enabled to obtain a permanent settlement in England in the reign of Ethelred the First; though not till they had fought many desperate battles with that sovereign, and with the great Alfred his brother. In the year 872, Alfred having recently succeeded to the crown, was constrained to make a treaty with the Danes, who, retiring to London, which they had again taken in the late wars, made it a place of arms, and garrisoned it. During the following ten or twelve years, all the resources of Alfred's genius were brought into exertion by Danish perfidy and rapine; yet, after many struggles, and various successes, he at length obtained a decided superiority. This was principally accomplished by the creation of a fleet, with which he frequently chased the foe from his shores, or overwhelmed them in the deep. To this measure of the truest policy, he united the further one of securing the interior of the kingdom, by building or repairing castles and walled towns; and knowing the importance of London, both from its extent and situation, he forced it to surrender, after a short siege, conducted with great bravery, about the year 884. Immediately afterwards, he repaired and strengthened the walled fortifications, and after erecting some additional buildings, conferred the government of the city, with extraordinary powers, on his son-in-law, Ethelred, whom he at the same time made earl of Mercia, in hopes that it would afford him a secure retreat against both his foreign and domestic enemies. The Danes, not yet giving up their lucrative hopes of subduing England, landed in a considerable body, under their general Hæsten, on the Essex shore, below Tilbury, within the mouth of the Thames; and erected a strong castle at Beamfleote (now South Bemfleet, near the isle of Canvey, in Essex); from which Hist. of Eng. 1. 84. + Asser. and Sax. Ann. page 255: Henry of Huntingdon says but 250 sail. p. 348. Asser. Flor. Wor. they made frequent excursions, committing great ravages in the neighbouring country. This roused the vigilant Alfred, who dispatched against them his son-in law Ethelred, governor of London, with such expedition, and an army joined by a select body of citizens, that they came up with the enemy before they had been able to make any considerable advance; engaged, and routed them; and laying siege to their castle, took it and a very rich booty therein, together with the wife and sons of Hæsten, who were brought prisoners to London. In this battle, the citizens signalized themselves with the greatest intrepidity.* London was now fast rising in maritime and political consequence; for we find that king Athelstan, who succeeded Edward the Elder in 925, had a palace in London; though the principal residence of the Saxon monarchs was still at Winchester. Maitland says, 'The city about this time, being recovered from its late sufferings by the Danes, seems to have been in as flourishing a condition as any other place in the kingdom; for, by a law of Athelstan's, which appointed a certain number of coiners to each of the principal cities of England, no less than eight were allowed to London, which was considerably more than was allotted to any other town, Canterbury excepted; for which the same number was appointed.'t In the year 945, king Edmund held a wittenagemot, or parliament, in this city; wherein divers laws were passed, chiefly relating to ecclesiastical affairs. In 961, a very malignant fever raged in London, which carried off a great number of people; and, in the same year, St. Paul's cathedral was consumed by fire. Land then sold at one shilling per acre. In the fourth year of king Ethelred, A. D. 982, this city was almost wholly destroyed by fire. In this disastrous reign, the city was several times assaulted by the Danes, but the assailants were always repulsed by the determined bravery of the inhabitants. The Danes returning again in 992, Ethelred fitted out a numerous fleet at London, to prevent their landing, and gave the command thereof to the ealdermen Ealfrick and Thorod, and the bishops Elstane and Escwige; who, being almost come up with the enemy's fleet, the treacherous Ealfrick, by a private signal cautioned them to provide for their security; and in the night preceding the intended engagement, deserted with his ship, and perfidiously joined the enemy, whereby they had an opportunity of escaping. The desertion of Ealfrick was no sooner known than a signal was given to pursue; and coming up with the rear of the Danes, one of their ships was taken. And after the return of their fleet, a squadron of Londoners fell in with the enemy' Chron. Sax. A. D. 894. Brompt. Chron. A. D. 945. Brompt. Chron. Leg. Adel. East-Anglian squadron, which they bravely attacked; and after a desperate engagement, wherein some thousands were killed, took the ship of the infamous traitor Ealfrick, himself narrowly escaping.* Two years after, Anlaf and Sweyn, kings of Norway and Denmark, arrived before the city with a fleet of ninety-four ships, and attacked the same with an intent to sack and burn it. But the citizens, in its defence, behaving with the greatest intrepidity, the enemy, after many sharp and desperate assaults, meeting with no success, raised the siege; but, to revenge themselves for the great loss they had sustained, they ravaged the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire, committing the most unheardof cruelties, and destroying all with fire and sword.+ In the year 1000 an ox was sold at two shillings and six-pence; a cow at two shillings; a sheep at one shilling; and a swine at eightpence. Ethelred, with a policy as unwise as cowardly, sought to purchase the departure of the Danes, by presenting them with large sums of money; and for this purpose, he established that oppressive rate, called Dane-gelt. This tax appears to have been imposed in a national council, or wittenagemot, assembled at London,§ where Ethelred usually resided. Though this purchase cost the nation dear, yet the people imagined themselves happy, in having got rid of their cruel and merciless enemies; as they expected and hoped soon to repair by peace the damage sustained by war. But this dear-bought peace proved of no long duration; for Ethelred, by a perfidious act of cruelty, brought upon himself and the nation the resentment of Sweyn, king of Denmark, a resentment that was but too well justified; for that barbarous prince caused all the Danes in England to be massacred, without distinction of age or sex; among whom was the princess Gunilda, Sweyn's sister, with her hus * Chron. Sax. + Ibid. Chron. Preci, A. D. 1000. For the payment of the Danegelt, every hide of land in the kingdom was taxed twelve-pence yearly; and