Ethelred II of England

“ No one will think it strange after what has been told that the youngest of those four boys grew up under Swythe’s teaching wise and learned, and as brave as, or braver than, either of his three brothers, who, when at last King Ethelwulf died, succeeded in turn to be King of England. They each sat on the throne—Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred; but their reigns were short, for in twenty years they too had passed away, to be succeeded by the strong, brave, and learned man who drove the Danish’ invaders finally from the shores of England, or forced them to become peaceful workers of the soil. ”

“ Ethelred and Canute continued for three years like "the Lion and the Unicorn, fighting for the Crown," with about equal success, when death overtook "Slowcoach," after a long and inglorious reign. He died on St. George's Day, 1016, having been for five-and-thirty years man and boy, on and off the throne of England.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. EDMUND IRONSIDES—CANUTE—HAROLD HAREFOOT—HARDICANUTE—EDWARD THE CONFESSOR—HAROLD—THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. ON the decease of Ethelred the citizens of London offered the throne to his son Edmund, who had got the strange nickname of Ironsides. ”

“ In order to strengthen his feeble forces, Ethelred allied himself, in 1001, to Richard II., Duke of Normandy, and married his daughter Emma, but the Danes continued to make night hideous and elope with ladies whom they had never met before. It was a sad time in the history of England, and poor Emma wept many a hot and bitter tear as she yielded one jewel after another to the pawnbroker in order to buy off the coarse and hateful Danes. ”

“ Now we may conclude, that the wisdom of men, and their meditations, and their counsels, are as nought against the appointment of God. In this same year succeeded Ethelred Etheling, his brother, to the government; and he was afterwards very readily, and with great joy to the counsellors of England, consecrated king at Kingston. In the same year also died Alfwold, who was Bishop of Dorsetshire, and whose body lieth in the minster at Sherborn.
A.D. 979. In this year was Ethelred consecrated king, on the Sunday fortnight after Easter, at Kingston. ”

“ On the old autograph albums of the world is still written in the dark corners of empires, "the king can do no wrong." But where education is not repressed, and where that Christianity which is built on love and charity is taught, there can be but one King who does no wrong.
Ethelred was succeeded by Edmund, called "the Ironside." He fought bravely, and drove the Danes, under Canute, back to their own shores. But they got restless in Denmark, where there was very little going on, and returned to England in large numbers. ”

“ After Ethelred had punished these traitors, he prepared to march, and fight the enemy, who little expected so sudden a revolution.
Although Canute was undoubtedly a great prince, and had the same forces his father Sweyn had conquered England with, he did not think fit to hazard a battle; but, on the contrary, before Ethelred was advanced near enough to oblige him to fight, he led his troops to the sea-side, and embarking them, set sail for Denmark. ”

“ Brice, 1002, he gave it out that he would massacre these people, among them the sister of the Danish king, a noble woman who had become a Christian (only it is to be hoped a better one) , and married an English earl. He had them all butchered.
[Illustration: ETHELRED WEDS EMMA.]
In 1003, Sweyn, with revenge in his heart, began a war of extermination or subjugation, and never yielded till he was, in fact, king of England, while the royal intellectual polyp, known as Ethelred the Unwholesome, fled to Normandy, in the 1013th year Anno Domini. ”

“ With his shattered army Sweyn retreated to Bath, where Ethelmer, governor of the western district, with his followers, submitted to him. And, although all England was already bending to his dominion, yet not even now would the Londoners have yielded, had not Ethelred withdrawn his presence from among them. For being a man given up to indolence, and, through consciousness of his own misdeeds, supposing none could be faithful to him, and at the same time wishing to escape the difficulties of a battle and a siege, he by his departure left them to their own exertions. ”

“ Ethelwulf, by his will, disposed of the kingdom of Kent to his second son, Ethelbert, and the kingdom of Wessex to Ethelbald, Ethelred, and Alfred, in order of seniority, and directed his heirs to maintain one poor person for every tithing in his hereditary lands. He died in 857, having reigned eighteen years, leaving behind him four sons and one daughter, who was married to Burhred, King of Mercia, and died at Pavia in 888. ”

“ His people suffered many things at his hands, and when he died of hard drinking at the end of two years, there was a great longing throughout the land to shake off the last trace of a Danish yoke and to have for king one of their own race. Their hearts turned towards Edward, the younger son of Ethelred the Unready, whose life hitherto had been chiefly spent in Normandy, whither he with his mother, Emma of Normandy, afterwards the wife of Canute, had taken refuge when Sweyn had conquered England. ”

