CHAPTER XII

Scandinavia and the conquest of Norway

While Canute was being hailed as King at Sarpsborg, Olaf was in hiding two or three days' march distant, probably in the Ring-realm. When he learned of the enemy's departure, he promptly returned to Tunsberg and tried to resume his sway. The situation was desperate, but he wished to make a last appeal to the Norsemen's feeling of loyalty to Harold's dynasty. And now another fleet sailed up the western shores, this time the King's own. Only thirteen ships steered out of Tunsberg harbour and few joined later. The season was the beginning of winter, a most unfavourable time for aggressive operations. When King Olaf had rounded the Naze, he learned that his old enemy, Erling Skjalgsson, had been levying forces in considerable numbers. Olaf managed, however, to intercept Erling's ship and overpowered the old chief after a furious struggle. "Face to face shall eagles fight; will you give quarter?" Erling is reported to havesaid when Olaf remarked on his bravery. The King was disposed to reconciliation; but during the parley one of his men stepped up and clove the rebel's head. "Unhappy man," cried the King, "there you struck Norway out of my hand!" But the overzealous housecarle was forgiven.[343]

The news of Erling's death fired the whole coast. The magnates realised at once that retreat was now impossible: they must maintain the cause of Canute. Nowhere could King Olaf land, everywhere the yeomanry called for revenge. From the south came the sons of the murdered man in vigorous pursuit; in the north Earl Hakon was mustering the Thronder-folk. Finally King Olaf was forced into one of the long inlets that cut into the western coast. Here he was trapped; flight alone was possible; but before him lay wild mountain regions, one of the wildest routes in Norway. It was midwinter, but the crossing was successful, though the sufferings and difficulties must have been great. Exile was now the only choice; the journey continued to the Swedish border and thence across that kingdom and the Baltic Sea to Russia.[344]

When Canute returned to England, Norway was apparently loyal, peaceful, and obedient. So far as we know, he never again visited the North.

The rule of Earl Hakon was brief: a year and a half at most. Of the character of his governmentwe have no information; but the good-natured, easy-going son of Earl Eric was not a man to antagonise the Norwegian aristocracy. His lack of aggressive energies was thoroughly appreciated at Winchester: it is difficult to determine whether Canute's attitude toward his nephew is to be ascribed to bad faith or lack of faith; at all events, the King seems anxiously to have sought a pretext to remove him.

Among the noble families of Thronde-land, perhaps none ranked higher than the house of the Arnungs. Arne Armodsson was a mighty chief and, while he lived, a good friend of King Olaf. Of his five surviving sons four were faithful to the King till he fell at Stiklestead. As we have noted elsewhere, the family also had connections with Olaf's enemies: Arne's daughter was the wife of Harek; his son Kalf was married to the widow of Olvi who had been executed at the King's orders for practising heathen rites; somewhat later Olvi's son Thorir was slain for treason (1027?). When Olaf left Norway, Kalf deserted him and not long afterwards made peace with Earl Hakon and became his man. The sagas attribute this step to the influence of his wife Sigrid and her brother, Thor the Dog. Sigrid is represented as a woman of the legendary type, possessed of a demon of revenge. She had lost much: a husband for his fidelity to the old gods; a son for suspected treason; another in an effort to take vengeance for his brother. To this motive was added that of ambition,which was, perhaps, that which chiefly determined Kalf's actions. Canute seems to have been anxious to secure the active support of this influential noble and probably had expressed a desire for an interview; for in the spring following the conquest (1029), Kalf prepared his ship and sailed to England.[345]

It must have been clear to Canute that continued peace in the North was not to be hoped for. That King Olaf Haroldsson, who had begun his career as a viking while he was yet a mere boy and who was still young, strong, and virile, would be content with permanent exile was unthinkable. Canute must further have realised that his power in Norway had no secure foundation: bribery could not be employed forever; heathendom was a broken reed. His representative was weak, or, as Canute is said to have put it, too "conscientious"; in a crisis he was not to be trusted. Einar Thongshaker was of doubtful loyalty and furthermore had nearly passed the limits of active life. But here was Kalf, young and influential, wealthy and strong.