as the whole number of hides was computed to be 243,600, the produce of the tax, at one shilling, was 12,100 Saxon pounds; which was equal in quantity of silver to about 36,5401. sterling, and equivalent in efficiency to about 400,0001. according to the present value of money. At different periods, Dane-gelt was raised from one up to seven shillings the hide of land, according to the exigencies of the government, or rather, to the rapacity or generosity of the reigning prince. While the Danish visits were annually repeated, the Saxon sovereign could put little into his coffers of the surplus of the tax, as the whole, and sometimes more, was expended in fighting or bribing the invaders; but when the government of the country became Danish, Dane-gelt became one of the principal sources of revenue to the crown. Edward the Confessor remitted it wholly, but it was levied again under William the Norman and William Rufus; it was once more remitted by Henry the First, and at length finally, by king Stephen, seventy years after the Conquest.-Henry's History of Great Britain, Vol. I. and Rapin's Hist. Vol. I p. 119, note. band Palingus, who, soon after their arrival in this kingdom, had embraced the Christian faith, and became guarantees or hostages for the observation of the peace lately concluded with their nation.* Sweyn, king of Denmark, in the fell spirit of revenge for the death of his sister Gunilda, who was among the number put to death under the cruel orders of Ethelred, carried fire and desola tion for three successive years through almost every part of the island; and when, at length, he had partly satiated his vengeance, and returned to Denmark, the work of destruction was still continued by fresh bodies of his countrymen. The calamities spread through the land by these sanguinary invaders, were augmented by domestic treason, and by the weakness of Ethelred, who, having lost nearly the whole of his dominions except London, once more resorted to the measure of bribing the Danes to quit the kingdom; and this they agreed to do, on receiving the enormous sum, at that period, of 48,0001. In the same year (1013), Sweyn entered the river Humber with a powerful fleet, and having overrun all the northern and midland parts of the country, invested London, where the cowardly Ethelred had taken refuge. The citizens bravely defended themselves; and Sweyn being ill-provided with necessaries for a long siege, drew off into Wessex, to pursue his accustomed ravages. Meeting with no opposition, he marched a second time towards London, and whilst making preparations to re-invest it with additional vigour, he was informed, that Ethelred after having suffered his realm to be desolated by the retaliation of the Danes, had retired to Normandy, leaving his capital city and distressed country to the insatiate barbarity of the conquerors. London, thus deserted, was compelled to open her portals to her bitterest enemies; and, with her, England submitted to the Danish yoke; and, shortly afterwards, Sweyn was proclaimed king of England, no one daring to dispute his assumption to that dignity. On the death of Sweyn, and the accession of Canute, his son, in the following year (1014), the English resolved to attempt to free themselves from bondage; and London, as it had been the last to submit, so also was it among the first to throw off the yoke of servitude. Ethelred was recalled, and Canute was compelled in his turn to quit the kingdom; though, to this step, he was partly induced by events in Denmark, where Harold, his younger brother, having been left regent, had possessed himself of the throne. Ethelred still continued to disregard the interests of his sub 'ects, and the general murmur emboldened Canute to hasten his preparations for a new invasion. Landing at Sandwich in 1016, that warlike chief found his conquests facilitated by the treachery Chron. Sax of the duke of Mercia, who deserted to the Danes with a large force and all the address of prince Edmund was unable to retrieve the disorders generated by the imbecility of Ethelred, his father, who kept himself shut up in London; and dying in a short time, was succeeded by the gallant Edmund, who was crowned in London amidst the fervent acclamations of the citizens.* Though his rival Canute had been crowned at Southampton, he soon taught that monarch to experience that the golden prize was not easily to be obtained; for Edmund, immediately on his accession, marched into the western provinces to consolidate the scattered remains of his royal inheritance. In his absence, Canute laid siege to the capital; which, by its intrepidity, baffled all his endeavours to reduce it, till Edmund, with the force he had collected, flew to its relief. Canute having thus lost his aim, he used many stratagems to surprize the enemy, or draw him off from London; and this last project succeeding, he went and laid siege a second time to the city. It was probably on this occasion, that Canute, after having fitted out a considerable fleet to reduce London, the chief support of his competitor, found, on his arrival, that he could not pass the bridge, the citizens having strongly fortified it; he therefore set about cutting a canal through the marshes, on the south side of the river Thames, that he might invest the city on all sides, and by preventing supplies from entering, to facilitate its reduction, By a diligent search of several days, Mr. Maitland conceived he discovered the vestiges and length of this artificial water-course; its 'outflux from the river Thames was where the great wet dock below Rotherhithe is situate; whence, running due west by the Seven-houses in Rotherhithe-fields, it continues its course by a gentle winding to the drain windmill; and with a west-north-west course, passing St. Thomas à Waterings by an easy turning, it crosses the Deptford road a little to the southeast of the Lock Hospital, at the lower end of Kent Street; and, proceeding to Newington Butts, intersects the road a little south of the turnpike; whence, continuing its course by the Black Prince in Kennington, it runs west and by south through the Spring Garden at Vauxhall, to it influx into the Thames at the lower end of Chelsea reach.' Mr. Maitland enquired of a carpenter of the name of Webster, who was employed in making the great wet dock at Rotherhithe in 1694, and who remembered that in the course of that work, a considerable body of faggots and stakes were discovered, which Mr. Maitland considers as part of the works intended to strengthen the banks of the canal. Brayley's London, i. 109.-This is the first coronation ceremony re corded to have been performed in the metropolis. Rapin's History.. 123. |