CHAPTER XIV

The Vik Stone (Illustrates the transition from heathendom to Christianity; shows a mixture of elements, the serpent and the cross.)—The Ramsund Rock (Representations of scenes from the Sigfried Saga.)

The four decades that the Norns allotted to Canute (995?-1035) are a notable period in the history of Northern literature: it was the grand age of Old Norse poetry. The advance of Christianity had made the myths impossible as poetic materials, but new themes were found in the deeds and virtues of the old Teutonic heroes and of the mighty war lords of the viking age. The saga materials of the heroic age, the stories of Helgi and Sigrun, of Sigurd and Brunhild, of Gudrun's grief and Attila's fury, had long been treasured by the Northern peoples. Just when each individual tale was cast into the form that has come down to us is impossible to say; the probabilities are, however, that a considerable number of the heroic lays were composed in the age of Canute.

When we come to the court poetry we are on firmer ground: unlike the other poems, the dirges and praise-lays are not anonymous and their dates can be determined with some definiteness. The scald found the age great with possibilities. Those were the days of Hakon and Erik, of Sweyn andCanute, of Erling and Thurkil,—men who typified in their warlike activities the deified valour of the old faith. It was also a period of famous battles: Swald, Ringmere, Clontarf, Ashington, and Stiklestead, to mention only the more prominent. About twenty scalds are known to have sung at the courts of the viking princes, but the compositions of some of them have been wholly lost or exist in mere fragments only. In the reign of Canute three poets stood especially high in the royal favour: Thorarin Praise-tongue, Ottar the Swart, and Sighvat the Scald.

The three were all Icelanders and were of a roving disposition as the scalds usually were. They all visited Canute's court, presumably at Winchester. Sighvat came to England on the return from a trading journey to Rouen in 1027, it seems, just after the King's return from his Roman pilgrimage, which the poet alludes to in his Stretch Song. Ottar seems to have visited Winchester the same year: his poem, the Canute's Praise, closes with a reference to the Holy River campaign in 1026. Thorarin Praise-tongue had his opportunity to flatter the King a year or two later, most likely in 1029: his Stretch Song deals with the conquest of Norway in 1028.

Canute appears to have attached considerable importance to the literary activities of these Icelanders. When he learned that Thorarin had composed a short poem on himself, he became very angry and ordered him to have a complete layready for the following day; otherwise he should hang for his presumption in composing a short poem on King Canute. Thorarin added a refrain and eked the poem out with a few additional stanzas. The refrain, "Canute guards the land as the lord of Greekland [God] the kingdom of heaven," evidently pleased the King. The poet was forgiven and the poem rewarded with fifty marks of silver. Thorarin's poem came to be known as the Head Ransom.[421]

It is said that when Ottar came to the King's hall he asked permission to recite a poem, which the King granted.

And the poem was delivered to a great gathering at the next day's moot, and the King praised it, and took a Russian cap off his head, broidered with gold and with gold knobs to it, and bade the chamberlain fill it with silver and give it to the poet. He did so and reached it over men's shoulders, for there was a crowd, and the heaped-up silver tumbled out of the hood on the moot-stage. He was going to pick it up, but the King told him to let it be. "The poor shall have it, thou shaft not lose by it."[422]

Of the court poets of the time Sighvat was easily the chief. Canute recognised his importance and was anxious to enroll him among his henchmen. But Sighvat, who had already sworn fidelity to King Olaf, excused himself with theremark that one lord at a time was sufficient. Canute did not press the matter but permitted the poet to depart with a golden arm-ring as the reward for his poem, the Stretch Song, whose ringing refrain, "Canute is the mightiest King under heaven," is high praise from one who had travelled so widely and had probably visited all the more important courts in northern and western Europe.