Canute therefore proposed to Kalf that if Olaf should reappear in Norway he was to raise the militia and lead the host against him. He thus became, in a way, Canute's personal, though unofficial, representative in the kingdom, with a higher title in prospect:

I will then give you the earl's dignity and let you govern Norway; but my kinsman Hakon shall fareback to me; and for that he is best suited, as he is so conscientious that I scarcely believe he would do as much as hurl a single shaft against King Olaf, if they were to meet.[346]

Kalf listened joyfully; Canute's speech appealed to him; "and now he began to yearn for the earlship." An agreement was made, and soon Kalf's ship, laden with gifts, was again sailing eastward over the North Sea. Bjarne the Poet recalls these gifts and promises in a praise-lay of which we have fragments:

The lord of London made promiseOf lands ere you left the westlands(Since there has come postponement):Slight was not your distinction.[347]

A few months later the vice-royalty was vacant. Soon after Kalf's return to Norway, Hakon sailed to England; Canute had apparently sent for him. The sources are neither clear nor wholly agreed on this matter; but practically all place the journey in some relation to Hakon's betrothal to Gunhild, Canute's niece, the daughter of his sister Gunhild and a Slavic prince, Witigern. It was late in the year before Hakon was ready to return—sometime after Martinsmas (November 11th); says Florence of Worcester.[348]His ship neverreached Norway; it went down in a tempest in the Pentland Firth, probably in January, 1030.

The English sources have it that Canute in fact exiled Hakon, though formally he sent him on a personal mission; but the chroniclers are evidently in error in this matter. When these writers speak of outlawry, they mean exile from England; and Hakon was no longer an English resident. Still, it is extremely probable that Hakon had been deprived of his ancestral dignities, that he had been transferred to a new field. Two possibilities appear to fit into the situation: the Earl may have been transferred to the north-western islands or to Jomburg. The Norwegian dependencies along the Scottish shores, the Orkneys and other possessions, passed to Canute when he assumed the Norwegian crown. The fact that Hakon's ship went under on the shores of the Orkneys may indicate that he had an errand in those waters, that Canute had created a new jurisdiction for his easy-going nephew.

Still more is to be said for the alternative possibility. Canute had clearly decided to supersede Hakon in Norway. He had already, it seems, selected his illegitimate son Sweyn for the Norse governorship. The promotion of Sweyn would create a vacancy in Jomburg; perhaps Hakon was intended as Sweyn's successor at that post. At any rate, the King was planning a marriage between the Earl and a kinswoman of his own who was of the Slavic aristocracy, a marriagethat would secure for the Earl a certain support among the Wendish nobility. The prospective bride was probably in Wendland with her kinsmen at the time; at any rate she was not on the ship that went down in the Swelchie of Pentland Firth; for a few years later we find Gunhild the widow of one whose history is closely associated with Jomburg, Harold, the son of Thurkil the Tall, the Harold who in 1030 was administering Danish affairs in the name of Harthacanute. Florence tells us that in 1044, Gunhild was exiled from England with her two sons, Thurkil and Heming.[349]Two fierce brothers, it will be recalled, led the Jomvikings into England in 1009,—Thurkil and Heming. No doubt the exiled boys were Harold's sons, named in honour of their stately grandfather and his valiant brother.

Once more Norway was without a ruler. The news of Hakon's death was not long in reaching the Throndelaw, and the leaders of the various factions seem to have taken prompt measures to provide a satisfactory régime. Einar Thongshaker, mindful of Canute's earlier promises, got out his ship and repaired to England. As usual the diplomatic King was prodigal with promises and professions of friendship: Einar should have the highest place in the Norse aristocracy, a larger income, and whatever honours the King could give except the earl's authority,—that had been assigned to Sweyn, and messengers had alreadybeen dispatched to Jomburg with instructions to the young prince to assume control at Nidaros.[350]

The old warrior cannot have been pleased. It is likely that his loyalty received a violent shock. Knowing that an attempt would be made to restore Olaf to the throne, he apparently decided to assume his customary neutral attitude; at any rate, he would not fight under Kalf Arnesson's banner. So he lingered in England till the trouble was over and Sweyn was in charge of the kingdom.

Kalf did not go to England; he was busy carrying out his promises to Canute. For hardly had the merchant ships brought rumours of Earl Hakon's death, before Olaf's partisans took measures to restore their legitimate King. Some of the chiefs set out for Russia; and when midsummer came, King Olaf's banner was advancing toward the Norwegian capital. Kalf was prepared to meet him. As it was not known what route Olaf might choose to take or in what region he would set up his standard, the forces of the yeomanry were divided, the southern magnates under the leadership of the sons of Erling undertaking to meet the King if he should appear in the south-east, while the northern host under Kalf, Harek, and Thor the Dog was preparing to hold the Throndelaw.

