Canute the Great Part 16

[266] _Gesta_, iv., c. 27 and schol. 134, 137.

[267] _Ibid._

[268] Vigfusson and Powell, _Origines Islandicae_:, i., 309-310. From the _Hakonar Saga_.

[269] Vigfusson and Powell, _Origines Islandicae_, i., 311. From the _Landnama-boc_.

[270] Voluspa, II. 155-158. (_Corpus Poetic.u.m Boreale_, i., 199.)

[271] Voluspa, II. 133-134.

[272] _Ibid._, II. 175-178.

[273] Stubbs, _Registrant Sacrum Anglicanum_, 33.

[274] Steenstrup, _Normannerne_, iii., 383.

[275] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 53.

[276] _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 403, 500-501.

[277] _Danmarks Riges Historie_, i., 403.

[278] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 39.

[279] Taranger, _Den angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske_, 143.

[280] Adamus, _Gesta_, ii., c. 55.

[281] _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 1050. _Anglia Sacra_, i., 167.

[282] An ill.u.s.tration of this appears on a runic monument at Odderness in Southern Norway raised in memory of a G.o.dson of Saint Olaf: "Oivind, Saint Olaf's G.o.dson [_kosunr_ or _gosunr]_ raised this church on his allodial land."

[283] For the account of the Anglo-Saxon missionaries I am indebted to Taranger's work on the influence of the Anglo-Saxon on the Norwegian Church: _Den Angelsaksiske Kirkes Indflydelse paa den norske_.

[284] _Gesta_, ii., c. 55; iv., c. 33. The emba.s.sy was probably sent some time during the years 1020-1023, and perhaps shortly before Canute accepted the supremacy of Hamburg-Bremen in Denmark.

[285] This paragraph is summarised from Professor Bugge's discussion in _Norges Historie_, I., ii., 379-381.

CHAPTER IX

CANUTE AND THE NORWEGIAN CONSPIRACY

1023-1026

The sons of Earl Hakon, Eric and Sweyn, who ruled Norway for fifteen years after the fall of Olaf Trygvesson, were not aggressive rulers.

They were not of the blood royal, they were va.s.sals of alien kings, both seem by nature to have been of an easy-going disposition; hence they were not able to command obedience to the extent that a strong monarchy demanded. As a result, the Norwegian aristocracy arrogated to itself a great measure of independence. The peasantry resumed their old habits and practices; in many places the old wors.h.i.+p was wholly restored, including the sacrificial festivals. The Earls were Christians, but did not interfere.

Of a different type was King Olaf Haroldsson. He was determined and forceful, equipped with a vigorous intellect and a will that could brook no opposition. Though his policies extended far beyond the religious field, his chief anxiety was to make Norway a Christian kingdom. His zeal was that of the convert, the pa.s.sion of the devotee; but it was more than that: it was the purpose of the far-seeing statesman. In his viking adventures he had become acquainted with the advantages of the European political system. He wished to introduce this into his own kingdom, to Europeanise Norway. This was the great king-thought for which Saint Olaf lived and fell. But at the basis of the European system lay Christianity. In his proselyting endeavours, he met opposition from the very beginning; but for a time he was able to overcome all resistance. However, the spirit of rebellion was silenced only; after five years of missionary effort, King Olaf found that Christian progress was apparent rather than real. He also found that the devotees of the old wors.h.i.+p were still determined and that a group of chiefs were organising an opposition that might overturn his throne.

The opposition was of two sorts: on the one hand the Christian was opposed by the partisan of the old G.o.ds; on the other hand Olaf's strong kings.h.i.+p was disliked by the chiefs who recalled the freedom that they had enjoyed in the days of the two earls. Distances were great in Norway; travel was difficult; the ocean was the best highway. But with sail and oar it took time to reach the settlements on the long coast line, and the King soon learned that promises to renounce the Anses were easily forgotten or broken. Then followed crop failures in the far North: it was clear that Frey was angry and wished to punish the apostacy of his people.[286]

In the aristocratic opposition five chieftains bear special prominence.

At Soli on the wide plains of Jaederen in South-western Norway, not far from the modern city of Stavanger, lived Erling, the son of Skjalg.