Did Canute also patronise Anglo-Saxon literature? We do not know, but the chances are that he did not, as during his reign very little was produced in the Old English idiom that could possibly appeal to him. The Anglo-Saxon spirit was crushed; and out of the consciousness of failure and humiliation can come no inspiration for literary effort. Even that fierce patriot, Archbishop Wulfstan, accepted the conquest and came down from York to assist at the dedication of the church at Ashington where Saxon rule had perished. After the appearance of the splendid poem that tells the story of Byrhtnoth's death at Maldon in 991, the voice of Anglo-Saxon poetry is almost silent for nearly two centuries. Early in the eleventh century Saxon prose, too, entered upon its decline. Alfric's best work was done before the close of the tenth century; he seems to have written his last important work, a pastoral letter, just before the accession of Canute to the English throne.[423]In the English cloisters the monks were still at work and valuable manuscriptswere produced; but Canute can hardly have taken much interest in grammars, glossaries, Biblical paraphrases, and pastoral letters. It seems evident that he did nothing to encourage the monastic annalist: the entries for Canute's reign in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicleare extremely meagre and disappointing; it seems probable that they were not written till after the King's death. The disappearance of Old English literature, both prose and poetic, dates from a time more than half a century earlier than the Norman conquest,—from the time when the Danish hosts filled the homes of Wessex with gloom and horror. The coming of the Normans did not put an end to literary production in the speech of the conquered English: it prevented its revival.

It is not to be inferred, however, from this lack of literary originality and productiveness, that the age had lost all appreciation of the poet's art. Two of the greatest monuments of Old English culture, the so-called Vercelli Book and the Exeter Codex, were apparently produced during the earlier decades of the eleventh century, possibly as late as the accession of Canute. In these manuscripts the Anglo-Saxon scribes have preserved to us some of the earliest literary productions of the English race. The Vercelli Book takes us back in the writings of Cynewulf to the eighth century; the Exeter manuscript looks back even farther and introduces us to the singers of heathen or semi-heathen times. Canute may not have sharedthe enthusiasm of the scribes for the Old English past; but he seems to have appreciated the work of a skilled copyist. In those days the exchange of presents was an essential part of diplomatic negotiations; and good manuscripts made very acceptable presents. Mention has already been made of the beautiful codex, written with golden letters, that made a part of the gift that Canute is said to have sent to Duke William of Aquitaine. As the Duke was renowned as a patron of the literary art, there can be no doubt that the present was properly appreciated. It will be remembered that Canute's gift to the church at Cologne was also in the form of manuscripts.

One of the most important contributions of the West to Northern civilisation was the written book. Writing was not a new art in the Scandinavian lands; but neither the symbols nor the materials in use were such as did service in the Christian lands. The men of the North wrote on wood and stone; they used characters that had to be chiseled into the tablet to be inscribed. These symbols were called runes; and graven into granite the runic inscriptions have defied the gnawing tooth of time. The large number of runic monuments that have come down to us would indicate that the art of writing was widely known, though it also seems likely that it was the peculiar possession of the "rune-masters," men of some education who knew the runes and were skilled in the art of inscribing.

The runes were of divine origin and were taught mankind by Woden himself. The term "run," which probably means "secret," reveals the attitude of the Germanic mind toward this ancient alphabet: thoughts were hidden in the graven lines, but that was not all: the characters were invested with magical properties. Graven on the sword hilt they were runes of victory; on the back of the hand, runes of love; on the palm, runes of help; the sailor cut sea runes into the rudder blade; the leech traced runes on "the bark and on the stock of a tree whose branches lean eastward."[424]There were also ale runes, speech runes, and mind runes, which "thou shalt know if thou wilt be wiser than all other men."[425]

The runic alphabet was originally a common Germanic possession; but among the Scandinavian peoples alone did its use become extensive and long-continued. Some of the Northern inscriptions are of a very early date, the earliest going back, perhaps, to the fourth century or possibly to the third.[426]They are of necessity terse and brief; but to the student of culture and civilisation they give some valuable information. These runes reveal a time when all the Northern tribes spoke the same language and were one people, though clearly not organised into a single state.[427]The inscriptions also show the rise of dialects andthe development of these into idioms, though this is a growth of the later centuries. Doubtless the changes in language bear some relation to a parallel political development, a grouping of tribes into states, until in the tenth century three dynasties claimed kingship in the North. In that century the monuments begin to have great value for narrative history. Members of the Knytling dynasty are mentioned on several important stones, as earlier pages of this volume have shown.

The runes that were in use in the tenth and eleventh centuries are the younger series, an alphabet of sixteen characters selected and developed from the older series of twenty-four. As the number of elementary sounds in the language was greater than the number of letters, several of the runes were used to represent more than one sound, a fact that has made reading and interpretation somewhat difficult. The runes were used especially for monumental purposes: a large number of the many hundred extant mediæval inscriptions (Sweden alone has more than fifteen hundred)[428]are epitaphs recording the death of some friend or kinsman. But the runes were also found useful for other purposes. They were used in making calendars; articles of value very often bore the owner's name in runic characters; in early Christian times we find runic characters traced on church bells and baptismal fonts; in later centuries attempts were even made to write books in the runic alphabet.Wherever Northmen settled in the middle ages, inscriptions of this type are still to be found; some of the most interesting Scandinavian monuments were raised on the British Isles; even classic Piræus once had its runic inscription.