Stiklestead (From a photograph.)

The host that gathered to oppose the returned exile was wholly Norse: no Dane or Englishman seems to have fought for Canute at Stiklestead, The only alien who is prominently mentioned inthis connection is Bishop Sigurd, a Danish ecclesiastic who had served as Hakon's court bishop and was a violent partisan of Canute. All the western coast as far as to the Arctic seems to have been represented in the army of the franklins, which is said to have numbered 14,400, four times the number that fought for the returned King.

Still, the disparity of forces was not so great after all. Most of the kingsmen were superb warriors, and all were animated with enthusiasm for Olaf's cause. It was otherwise in the host of the yeomanry; many had small desire to fight for King Canute, and among the chiefs there was an evident reluctance to lead. Kalf had, therefore, no difficulty in securing authority to command—it was almost thrust upon him.

The battle was joined at Stiklestead farm, about forty miles north-east of the modern Throndhjem. The summer night is short in the Northlands and the long morning gave opportunity for careful preparation. At noon the armies met and the battle began. For more than two hours it raged, King Olaf fighting heroically among his men. Leading an attack on the hostile standard, he came into a hand-to-hand conflict with the chiefs of the yeomanry and fell wounded in three places.[351]

Saint Olaf's day is celebrated on July 29th, and it is generally held that the battle was fought on that date. Some historians have thought that itwas really fought a month later on the last day of August. Sighvat was that year on a pilgrimage to Rome, and was consequently not an eye-witness; but his lines composed after his return are, nevertheless, one of the chief sources used by the saga-men. The poet alludes to an eclipse of the sun on the day of the battle:

They call it a great wonderThat the sun would not,Though the sky was cloudless,Shine warm upon the men.[352]

Such an eclipse, total in that very region at the hour assigned to the climax of the fight, actually occurred on August 31st. It is generally held, however, that the eclipse came to be associated with the battle later when the search for miracles had begun.

The reaction was successfully met, but without any assistance from Canute. Sweyn had prepared a large force of Danes, commanded it seems by Earl Harold, and had hastened northward; but had only reached the Wick when the battle of Stiklestead was fought. It seems strange at first thought that no English fleet was sent to assist Kalf and his associates. It is not likely that Canute depended much on the fidelity of the Northmen—he understood human nature better than most rulers of his time; nor had he any means of knowing how widely the revolt would spreadwhen the former King should issue his appeal. The key to his seeming inactivity must be sought in the international situation of the time: England was just then threatened with an invasion from the south, a danger that demanded a concentration of military resources on the shores of the Channel.

The accounts that have come down to us of the relations of England and Normandy during the latter half of Canute's reign are confused and contradictory; but a few facts are tolerably clear. Some time after the murder of Ulf (1026), Canute gave the widowed Estrid in marriage to Robert the Duke of Normandy (1027-1035).[353]It may be that on his return from Rome in the spring of 1027 Canute had a conference with Robert, who had succeeded to the ducal throne in the previous February. But whether such a meeting occurred or not, Robert had serious trouble before him in Normandy and no doubt was eager for an alliance with the great King of the North. The marriage must have taken place in 1027 or 1028; a later date seems improbable. The father of William Bastard is not famous for conjugal fidelity and may not have been strongly attracted by the Danish widow; at any rate, he soon repudiated her, perhaps to Estrid's great relief, as Duke Robert the Devil seems not to have borne his nickname in vain. The characteristics of the Duke that most impressedhis contemporaries were a ferocious disposition and rude, untamed strength.

It is likely, however, that the break with Canute is to be ascribed not so much to domestic infelicity as to new political ambitions; at the court of Rouen were the two sons of King Ethelred, Edward and Alfred, who had grown to manhood in Normandy. It apparently became Robert's ambition to place these princes on English thrones, which he could not hope to accomplish without war. An embassy was sent to Canute (perhaps in 1029), somewhat similar to the one that Canute had sent to Norway a few years before, bearing a similar errand and equipped with similar arguments. Evidently the Norman ambassadors did not receive kind treatment at the English court. Their report stirred the Duke to great wrath; he ordered a fleet to be prepared for an invasion of England.[354]Most likely that was the time, too, of the Duchess Estrid's disgrace.

