Raphael Holinshed

“ What should you meane by this your inuincible courage? At what marke shooteth your greedie desire to beare rule, and your excessive thirst to atteine honour? If you fight for a kingdome, diuide it betwéene you two, which sometime was sufficient for seuen kings: but if you couet to winne fame and glorious renowme, and for the same are driuen to try the hazard whether ye shall command or obeie, deuise the waie whereby ye may without so great slaughter, and without such pitifull bloudshed of both your guiltlesse peoples, trie whether of you is most woorthie to be preferred. ”

“ Such kind of agreement hath beene made in deed to our destruction, sith the enimies haue not sticked to breake it (they being such a wicked kind of people as neither regard God nor man) contrarie to right and reason, and beside all our hope & expectation. So that the matter is come now to this passe, that we haue not cause onlie to feare the losse of our gouernement, but least the name of the whole English nation be destroied for euer. ”

“ We are ouercome of the Danes, not with weapon or force of armes; but with treason wrought by our owne people: we did at the first prepare a nauie against the enimies, the which that false traitour Elfrike betraid into their hands. Againe, oftentimes haue we giuen battell with euill successe, and onelie through the fault of our owne people that haue beene false and disloiall: whereby we haue bin constreined to agree with the enimies vpon dishonorable conditions, euen as necessitie required, which to ouercome, resteth onelie in God. ”

“ In the yeare of our Lord 1006, king Swaine returned againe into England with a mightie & huge nauie, arriuing at Sandwich, and spoiled all the countrie néere vnto the sea side. King Egelred raised all his power against him, and all the haruest time laie abroad in the field to resist the Danes, which according to their woonted maner spared not to exercise their vnmercifull crueltie, in wasting and spoiling the land with fire and sword, pilfering and taking of preies in euerie part where they came. ”

“ This Edmund for his noble courage, strength of bodie, and notable patience to indure and suffer all such hardnesse and paines as is requisite in a man of warre, was surnamed Ironside, & began his reigne in the yéere of our Lord 1016, in the sixtéenth yéere of the emperor Henrie the second surnamed Claudius, in the twentieth yéere of the reigne of Robert king of France, & about the sixt yéere of Malcolme the second king of the Scots. ”

“ King Edmund's diligence King Edmund, who hated nothing woorse than to linger his businesse, assembled his people, and marching forward toward his enimies, approched néere vnto them, & pitcht downe his tents not farre from his enimies campe, exhorting his people to remember their passed victories, and to doo their good willes, at length by one battell so to ouerthrow them, that they might make an end of the warre, and dispatch them cleerelie out of the realme. ”

“ But what is a king if his subiects be not loiall? What is a realme, if the common wealth be diuided? By peace & concord, of small beginnings great and famous kingdomes haue oft times procéeded; whereas by discord the greatest kingdoms haue oftner bene brought to ruine. And so it proued here, for whilest priuat quarels are pursued, the generall affaires are vtterlie neglected: and whilest ech nation séeketh to preferre hir owne aliance, the Iland it selfe is like to become a desert. ”

“ His bodie was buried at Glastenburie, neere his vncle Edgar. With this Edmund, surnamed Ironside, fell the glorious maiestie of the English kingdome, the which afterward as it had beene an aged bodie being sore decaied and weakened by the Danes, that now got possession of the whole, yet somewhat recouered after the space of 26 yéers vnder king Edward, surnamed the Confessor: and shortlie therevpon as it had béene falne into a resiluation, came to extreame ruine by the inuasion and conquest of the Normans: as after by Gods good helpe and fauorable assistance it shall appeare. ”

“ The oration of a capteine in the audience of the English and Danish armie.
"We haue, most woorthie capteins, fought long inough one against another, there hath beene but too much bloud shed betweene both the nations, and the valiancie of the souldiers on both sides is sufficientlie seene by triall, & either of your manhoods likewise, and yet can you beare neither good nor euill fortune. If one of you win the battell, he pursueth him that is ouercome; and if he chance to be vanquished, he resteth not till he haue recouered new strength to fight eftsoones with him that is victor. ”