Painted gable from Urnes Church (Norse-Irish ornamentation)—Carved pillar from Urnes Church (Norse-Irish ornamentation)

Sometimes the scribe did more than chisel the letters. Like the Christian monk who illumined his manuscript with elaborate initials and more or less successful miniatures, the rune-master would also try his hand at ornamentation. In the earlier middle ages, Northern art, if the term may be used, was usually a barbaric representation of animal forms, real and imaginary, the serpent and the dragon being favourite subjects. But in the western colonies the vikings were introduced to a new form of ornamentation, the Celtic style, which was based on the curving line or a combination of curved interlocking lines that seemed not to have been drawn in accordance with any law of regularity or symmetry, but traced sinuously in and out as the fancy of the artist might direct.[429]This form was adopted by the Norse colonists and soon found its way to the mother lands. In the North it suffered an important modification: the Norse artists added an element of their own; the old motives were not entirely abandoned for the winding body of the serpent or the dragon readily fitted into the new combinations. It was this modified form of Irish ornamentation that ruled among the Northmen in the days of Canuteand later. It appears wherever decoration was desired: on runic monuments, on articles of personal adornment, and even on the painted walls of the early Scandinavian churches.

While these early efforts at pictorial representation are frequently associated with runic inscriptions and incidental to them, such is not always the case. The Northern countries possess a number of "pictured rocks," on which the picture is the chief and often the only matter of importance. As many of these belong to the heathen period, the themes are often mythological or suggestive of warfare: the coming of the fallen warrior to Walhalla on the Tjängvide Stone[430]; viking ships on the Stenkyrka Stone. The comparatively new sport of hawking is represented on a stone at Alstad in Southern Norway.[431]Themes from the heroic age seem to have attained an early popularity: especially do we find frequent pictorial allusions to the story of Wayland Smith and the adventures of the wonderful Sigfried. With Christianity came a wealth of new subjects that could be used in artistic efforts. One of Canute's contemporaries, the Norwegian woman Gunvor, raised (about 1050) a memorial rock bearing a series of pictures from the story of Christ's nativity.[432]The work rarely shows much originalityon the part of the artist, though frequently a surprising skill is displayed—surprising when the time and materials are taken into consideration. Many of the pictures are clearly copied from Western, perhaps Anglo-Saxon originals; in some instances the workman was evidently reproducing the embroidered figures on imported tapestries. The Sigfried pictures on the Ramsund rock in Southern Sweden seem to be of this type.[433]But even though the art of the viking age does not testify to much creative imagination, it serves to prove that the men whom we think of as mere pirates were not wholly wanting in æsthetic sense.

The Hunnestad Stone—The Alstad Stone

Evidence of a cultivated taste is also seen in the large number of rich and elegant articles of personal adornment in the form of rings, necklaces, brooches, and the like that have come to light from time to time. It was long thought that these all represented plunder or purchase from other lands; but recent opinion seems inclined to regard the larger part of them as articles of native manufacture.[434]If this be correct, they reveal considerable skill in the finer industrial arts and also suggest that certain forms of industry must have formed an important factor in the economic life of the people.

The archæologist has unearthed many varieties of jewelry, but the written sources tell chieflyof rings, doubtless because of their ancient use for monetary purposes. Even in the days of Canute, the ring, especially the large arm-ring, was commonly used in rewarding the kingsmen. Saint Olaf once stroked the arm of a henchman above the elbow to determine whether Canute had bribed him.[435]Canute's officials procured the allegiance of Björn, Saint Olaf's spokesman, for English silver and two heavy gold rings.[436]Canute's ring gift to Sighvat has been noted elsewhere; Bersi, the poet's companion, received "a mark or more and a keen sword."[437]

Northern industrial art of the later heathen age found its best and highest expression in the shipbuilder's trade. Merchant ships as well as ships for warfare were built, but the builder's pride was the ship that the King sailed when he sought the enemy. The ships that bore Canute's warriors to England were no doubt mainly of the so-called long ship type, a form that was developed during the second half of the tenth century. The long ship was built on the same general plan as the dragon ship of the century before, of which type we have a remarkably well-preserved example in the ship that was found in a burial-mound at Gokstad near Sandefjord in Southern Norway. The Gokstad ship is nearly eighty feet long from stem to stern, and a little less than one fourth as wide. The builders of the long ship increased the lengthof the dragon, but did not increase the width proportionally. Oak timbers and iron rivets were the materials used. It is likely that by the close of the viking age the shipbuilder's art was as highly developed in the North as anywhere else in Christian Europe.