The expedition sailed, but a storm sent, as William of Jumièges believes, by an overruling Providence, "who had determined that Edward should some day gain the crown without the shedding of blood," drove the fleet in a westerly direction past the peninsula of Cotentin to the shores of Jersey. Robert was disappointed, but the fleet was not prepared in vain: instead of attacking England, the Duke proceeded against Brittany and forced his enemy Duke Alain to seekpeace through the mediation of the Church at Rouen.[355]

These events must have occurred after Canute's return from the North,—in the years 1029 and 1030. No other period seems possible; it is not likely that the threatened hostilities could have been later than 1030, for in 1031 a new King, Henry I., ascended the French throne and Robert the Devil became involved in the resulting civil war.[356]

If our chronology is correct, the summer of 1030 saw the Northern Empire threatened from two directions; in Norway it took the form of revolt; in Normandy that of threatened invasion. In both instances legitimate claimants aimed to dislodge a usurper. The danger from the South was by far the greater; Olaf's harsh rule had not yet been forgotten by the Norsemen, nor had they yet experienced the rigours of alien rule. England was quiet and apparently contented; but what effect the pretensions of the Ethelings would have on the populace no one could know. We may be sure that Canute was ready for the invader; but so long as the Norwegian troubles were still unsettled, he wisely limited himself to defensive operations.

It is also related, though not by any contemporary writer, that Canute was dangerously ill at thetime of the Norman trouble, and that he at one time expressed a willingness to divide the English kingdom with the Ethelings.[357]Whether he was ill or not, such an offer does not necessitate the inference either of despair or of fear for the outcome. The offer if made was doubtless a diplomatic one, on par with the promises to the Norwegian rebels, made for the purpose of gaining time, perhaps, until Norway was once more pacified.

But fortune had not deserted the great Dane. When autumn came in 1030, the war clouds had passed and the northern skies were clear and cheerful. Canute's Norwegian rival had gone to his reward; his Norman rival was absorbed in other interests. Without question Canute was now Emperor of the North.

FOOTNOTES:[327]Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 673.[328]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 157 (Vigfusson's translation with slight changes).[329]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 134.[330]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 161.[331]Munch,Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 741.[332]Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1028.[333]Afhandlinger viede Sophus Bugges Minde, 8.[334]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 168.[335]Ibid., c. 172.[336]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170.[337]Ibid.[338]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170.[339]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 171.[340]Ibid., c. 183.[341]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 159.[342]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 171.[343]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 174-176.[344]Ibid., cc. 177 ff.[345]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183.[346]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183.[347]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii.,163.[348]Chronicon, i., 184-185.[349]Chronicon, i., 199.[350]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 194.[351]For details of the battle see Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 215-229.[352]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 142.[353]The evidence for this marriage is discussed by Freeman inNorman Conquest, i., Note ppp.[354]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 10.[355]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., cc. 10, 11.[356]This was followed by a famine in the duchy (1033) which probably induced the Duke to make his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre on the return from which he died (1035).[357]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 12.

[327]Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 673.

[328]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 157 (Vigfusson's translation with slight changes).

[329]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 134.

[330]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 161.

[331]Munch,Det norske Folks Historie, I., ii., 741.

[332]Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1028.

[333]Afhandlinger viede Sophus Bugges Minde, 8.

[334]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 168.

[335]Ibid., c. 172.

[336]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170.

[337]Ibid.

[338]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 170.

[339]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 171.

[340]Ibid., c. 183.

[341]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 159.

[342]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 171.

[343]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 174-176.

[344]Ibid., cc. 177 ff.

[345]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183.

[346]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 183.

[347]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii.,163.

[348]Chronicon, i., 184-185.

[349]Chronicon, i., 199.

[350]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 194.

[351]For details of the battle see Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, cc. 215-229.

[352]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 142.

[353]The evidence for this marriage is discussed by Freeman inNorman Conquest, i., Note ppp.

[354]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 10.

[355]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., cc. 10, 11.

[356]This was followed by a famine in the duchy (1033) which probably induced the Duke to make his pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre on the return from which he died (1035).

[357]William of Jumièges,Historia Normannorum, vi., c. 12.