Erling had sailed with King Olaf to Wendland, but had had no part in the fight at Swald. Later the Earls found it advisable to make peace with the Soli family and gave Erling Skjalgsson a magnificent fief in the South-west. From the Naze to the Sogn Firth his was the ruling influence. Of all the Norwegian magnates Erling was unquestionably the most powerful; and though both Earl Eric and King Olaf had looked askance at his power, he maintained his position for a quarter of a century. Five active sons and a spirited daughter grew up in Erling's house. The lord of Soli never was an ideal subject; but after his nephew Asbjorn slew one of King Olaf's servants in the royal presence during the Easter festivities, a quarrel broke out that had fatal consequences.[287]

The island of Giski some distance north of Cape Stadt was the ancestral seat of the famous Arnung family, which for several generations held a prominent place in the councils of Norway. According to tradition the family was founded by one Finnvid who was found in an eagle's nest, and hence was known as Finnvid Found. The family took its name from Arne, a prominent chief in Saint Olaf's day and a good friend of the King. Seven sons and a daughter were born to Arne and his good wife Thora. The oldest of the sons married the only daughter of the mighty Erling.

Arne's daughter became the wife of another prominent lord and enemy of Olaf, Harek of Tjotta. For a time all the sons of Arne supported the King and Kalf alone finally joined his enemies. Olvi of Egg, a wealthy Thronder, was found to have continued the old sacrificial practices in secret, and on the King's orders was slain. Kalf Arnesson married his widow, and from that day his loyalty was shaken.[288]

Far to the north lived two chiefs who were also counted among the King's opponents: Harek of Tjotta and Thor the Dog. Thor was the ill-fated Asbjorn's uncle and the brother-in-law of the slain Olvi. He lived on the Bark-isle beyond the Arctic Circle and was easily the most powerful man in those regions.[289] Harek lived on the isle of Tjotta, a little to the south of the Polar Circle. He seems to have had something of a monopoly of the Finnish trade and from this and other sources ama.s.sed great wealth. In the Norse n.o.bility few stood higher than Harek: he counted among his kinsmen the reigning King as well as his predecessors the Earls.[290] In the rebellion that finally cost King Olaf his life, Thor and Harek were prominent leaders.

In the Throndelaw, some distance south of Nidaros, dwelt Einar Thongshaker. Einar, the strongest and most athletic Norseman of his day, the archer who could pierce a damp ox-hide with a blunt shaft, was also a man of great personal influence. Married to Earl Eric's sister, he was naturally in sympathy with the dynastic claims of the Earl's family. For some years after the defeat at the Nesses, he had lived in exile in Sweden; but finally he was reconciled to King Olaf and was permitted to return.[291]

It does not appear that any of these leaders had any enthusiasm for the old faith; Erling Skjalgsson and Einar Thongshaker seem to have been zealous Christians. But among their kinsmen were many who clung to the wors.h.i.+p of Woden and Thor. Wherever the King found heathen rites celebrated in open or secret, harsh measures were employed--loss of property, of limb, and even of life. Thus the chiefs saw many a kinsman dishonoured or dead, and to their disinclination to obey the royal mandate was joined the motive of private revenge. Soon dissatisfaction was rife everywhere, and over the North Sea fled yearly a band of exiles who had resisted the royal will.

Among those who went west was Einar Thongshaker, though he went ostensibly as a pilgrim, not as a plotter. Soon after his return from Sweden he found it advisable to seek expiation at Rome for earlier sins, and in 1022 or 1023 he left for the Eternal City. It seems probable that his brother-in-law Eric joined him in this expedition or planned to do so, for the sagas persist in connecting Eric's death, which must have occurred about 1023, with a pilgrimage to Rome, at least projected and perhaps carried out. In England Einar is said to have visited young Earl Hakon, possibly in his earldom in the Severn Valley; he also had an interview with Canute "and was given great gifts."[292] Einar's visit was probably just after Canute's return from his expedition to the Slavic lands. Whether the pilgrimage was more than a mere pretext we do not know, though it probably was made in good faith. After his return to Norway he was not active in King Olaf's service, though he showed no open hostility.

Many magnates or sons of prominent franklins had fared to Canute on various errands; but all who came to King Canute were given their hands full of wealth. There one could see greater splendour than elsewhere, both as to the mult.i.tude of people in daily attendance and in the other arrangements on the manors that he possessed and occupied. Canute the Mighty gathered tribute from the lands that were the richest in the North; but in the same measure as he had more to receive than other kings, he also gave much more than any other king....