The long ship was built with pointed prow and stern. The gunwales generally ran parallel to the water line, but in the prow the timbers curved sharply upward to join the stern, which projected above the body of the ship and frequently terminated in some carved image like those described by the Encomiast.[438]The stern was built in much the same fashion. The ribs were supported and held in place by strong cross-beams, which also served as supports for the deck. In the fore-end the deck was high; here stood the stem-men, the best warriors on board. From a similarly raised deck in the stern, the chief directed the movements of the ship and the men when battle was joined. But in the middle portion of the ship the deck was low; here the oarsmen sat, each on a chest containing his clothes and other belongings. The number of pairs of oars would usually indicate the size of the ship; fifteen or twenty pairs were the rule; but larger ships were sometimes built: theLong Serpenthad thirty-four pairs. A rudder or "steering board" was fastened to the after-part of the vessel, on the side that has since been known as starboard.

The long ship was also equipped with a mast and a sail. The mast was planted amidships, but in such a way that it could be lowered when not in use. The sails were generally made of coarse woollen stuff; they often bore stripes, blue, red, or green, and such striped sails were counted highly ornamental. The ship was painted and the gunwales frequently hung with shields, alternately yellow and red. An awning was provided to protect the vessel from rain and sunshine.[439]The average long ship had, perhaps, eighty or ninety men on board, the oarsmen included. The number varied, of course, with the size of the ship: TheLong Serpentis said to have had a crew of three hundred men.[440]

Anglo-Saxon Table Scene (From a manuscript in the British Museum reproduced in Norges Historie, i., ii.)—Model of The Gokstad Ship

In culture the later viking age was emphatically one of transition. The movement that transformed Northern into European civilisation culminated in the reign of Canute and was no doubt given great impetus by the fact of his imperial authorityin the Christian West. The seeds of the new culture had been gathered long before and in many lands: the German, the Frank, the Celt, and the Saxon had all contributed to the new fruit-age. But in the North as elsewhere in the middle ages, the mightiest of all the transforming forces was the mediæval Church. In one sense the poetic activities of the tenth century had made the transition to Christian worship easier than in other lands: the author of the Sibyl's Prophecy had, unintentionally, no doubt, bridged the gap between the contending faiths. The intelligent Northmen found in the teachings of Christianity conceptions very similar to those in the great poem, only in a different historical setting. In the outward symbolism, too, the Northman found similarities that made the step easier: he had already learned to pour water over the new-born infant; in the cross of Christ he may have seen a modification of Thor's hammer; the Christian tree of life reminded him of the ash Yggdrasil that symbolised the unity of the worlds; the Yule festival of midwinter tide was readily identified with the Christian celebration of the Nativity on December 25th. Too much importance must not be assigned to these considerations, but they doubtless had their effect.

But even the Church was not able to make its conquest of the North complete. The Scandinavian peoples never entirely severed their connection with the historic past. The bridge that was built by the Sibyl's Prophecy was never demolished.The poet purged the old mythology of much that was revolting and absurd and thus made the old divinities and the old cosmic ideas attractive and more easily acceptable. Even when the new cult became compulsory and even fashionable, it was hard for the Northman to desert his gods. Hallfred Troublousscald, who flourished in the years of Canute's childhood, gives expression to this feeling in one of his poems:

'Tis heavy to cherish hatredFor Frigg's divine husbandNow that Christ has our worship,For the scald delighted in Woden.

But Olaf Trygvesson has commanded that the old faith be renounced and men have obeyed, though unwillingly:

Cast to the winds all men haveThe kindred of mighty Woden;Forced to renounce Njord's childrenI kneel to Christ in worship.

After several verses of regretful and half-hearted renunciation the scald continues:

I will call upon Christ with love words(I can bear the Son's wrath no longer;He rules the earth in glory)And God the Father in prayer.[441]

The Lundagård Stone (Shows types of ornamentation in Canute's day.)