When the eleventh century began its fourth decade, Canute was, with the single exception of the Emperor, the most imposing ruler in Latin Christendom. Less than twenty years earlier he had been a landless pirate striving to dislodge an ancient and honoured dynasty; now he was the lord of four important realms and the overlord of other kingdoms. Though technically Canute was counted among the kings, his position among his fellow-monarchs was truly imperial. Apparently he held in his hands the destinies of two great regions; the British Isles and the Scandinavian peninsulas. His fleet all but controlled two important seas, the North and the Baltic. He had built an empire.

It was a weak structure, founded too largely on the military and diplomatic achievements of a single man; but the King was young—in the ordinary course of nature he should have lived to rule at least thirty years longer—and with careful diplomatic effort, of which he was a master, he might be expected to accomplish great things in the way of consolidating his dominions. But insteadof thirty years, the fates had counted out less than half a dozen. In this period he was able to do almost nothing to strengthen the bonds of empire. Canute's power did not long remain at its zenith—the decline began almost immediately. In this there is nothing strange; the marvel is in the fact that such an empire was actually built.

Of Canute's many dominions, the kingdoms of Denmark, England, and Norway had fairly distinct boundaries. Lothian might be in question between England and Scotland; the Norwegian kings had claimed certain territories across the Scandinavian watershed, Jemteland, a Norse colony in Swedish possession; but otherwise the limits were tolerably definite. The fourth division, the Slavic lands on the southern rim of the Baltic, was a more indefinite area. Its limits are unknown; perhaps it should be called a sphere of influence rather than a province. There were, however, certain evident nuclei; the regions about the lower course of the Oder with Jomburg as the chief city were doubtless the more important part; in addition there was Semland in the extreme east of modern Prussia, Witland a trifle farther west where the Vistula empties into the sea; and doubtless some of the intervening territories. There are indications that Danish settlements had also been planted in the region of the modern city of Riga[358]; but as to their probable relation to Canute's empire the sources are silent.

In addition to England, Canute possessed important territories elsewhere in the British archipelago. The King of Scotland was his vassal, at least for a part of his dominions; and we have seen that at least one other Scottish king, probably from the extreme north of the island, had done homage to Canute. It has also been shown that the Norse-Irish kingdom of Dublin should, perhaps, be counted among his vassal states. As King of Norway, Canute was lord of the Shetlands and the Orkneys, perhaps also the Hebrides, and other Norse colonies on the west shores of Scotland. The Faroes were not wholly subject and the Icelandic republic still maintained its independence; but the straggling settlements in far-off Greenland seem to have acknowledged their dependence on the Norwegian crown.[359]

Any definite imperial policy Canute seems never to have developed. In his own day the various units were nominally ruled by earls or sub-kings, usually chosen from the King's own immediate family; but the real power was often in the hands of some trusted chief whom the King associated with the lord who bore the title. If time had been granted, some form of feudalism might have developed out of this arrangement; but it had few feudal characteristics in Canute's own day. It was evidently Canute's intention to continue the scheme of one king for the entire group of dominions, for at the imperial assembly at Nidaros, heplaced Harthacanute in the high-seat and gave him the administration of Denmark, which was, after all, the central kingdom. The Encomiast bears further testimony as to Canute's intention when he tells us that all England had taken an oath to accept Harthacanute as king.[360]It seems that Canute, to secure the succession to his legitimate son, had adopted the Capetian expedient of associating the heir with himself in the kingship while he was still living.

So long as obedience, especially in matters of military assistance, was duly rendered, few difficulties were likely to arise between the supreme lord of Winchester and his subordinates in Nidaros, Roeskild, or Jomburg. As the union was personal, each kingdom retained its own laws and its own system of assemblies, though this must have been true to a less extent in the Slavic possessions, as these seem to have been regarded almost as a Danish dependency. When the reign closed, Harthacanute was governing Denmark; Sweyn assisted by his mother Elgiva had charge of Norway, though at that moment the Norwegian rebels were in actual control. Canute ruled England himself, not because it was regarded as the chief or central kingdom, but more likely because itcould not with safety be entrusted to any one else.