“ Hardicnute is sent for into England to be made king; alteration in the state of Norwaie and Denmarke by the death of king Cnute, Hardicnute is crowned, he sendeth for his mother queene Emma, Normandie ruled by the French king, Hardicnute reuengeth his mothers exile upon the dead bodie of his stepbrother Harold, queene Emma and erle Goodwine haue the gouernment of things in their hands, Hardicnute leuieth a sore tribute upon his subiects ”

“ But whereas these things chaunced not all at one time, but in sundrie seasons, we will returne somewhat backe to declare what other exploits were atchiued in the meane time by Cnute, not onelie in England, but also in Denmarke, and elsewhere: admonishing the reader in the processe of the discourse following, that much excellent matter is comprehended, whereout (if the same be studiouslie read and diligentlie considered) no small profit is to be reaped, both for the augmentation of his owne knowledge and others that be studious. ”

“ Other of the Danes with a nauie of 94 ships entered the Thames, and besieged London about our ladie daie in September. They gaue a verie sore assault to the citie, and assaied to set it on fire: but the citizens so valiantlie defended themselues, that the Danes were beaten backe and repelled, greatlie to their losse, so that they were constreined to depart thence with dishonor. Then they fell to and wasted the countries of Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hamshire, and ceassed not till they had inforced the king to compound with them for 16 thousand Hen Hunt. ”

“ King Egelred offereth the Danes great summes of moneie to desist from destroieng his countrie, their unspeakable crueltie, bloudthirstinesse, and insatiable spoiling of Canturburie betraied by a churchman; their merciles murthering of Elphegus archbishop of Canturburie, Turkillus the Dane chiefe lord of Norfolke and Suffolke, a peace concluded betweene the Danes and the English vpon hard conditions; Gunthildis a beautifull Danish ladie and hir husband slaine, hir courage to the death. ”

“ Cnute perceiuing the most part of all the realme to be thus against him, and hauing no great confidence in the loialtie of the Londoners, tooke order to leauie monie for the paiment of his men of warre and mariners that belonged to his nauie, left the citie, and imbarking himselfe, sailed to the Ile of Shepie, and there remained all the winter. In which meane while, Edmund Ironside came to London, where he was ioifullie receiued of the citizens, and continuing there till the spring of the yeere, made himselfe strong against the enimies. ”

“ A fresh power of Danes inuade England to reuenge the slaughter of their countrimen that inhabited this Ile, the west parts betraied into their hands by the conspiracie of a Norman that was in gouernement, earle Edrike feined himselfe sicke when king Egelred sent vnto him to leuie a power against the Danes, and betraieth his people to the enimies; Sweine king of Denmarke arriueth on the coast of Northfolke, and maketh pitifull spoile by fire and sword ”

“ The praise of quéene Emma for hir wisdome. quéene Emma. For the which no small praise was thought to be due vnto the said quéene, sith by hir politike gouernement, in making hir match so beneficiall to hir selfe and hir line, the crowne was thus recouered out of the hands of the Danes, and restored againe in time Encomium Emmæ. to the right heire, as by an auncient treatise which some haue intituled "Encomium Emmæ," and was written in those daies, it dooth and may appeare. Which booke although there be but few copies thereof abroad, giueth vndoubtedlie great light to the historie of that time. ”

“ King Egelred assembled the whole power of all his subiects, and comming to giue them battell, had made an end of their cruell harieng the countrie with the slaughter of them all, if earle Edrike with forged tales (deuised onelie to put him in feare) had not dissuaded him from giuing battell. The Danes by that The Danes returne into Kent. meanes returning in safetie, immediatlie after the feast of saint Martine, returned into Kent, and lodged with their nauie in the winter following in the Thames, and oftentimes assaulting the citie of London, were still beaten backe to their losse. ”

“ In this meane while queene Emma the widow of king Egelred, doubting the fortune of the warre, sent hir two sonnes Alfred and Edward ouer into Normandie vnto hir brother duke Richard, or rather fled thither hirselfe with them (as some write.)
Moreouer, earle Edrike, perceiuing the great manhood of king Edmund, began to feare, least in the end he should subdue and vanquish the Danes, wherefore he sought meanes to conclude a peace, and take such order with him as might stand with both their contentations, which yer long he brought about. ”