The gods continued to live in the popular imagination as great heroic figures that had flourishedin the earlier ages of the race. Much that belonged to the worship of the Anses was carried over into the Christian life. The Scandinavian Christians on the Isle of Man evidently found nothing incongruous in placing heathen ornamentations on the cross of Christ. Sometimes the attributes of the ancestral divinities were transferred to the Christian saints. The red beard with which Christian artists soon provided the strong and virile Saint Olaf was probably suggested by the flaming beard of the hammering Thor.

Runic characters

FOOTNOTES:[407]See Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 251-252.[408]Birca is mentioned in an early life of Saint Ansgar (ca.850); Langebek,Script. Rer. Danic., i., 444. Heathby and Skiringshall are alluded to in King Alfred'sOrosius(Journeys of Ottar and Wulfstan).[409]Bugge,Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel, 4-5.[410]Ibid.The great Bay (Folden Bay) is the modern Christiania Firth.[411]On the commerce of the viking age see Montelius.Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 266 ff.; Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 52-53;Norges Historie, I., ii., 223 ff. (Bugge).[412]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 239-241: "The Lay of Righ."[413]Embroidered with colours.[414]"The Lay of Righ," II., 114-122.[415]Norges Historie, I., ii., 56-60.[416]For brief descriptions of the Northern halls in the viking age see Bugge,Vikingerne, ii., 156-157; Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 282-283; Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 15-16.[417]Alfric'sLives, ii., 404.[418]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 130.[419]Bugge,Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes Kultur, 65.[420]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 193.[421]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 172.[422]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 151.[423]Cambridge History of English Literature, i., 127.[424]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 40-41.[425]Ibid., 41.[426]von Friesen,Om runskriftens härkomst, 10-12.[427]Bugge,Vikingerne, i., 8.[428]Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 355.[429]Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 58.[430]The Tjängvide Stone probably dates from about the year 900. The warrior represented may be Woden on his eight-footed horse. Bugge,Vesterlandenes Indflydelse, 323.[431]Bugge,Vikingerne, ii., 234.[432]Norges Historie, I., ii., 322, 323.[433]Schück,Studier i nordisk Litteratur- och Religions-historia, i., 203 ff.[434]Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 296.[435]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 165.[436]Ibid., c. 185.[437]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 133.[438]Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 4.[439]For brief descriptions of Northern ships of the viking age, seeDanmarks Riges Historie, i., 256-257, 318-322; Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 260-264.[440]English writers seem inclined to estimate a ship's crew at not more than 50 or 60 on the authority of Heremannus, who wrote the "Miracles of Saint Edmund" toward the close of the eleventh century (Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, i., 72, 92). But on the question of viking ships and crews his statements cannot be used as evidence: his ships are merchant ships, not viking ships, and they are not Scandinavian. It should also be noted that one of the ships (c. 50) in addition to "nearly 60" passengers carried 36 beasts (heads of cattle?) and 16 horses heavily laden with merchandise.[441]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 96-97.

[407]See Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 251-252.

[408]Birca is mentioned in an early life of Saint Ansgar (ca.850); Langebek,Script. Rer. Danic., i., 444. Heathby and Skiringshall are alluded to in King Alfred'sOrosius(Journeys of Ottar and Wulfstan).

[409]Bugge,Studier over de norske Byers Selvstyre og Handel, 4-5.

[410]Ibid.The great Bay (Folden Bay) is the modern Christiania Firth.

[411]On the commerce of the viking age see Montelius.Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 266 ff.; Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 52-53;Norges Historie, I., ii., 223 ff. (Bugge).

[412]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 239-241: "The Lay of Righ."

[413]Embroidered with colours.

[414]"The Lay of Righ," II., 114-122.

[415]Norges Historie, I., ii., 56-60.

[416]For brief descriptions of the Northern halls in the viking age see Bugge,Vikingerne, ii., 156-157; Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 282-283; Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 15-16.

[417]Alfric'sLives, ii., 404.

[418]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 130.

[419]Bugge,Vesterlandenes Indflydelse paa Nordboernes Kultur, 65.

[420]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 193.

[421]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 172.

[422]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 151.

[423]Cambridge History of English Literature, i., 127.

[424]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, i., 40-41.

[425]Ibid., 41.

[426]von Friesen,Om runskriftens härkomst, 10-12.

[427]Bugge,Vikingerne, i., 8.

[428]Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 355.

[429]Olrik,Nordisk Aandsliv, 58.