So far as the Empire had any capital, that distinction appears to have belonged to the ancient city of Winchester. Here in the heart of Wessex was the seat of English government, the royal and imperial residence. We naturally think of Canute's household as an English court; but it is difficult to determine what racial influences were in actual control. Nor do we know what was the official language in Canute's royal garth; but the probabilities are that both Old English and Old Norse were in constant use. The housecarles who guarded the royal person and interests were in large part of Scandinavian birth or blood. The Norse poets who sang praise-lays in the royal hall at Winchester sang in their native dialects. Of the King's thegns who witnessed Canute's land grants, as a rule about one half bear Scandinavian names; there can be little doubt that most of these were resident at court, at all events those whose names appear in more than one document.

Other nationalities, too, were represented at Winchester. In the enrolment of housecarles, the King asked for strength, valour, wealth, and aristocratic birth; not, it seems, for Danish or English ancestry. The bishops that Canute sent from England to Denmark appear to have been Flemings or Lotharingians. William who in a later reign became bishop of Roeskild is said to have come to Denmark as Canute's private secretaryor chancellor; but William is neither a Northern nor a Saxon but a Norman name. And thus with Dane and Angle, Norman and Norseman, Swede and Saxon, Celt and German thronging the royal garth the court at Winchester must have borne an appearance that was distinctly non-English. As at other courts, men came and went; and the stories of the splendours at Winchester were given wide currency. The dissatisfied Norsemen who sought refuge in England found at Canute's court

greater magnificence than in any other place, both as to the number in daily attendance and as to the furnishings and equipments of the palaces that he owned and occupied.[361]

Sighvat the Scald, who had seen Rouen and visited Rome, was so deeply impressed with the glories of Canute's capital that in his praise-lay he introduced the refrain:

Canute was under heavenThe most glorious King.[362]

There seems also to have been a notable Slavic element in Canute's retinue. Attention has been called to the King's Slavic ancestry: the Slavic strain was evidently both broader and deeper than the Danish. One of the King's sisters bore a Slavic name, Santslave[363]; another sister, Gunhild,married a Slavic "king," Wyrtgeorn or Witigern,[364]who may have been the Wrytsleof who witnessed an English land grant in 1026[365]; possibly he was visiting his English kinsfolk at the time. Among the chiefs of the imperial guard was one Godescalc, the son of a Slavic prince, though Danish on the maternal side; he, too, married into the Danish royal family.[366]

The affairs of each separate kingdom were evidently directed from the national capitals and administered largely by native functionaries. At the same time, it seems to have been Canute's policy to locate Danish officials in all his principal dominions, at least in the higher offices. The appointment of Danes to places of importance in England has been noted in an earlier chapter. With the subjection of Norway, a number of Danes received official appointments in that kingdom. A leading cause of the Norwegian revolt in 1034-1035 was the prominence given to aliens in the councils of the regent Sweyn: "Danish men had in those days much authority in Norway, but that was liked ill by the men of the land."[367]On the other hand, no Englishman seems to have received official responsibilities in the Northexcept in the Church; and it may be doubted whether Canute sent many Anglian prelates to his realms in the east: the bishops that we have record of seem to have been Normans, Flemings, or clerks from the Danelaw. When a court bishop was to be found for the household of Earl Hakon, the choice fell upon Sigurd, a Dane and a violent friend of Danish rule.

Of Canute's diplomacy the sources afford us only an occasional glimpse; but the information that we have indicates that he entered into diplomatic relations with almost every ruler of importance in Northern and Western Europe. The King of Scotland became his vassal. The sagas tell of an embassy to Sweden in the years preceding the attack on Norway. During the same period Canute's cousin, the King of Poland, apparently sought his alliance against the Germans. With the Emperor he maintained the closest relations. The Norman dukes were bound to the Danish dynasty by the noble ties of marriage. On his visit to Rome the English King came into personal contact with the King of Burgundy and His Holiness the Pope. Even to distant Aquitaine did the mighty monarch send his ambassadors with messages of good-will in the form of substantial presents. In a panegyric on William the Great, the Duke of Aquitaine, Adémar of Chabannes writes that every year embassies came to the Duke's court with precious gifts from the kings of Spain, France, and Navarre, "and also fromCanute, King of the Danes and the Angles"; and the chronicler adds that the messengers brought even more costly presents away.[368]On one occasion "the King of that country [England] sent a manuscript written with letters of gold along with other gifts."[369]As this statement seems to have been written in 1028, and as the author emphasises the fact that this beautiful codex had arrived "recently," it seems probable that this embassy should be associated with Canute's pilgrimage to Rome the year before. It is not strange that Canute should wish to honour a prince like William; and it is only natural that he should wish to placate a people who had suffered so much, as the Aquitanians had, from the raids and inroads of his former associates and his allies, the vikings and the Normans.