“ If they should giue battell, it was to be doubted least through treason among themselues, the armie should be betraied into the enimies hands, the which would not faile to execute all kind of crueltie in the slaughter of the whole nation. And if they stood not valiantlie to shew themselues readie to defend their countrie, there was no shift but yeeld themselues. ”

“ At which words Cnute began to change countenance, as one maruellouslie abashed, and straightwaies gaue sentence against Edrike in this wise; "Thou art woorthie (saith he) of death, and die thou shalt, which art guiltie of treason both towards God and me, sith that thou hast slaine thine own souereigne lord, and my déere alied brother. Thy bloud therefore be vpon thine owne head, sith thy toong hath vttered thy treason." And immediatlie he caused his throat to be cut, and his bodie to be throwen out at the chamber window into the riuer of Thames. ¶ But Edrike put to death. ”

“ Cnute saileth into Denmarke to subdue the Vandals, earle Goodwins good seruice with the English against the said Vandals, and what benefit accrewed vnto the Englishmen by the said good seruice, he returneth into England after the discomfiture of the enimie, he saileth ouer againe into Denmarke and incountreth with the Sweideners, the occasion of this warre or incounter taken by Olauus, his hard hap, vnluckie fortune, and wofull death wrought by the hands of his owne vnnaturall subiects ”

“ Wherevpon earle Goodwine with the assent of the other lords, or rather by commandement of Harold, went foorth, and at Gilford met with Alfred that was comming towards king Harold to speake with him, accordinglie as he was of Harold required to doo. But now being taken, and his companie miserablie murthered (as before ye haue heard) to the number of six hundred Normans, Alfred himselfe was sent into the Ile of Elie, there to remaine in the abbeie in custodie of the moonks, hauing his eies put out as soone as he entered first into the same Ile. ”

“ He also highlie fauoured Leofrike earle of Chester, so that the same Leofrike bare great rule in ordering of things touching the state of the common King Cnutes lawes. wealth vnder him as one of his chiefe councellors. Diuerse lawes and statutes he made for the gouernment of the common wealth, partlie agréeable with the lawes of king Edgar, and other the kings that were his predecessors, and partlie tempered according to his owne liking, and as was thought to him most expedient: among the which there be diuerse that concerne causes as well ecclesiasticall as temporall. ”

“ Cnute vndertaketh the totall regiment of this land, he assembleth a councell at London, the nobles doo him homage, be diuideth the realme into foure parts to be gouerned by his assignes; Edwin and Edward the sonnes of Edmund are banished, their good fortune by honorable mariages, King Cnute marieth queene Emma the widow of Egelred, the wise and politike conditions wherevpon this mariage was concluded, the English bloud restored to the crowne and the Danes excluded, queene Emma praised for hir high wisedome in choosing an enimie to hir husband; Cnute dismisseth the Danish armie into Denmarke ”

“ Simon Dun. Now had Turkillus in the meanetime aduertised king Swaine in what state things stood here within the realme: how king Egelred was negligent, onlie attending to the lusts & pleasures of the flesh: how the noble men were vnfaithfull, and the commons weake and [Page 714] feeble through want of good and trustie leaders. Howbeit, some write, that Turkillus as well as other of the Danes which remained héere in England, was in league with king Egelred, in somuch that he was with him in London, to helpe and defend the citie against Swaine when he came to assalt it (as after shall appéere.) ”

“ But when or at what time soeuer she became hostage, this we find of hir, that she came hither into England with hir husband Palingus, a mightie earle, and receiued Wil. Malm. baptisme héere. Wherevpon she earnestlie trauelled in treatie of a peace betwixt hir brother and king Egelred: which being brought to passe chieflie by hir sute, she was contented to become an hostage for performance thereof (as before is recited.) And after by the commandement of earle Edrike she was put to death, pronouncing that the shedding of hir bloud would cause all England one day sore to rue. ”