[430]The Tjängvide Stone probably dates from about the year 900. The warrior represented may be Woden on his eight-footed horse. Bugge,Vesterlandenes Indflydelse, 323.

[431]Bugge,Vikingerne, ii., 234.

[432]Norges Historie, I., ii., 322, 323.

[433]Schück,Studier i nordisk Litteratur- och Religions-historia, i., 203 ff.

[434]Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 296.

[435]Snorre,Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 165.

[436]Ibid., c. 185.

[437]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 133.

[438]Encomium Emmæ, i., c. 4.

[439]For brief descriptions of Northern ships of the viking age, seeDanmarks Riges Historie, i., 256-257, 318-322; Montelius,Kulturgeschichte Schwedens, 260-264.

[440]English writers seem inclined to estimate a ship's crew at not more than 50 or 60 on the authority of Heremannus, who wrote the "Miracles of Saint Edmund" toward the close of the eleventh century (Memorials of Saint Edmund's Abbey, i., 72, 92). But on the question of viking ships and crews his statements cannot be used as evidence: his ships are merchant ships, not viking ships, and they are not Scandinavian. It should also be noted that one of the ships (c. 50) in addition to "nearly 60" passengers carried 36 beasts (heads of cattle?) and 16 horses heavily laden with merchandise.

[441]Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii., 96-97.

After the passing of the Norman war-cloud and the failure of the Norse reaction in 1030, Canute almost disappears from the stage of English history. TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclewhich gives us so much information on his earlier career in England has but little to tell of his activities as king; for the closing years of the reign the summaries are particularly meagre. Evidently the entries for this reign were written from memory some years after the death of the great King; and the scribe recalled but little. It is also likely that the closing years in Britain were peaceful and quiet, such as do not give the annalist much to record. Of the larger European movements, of the Norse secession, of movements on the Danish border, and of the renewed compact with the Emperor, the cloister was probably not well informed.

The Jurby Cross, Isle of Man—The Gosforth Cross, Cumberland

As the Chronicler thinks back upon the passing of a King who was still in his best and strongestyears, there comes to him the memory of certain strange natural phenomena which suddenly take on meaning. In 1033, two years before the King's death, "appeared the wild fire," such as none could remember the like of. There could be no doubt as to the interpretation: it was an omen giving warnings of great changes to come, the end of alien rule, even as a fiery heaven announced its imminence in the days of the boy Ethelred.

Later writers report that during the last years of his life Canute was afflicted with a long and severe illness, and it has been inferred that this may account for the uneventful character of this period. There may be an element of truth in this, but he was not too ill to take an active interest in political affairs. His legislation evidently belongs to one of these years. In one of the manuscripts of Canute's code he is spoken of as King of Angles, Danes and Norwegians, a title that he could not claim before 1028. As he did not return from his expedition to Norway before the following year, the earliest possible date for the enactment of Canute's laws is Christmas, 1029.[442]For they were drawn up at a meeting of the national assembly "at the holy midwinter tide in Winchester."

There are reasons for believing, however, that the laws are of a still later date. Little need there was, it would seem, for extensive ecclesiastical legislation in those years when paganism was infull retreat and Christianity had become fashionable even among the vikings. Some condition must have arisen that made it necessary for the King to take a positive stand on the side of the English Church. Such a condition may have grown out of the canonisation of Saint Olaf in 1031. He was the first native saint of the North and the young Scandinavian Church hailed him with a joy that was ominous for those who had pursued him to the grave. It may have been in the hope of checking the spread of the new cult in England that the witenagemot, the same that ratified Canute's legislation, canonised the imperious Archbishop who had governed the English Church two generations earlier. The method of canonisation was probably new; but the nobles and prelates of England were surely as competent to act in such a matter as the youthful church at Nidaros.

Canute showed an interest in the welfare of the Church to the last months of his life. It was apparently in this period that he initiated the policy of advancing his own chapel priests to episcopal appointments: in 1032 Elfwine became Bishop of Winchester; the following year Duduc, another chapel priest, was promoted in the same manner.[443]The church of York was remembered with a large gift of lands to Archbishop Alfric.[444]Gifts to some of the larger monasteries are alsorecorded for these same years: to Sherburne, Winchester, Abingdon, and Croyland.[445]These usually took the form of land, though ornaments and articles intended for use in the church service were also given. Abingdon received lands and bells and a case of gold and silver for the relics of "the most glorious martyr Vincent of Spain" whose resting place was in this church.[446]It is worth noting that Abbot Siward who ruled at Abingdon during the last few years of the reign bore a Danish name.