With respect to his immediate neighbours, Canute's policy was usually absorption or close friendship. What he felt he could add to his dominions, he added; where this was not possible, he sought peace and alliance. His diplomacy must have concerned itself especially with three states: Normandy, Sweden, and the Empire. As to his relations with Sweden after the encounter at Holy River, history is silent; but war was evidentlyavoided. Canute probably regarded any effort to extend his territories eastward as an unwise move, so long as the disappointed Norwegian chiefs continued to show signs of unrest and rebellion.

With Normandy he lived in continuous peace for more than a decade, until Robert the Devil took up the cause of the exiled princes. That Canute feared a move in this direction seems evident; and as Queen Emma's influence at Rouen was probably weakened by the death of Richard the Good (1027), it was no doubt in the hope of strengthening his position at the ducal court that Canute sought the title of duchess for his widowed sister. As we have seen, his success was only temporary, and for a time war seemed imminent. But the confused situation in the French kingdom at this time proved Canute's salvation. In the civil war that followed the accession of Henry I. to the French throne in 1031, Robert of Normandy took a leading part on the King's side; and it was largely due to his efforts that Henry finally overcame his enemies.[370]Meanwhile, the sons of Ethelred and Emma had to wait several years before another opportunity appeared with sufficient promise to tempt the exiles back across the Channel. For soon after the French King was safely enthroned, famine came upon Normandy, an affliction that led Robert the Devil to think of a visit to the grave of Christ. The journey was undertaken but on the return the Duke died in Asia Minor(1035). His successor was William who finally conquered England; but William was a child and Canute had no longer any fears from that direction. A few months after Robert's death the King of England also closed his earthly career. Had Robert survived Canute, it is likely that some of the results of Hastings might have come thirty years earlier than they did.

After 1019, when Canute ascended the Danish throne, the attitude and plans of the Emperor became an important factor in Northern diplomacy. The Empire was a dangerous neighbour; the Ottos had apparently been ambitious to extend their authority throughout the entire Jutish peninsula. But during Canute's reign neither power could afford to offend the other; and the Danes were therefore able to keep continued peace along the southern borders of the kingdom. At one time, when the Emperor found himself in serious difficulties, Canute was able to drive a hard bargain and exchange his friendship for a strip of imperial territory.

It is not likely that the German kings looked with much favour on Danish expansion at the mouths of the Vistula and the Oder, but they were not in position to prevent it. In 1022, when Canute made his expedition to Wendland, the Emperor Henry II. was absent in Italy, striving, as usual, to reduce disorder.[371]Two years later he died, and Conrad of Franconia was chosen Kingof the Germans. His election was the signal for uprisings and plots almost along the whole length of the border, in Poland, in Lorraine, and in Lombardy.[372]Boleslav, King of the Poles, died in the following year (1025), but his successor continued the policy of hostility to the Germans and seems to have sought the alliance of his cousin Canute against the Teutonic foes.[373]Conrad, too, sought Canute's friendship and was able to outbid his Polish rival. It was agreed that there should be perpetual peace between Conrad and Canute, and to cement the good understanding and secure its continuance in years to come, Canute's little daughter Gunhild, who could not yet have been more than five or six years old, was betrothed to Conrad's son Henry, who was, perhaps, three years older.[374]The covenant was kept, and Henry received his bride about ten years later (1036), after the death of Canute. The bridegroom was the mighty Emperor Henry III., though he did not attain to the imperial dignity before the death of Conrad in 1039. Gunhild was crowned Queen of Germany and as a part of the ceremony received the more honoured German name Kunigund; but she never became empress, as she died in 1038.[375]

In return for his friendship, Canute received the mark of Sleswick, a strip of land between the Schley and the Eider, that Henry the Fowler hadtaken from the Danes a century before. Thus the Eider once more became the boundary of the Danish kingdom. But apart from territorial acquisitions, Canute was doubtless glad to conclude the treaty, as he was just then planning the conquest of Norway. The negotiations with Conrad were probably concluded in the year 1025 or 1026, though more likely in the former year.[376]

Perhaps at the same time the German King invited his ally to participate in his coronation as Emperor; for in 1027 Canute journeyed to Rome to witness the great event. There can be little doubt that on this occasion the pledges were renewed. But even in the absence of formal treaties there was small occasion for Conrad to make trouble for his neighbour to the north. The years following his coronation in Rome saw four serious revolts in Germany; not till 1033 was real order restored in Conrad's kingdom.