But many of those who came from Norway lamented the loss of their liberties and hinted to Earl Hakon and some to the King himself, that the men of Norway were now surely ready to renew their allegiance to King Canute and the Earl, and to receive their old liberties from them. These speeches suited the Earl's mind, and he suggested to Canute that Olaf be called on to surrender the kingdom to them, or to agree to divide it.[293]

Snorre attributes Canute's delay in claiming the Norse kings.h.i.+p to a difference between himself and his cousin, Earl Hakon, as to who should possess and rule the country. It is evident, however, that before 1023 Canute was hardly in a position to press a claim of such a doubtful character. But in that year the situation was more favourable: he was in uncontested possession of the English and Danish crowns; he had successfully fought and subdued the Slavs to the south of Denmark; his prestige was consequently greater than ever before. That year, the subject of Norse conquest must have been discussed quite seriously at Winchester, for as soon as the winter was past, an emba.s.sy was on its way to King Olaf's court to demand the kingdom of Norway for Canute.

Among the various regions that composed the Norwegian realm, two enjoyed a peculiar prominence: the Wick and the Throndelaw. The Throndelaw was a group of "folks" or s.h.i.+res about the Throndhjem Firth, a region that had developed considerable solidarity and in one sense was reckoned as the heart of the kingdom. Here was for some time the capital of the nation, as it has remained in ecclesiastical matters to this day, at least nominally. The Wick was the country that bordered on the great "Bay" in the extreme south. It was this region that first came into contact with European civilisation and where culture and Christianity had perhaps taken firmest root. In a sense the Wick was disputed territory: it had earlier been under Danish overlords.h.i.+p, and a part of it had also for a brief period been subject to Sweden; national feeling was therefore not strong on these sh.o.r.es. For this reason, perhaps, King Olaf had established a royal residence at Tunsberg near the mouth of the Firth on the western sh.o.r.e. Here the King held his court in the winter of 1024-1025; it was here that he received the English emba.s.sy.

It was a splendid company that Canute sent to Norway, but Olaf was not pleased with their errand. For several days he kept them waiting before he was willing to grant them an audience.

But when they were permitted to speak with him they brought into his presence Canute's writ and recited their message, that Canute claims all of Norway as his possession and a.s.serts that his ancestors have possessed the realm before him; but whereas King Canute offers peace to all lands, he will not fare to Norway with war s.h.i.+elds if another choice is possible. But if King Olaf Haroldsson wishes to rule Norway, let him fare to King Canute and receive the land from him as a fief and become his man and pay such tribute as the earls had earlier paid.[294]

Such a proposal was an insult to the Norse nation, and it is not likely that Canute expected a favourable reply. But in its apparent moderation, in its appeal to historic rights, the demand served well the intended purpose: to extort a challenge that would make hostilities unavoidable and make Olaf appear as the aggressor. King Olaf's anger did not permit a diplomatic reply:

"I have heard tell in olden story that Gorm the Dane-king was an excellent ruler, but he ruled Denmark only; but the Dane-kings who have come since his day do not seem to have been satisfied with that. It has come to this now that Canute rules Denmark and England and in addition has subjected a large part of Scotland. Now he challenges my inheritance. He should, however, learn to be moderate in his avarice,--or does he plan to govern all the Northlands alone? Or does he intend to eat alone all the cabbage in England?

He will be able to accomplish that before I shall pay him tribute or do him any sort of homage. Now you shall tell him these my words, that I will defend Norway with point and edge as long as life days are granted me; but never shall I pay tribute for my kingdom to any man."[295]

Such is Snorre's account. The speeches are doubtless the historian's own; but they reveal a keen insight into the shrewd diplomacy of Canute and the impetuous methods of Olaf. The amba.s.sadors soon prepared to retire, little pleased with the outcome. It is reported that in conversation with Sighvat the Scald they expressed their surprise at the Norse King's rashness. The lord of England was gentle and forgiving.

Only recently two kings came from north in Scotland, from Fife, and he laid aside his wrath and let them keep all the lands that they had earlier possessed and gave them great gifts of friends.h.i.+p in addition.

The poet later put his reply into verse:

Able kings have carried Their heads to Canute, coming From Fife in the far north (Fair was the purchase of peace).

Olaf has never sold (Oft has the stout one conquered) Here in the whole world His head to any man.[296]

There could be no question about unpeace after Olaf's defiance had been repeated to Canute. It is said that Nors.e.m.e.n looked on cabbage eaters as naturally stupid; hence the taunt, if given, had a sharp point. The great King is said to have remarked that Olaf should find something besides cabbage within his ribs. That summer two of Erling's sons, Aslak and Skjalg, appeared at the English court. "And King Canute gave the brothers large revenues."[297]