Canute's last recorded gift was to the Old Minster at Winchester in 1035, the year of his death. This comprised a landed estate, a bier for the relics of Saint Brice, a large image, two bells, and a silver candlestick with six branches.[447]It may be that he had premonitions of coming death, for in this abbey he chose to be buried.

We do not know what efforts Canute may have made to improve the material conditions in his Anglo-Saxon kingdom, but it appears that such undertakings were not wholly wanting. The King showed great favour to the religious establishments in the Fenlands and was evidently impressedwith the difficulty of travel from abbey to abbey. An attempt was made to remedy this:

and that same road through the marshes between Ramsey and the borough that is called King's Delf he caused to be improved that the danger of passing through the great swamps might be avoided.[448]

Matthew Paris, our authority for this statement, wrote nearly two centuries after Canute's day, but it is likely that he is reporting a correct tradition; if the work had been done at the instance of one of the later kings, it is not probable that it would have been associated with the name of the Danish ruler.

The Norwegian sources have little to say of Canute after the battle of Stiklestead; but they follow the troubles of the Norse regency in some detail. It was thought best, when Sweyn was sent to Norway, to give him the royal title; but as he was a mere youth, the actual power was in the hands of his mother, Elgiva, who was probably associated with Earl Harold of Jomburg, Harthacanute's minister and guardian in Denmark, who seems to have acted as Canute's personal representative in his eastern kingdoms.[449]Mention has already been made of the opposition that soon arose to the Danish régime. It was not long before the dissatisfied elements formed an alliance with the partisans of the old dynasty who wereassiduously disseminating the belief that the fallen Olaf was a saint.

All through the winter that followed the King's martyrdom stories were current of miracles performed by the holy relics: wounds had been healed and blindness removed by accidental contact with the royal blood. At the same time much ill-feeling developed against Bishop Sigurd who had shown such a partisan spirit on the eve of the tragedy at Stiklestead. Sigurd was a Dane who had served as chaplain at the English court[450]and had therefore a double reason for preferring Canute. Under the regency he had continued as chief of the Norwegian Church, but soon the murmur became so loud that the zealous prelate had to withdraw to England.

Einar Thongshaker now came forward to lead the opposition to the regents. He was the first of the chiefs to express his belief in Olaf's sanctity and many were ready to follow his lead. Bishop Grimkell, who since Olaf's flight in 1029 had remained in comparative quiet in the Uplands, was asked to come and investigate the current rumours of miraculous phenomena. The Bishop responded very promptly. On the way he visited Einar, by whom he was gladly welcomed. Later the prelate appeared at Nidaros and began extended investigations into the matter of the reported wonders. Einar was next summoned to conduct the negotiationswith the regency. The plans of the national faction seem to have been carefully laid; it was probably not accidental that the city suddenly was thronged by incoming Norsemen.

Having secured permission from King Sweyn to act in the matter, Einar and Grimkell, followed by the multitude, proceeded to the spot where Olaf's remains were said to have been buried. According to the legend that Snorre in part follows, the coffin was found to have risen toward the surface and looked new as if recently planed. No change was observed in the remains except that the hair and nails showed considerable growth; the cheeks were red as those of one who had just fallen asleep. But the Queen-mother was not easily convinced:

"Very slowly do bodies decay in sand; it would have been otherwise if he had lain in mould." Then the Bishop took a pair of shears and clipped off a part of the King's hair and beard,—he wore a long moustache, as custom was in those days. Then said the Bishop to the King and Alfiva: "Now is the King's hair and beard as long as when he died; but it has grown as much as you see I have cut off." Then replied Alfiva: "I believe hair to be sacred if it is not consumed in fire; often have we seen whole and uninjured the hair of men who have lain in the earth longer than this man." So the Bishop placed fire in a censer, blessed it, and added the incense. Then he laid Olaf's hair in the fire. But when the incense was consumed, the Bishop took the hair from the fire, and it was whollyunburnt. The Bishop showed it to the King and the other chiefs. Then Alfiva requested them to place the hair in unblessed fire; but Einar Tremblethong spoke up, bade her keep silence, and used many hard words. Then by the Bishop's decision, the King's consent, and the judgment of the entire assembly, it was decreed that King Olaf was in truth a holy man.[451]

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