There was another power that Canute could not afford to antagonise or even ignore: no mediæval monarch could long flourish if he overlooked the needs of the Church. During the first years of his English kingship, Canute does not seem to have sought to conciliate the clergy; but after a few years he apparently adopted a new policy and strove to ally himself with the priesthood. It was as king of England that he first succeeded in forming such an alliance; in his other kingdoms, the ecclesiasticalproblem assumed a somewhat different form.

With the head of Christendom, Canute's relations seem to have been cordial throughout his entire reign. It was the papacy that made the first move to establish such relations: in 1019 Archbishop Lifing brought a message back from Rome replete with good advice which seems to have nattered the young Dane. The pilgrimage to Rome doubtless strengthened the bond; especially must the King's later efforts to see that the proper church dues were collected have pleased the Popes of that period. For the papacy had fallen low in that age: the Pope whom Canute visited was only a layman up to the day of his election to the sacred office; his successor Benedict is said to have been a mere boy when he was elevated to the papal dignity, though authorities differ as to his age. There was, therefore, little likelihood of any conflict so long as the Peter's pence were regularly transported to Rome. A new papacy was to come; but Hildebrand had not quite reached manhood when Canute went to his rest.

Canute's ecclesiastical policy in England, at least during the closing years of his reign, seems to have aimed at greater control than had been the case earlier. The friendship and active good-will of the Church could best be secured by carefully choosing the rulers of the Church. As a Christian court, the royal household at Winchester had in itsemployment a regular staff of priests, nine of whom are mentioned in the documents. Canute honoured his priests; he seems to have invited them to seats in the national assembly; he called them in to witness grants of land. Finally, he honoured several of them still further by appointing them to episcopal office: at least three of Canute's clerks received such appointments before the reign closed.[377]His successor inherited his policy and several more of Canute's chapel clerks were honoured in Edward's time. The policy was not new: even in Carolingian times the royal chapel had been used as a training school for future prelates, and there are traces of a similar practice in England long before Canute's time. But so far as the Dane was concerned, the plan was probably original: we cannot suppose him to have been very well informed as to precedents more than two centuries old.

In Norway the problem was how to christianise and organise the land, and Canute had no great part in either. The Danish Church, however, was growing in strength and developing under conditions that might produce great difficulties: it was the daughter of the German Church; it was governed by an alien prelate.

The primacy of the Northern churches belonged to the see of Bremen, the church from which the earliest missionaries had gone forth into Denmark and Sweden. While this primacy was in a wayrecognised, in practice, the Northern kings in the early years of the eleventh century paid small regard to the claims of the archbishop. The two Olafs depended mainly on England and the neighbouring parts of the Continent for priests and prelates; and Canute, as King of England, seems to have planned to make the Danish Church, too, dependent on the see of Canterbury. At this time Unwan was Archbishop of Bremen; for sixteen years he ruled his province with a resolute hand and for the most part with strength and wisdom.

Unwan was displeased when he learned that Canute was sending bishops from England to Denmark; we have already seen how he managed to make a prisoner and even a partisan of Gerbrand, who, like Unwan himself, was doubtless a German. This must have been in 1022 or 1023, more likely in the former year. Aided by Gerbrand, who acted as mediator, Unwan was able to make Canute recognise his primacy. Adam of Bremen mentions great gifts that Unwan sent to Canute,[378]but these were probably not the determining consideration. In 1022, Canute was fighting the Slavs and adding territory that would naturally belong to the mission fields of Bremen, and it would hardly be wise to make an enemy of one whose historic rights had been admitted by earlier Danish kings. Till Unwan's death in 1029, the King and the Archbishop were fast friends. Unwan served as mediator between Canute andthe Emperor when the alliance was formed in 1025 (?)[379]and otherwise served the Danish King. It seems probable that a personal acquaintance was formed, for Adam tells us that Unwan rebuilt Hamburg and spent considerable time there, "whither he also invited the very glorious King Canute ... to confer with him."[380]

Back to Index Next