“ Ethelred’s ‘wise men’ could only recommend him to buy off the Danes with hard cash called ‘Danegold’ or ‘Danegeld’. The ‘Dane-geld.’The Danes pocketed the silver pennies, laughed, and came back for more. When for a moment there arose a hero, Ethelred’s son Edmund Ironside, he fought in one year, as Alfred had fought, six pitched battles and almost beat Canute. King Canute, 1016–1035.Then he agreed to divide the island with Canute, and was murdered in the next year (1017) . Canute ruled England until his death in 1035. ”

“ His implacable enemy, Sweyn, was indeed dead; but the Danish host which Sweyn had led thither was still in England, under the command of Sweyn's son, Canute [or Cnut] , a prince equal in military prowess to his father, and far superior to him and to all other princes of the time in statesmanship and general ability. Ethelred died in 1016, while the war with Canute was yet raging. Ethelred's son, Edmund, surnamed Ironside, was chosen king by the great council then assembled in London, but great numbers of the Saxons made their submission to Canute. ”

“ Moreover Ethelbert, having ruled the kingdom with vigour and with mildness,111 paid the debt of nature after five years, and was buried at Sherborne.
In the year of our Lord 867, Ethelred, the son of Ethelwulf, obtained his paternal kingdom, and ruled it for the same number of years as his brothers. Surely it would be a pitiable and grievous destiny, that all of them should perish by an early death, unless it is, that in such a tempest of evils, these royal youths should prefer an honourable end to a painful government. ”

“ It is almost impossible, and quite needless, to be more particular in relating the transactions of the East Angles. What instruction or entertainment can it give the reader, to hear a long bead-roll of barbarous names, Egric, Annas, Ethelbert, Ethelwald, Aldulf, Elfwald, Beorne, Ethelred, Ethelbert, who successively murdered, expelled, or inherited from each other, and obscurely filled the throne of that kingdom? ”

“ It was at once the center from which they carried on their enterprises in all directions about the island, and the refuge to which they could always retreat when defeated and pursued. In the possession of such a fastness, they, of course, became more formidable than ever. King Ethelred determined to dislodge them. He raised, accordingly, as large a force as his kingdom would furnish, and, taking his brother Alfred as his second in command, he advanced toward Reading in a very resolute and determined manner.
He first encountered a large body of the Danes who were out on a marauding excursion. ”

“ Whilst the Danes were pillaging Kent, Ethelred drew an army together to oppose their ravages; and as soon as he was ready, he posted himself between them and their ships to prevent their embarking and carrying off their booty. Probably, he might have executed his project, and perhaps gained considerable advantage, considering the superiority of his forces, if Edric had not found means to relieve the Danes. The traitor, perceiving their danger, represented to the king, his father-in-law, that it would be more advantageous to let them retire, than hazard a battle, which might prove fatal to him ”

“ Of the beginning of this reign Alcuin thus speaks: "Blessed be God, the only worker of miracles, Ethelred, the son of Ethelwald, went lately from the dungeon to the throne, from misery to grandeur; by the infancy of whose reign we are detained from coming to you." [36] Of his death he writes [37] thus to Offa king of the Mercians: "Your esteemed kindness is to understand that my lord, king Charles, often speaks to me of you with affection and sincerity, and in him you have the firmest friend. He therefore sends becoming presents to your love, and to the several sees of your kingdom. ”

“ On the death of Edward, his half-brother Ethelred was elected by the Witena-gemot, much to the dislike of Dunstan, who, it is said, foretold how disastrous the new reign would be. And now the great prelate's active career came to an end. His enemies had of late years been rapidly growing in strength, and it only needed the accession of a king who was unfriendly towards him to cause him to retire to his diocese. ”

“ Among other works he wrote Chapters on the Poets of Ancient Greece, Sermons, Psalms and Hymns, Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, Letters from Abroad, Poetical Works, Plea for the Queen's English.
Al′fred (or Æl′fred) the Great, King of England, was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, A.D. 849, his father being Ethelwulf, son of Egbert, King of the West Saxons. He succeeded his brother Ethelred in 872, at a time when the Danes, or Northmen, had extended their conquests widely over the country, and they had completely overrun the kingdom of the West Saxons by 878. ”

“ After him reigned Ceolred, the son of Ethelred his uncle, as conspicuous for his valour against Ina, as pitiable for an early death; for not filling the throne more than eight years, he was buried at Lichfield, leaving Ethelbald, the grandnephew of Penda by his brother Alwy, his heir. This king, enjoying the sovereignty in profound and long-continued peace, that is, for the space of forty-one years, was ultimately killed by his subjects, and thus met with a reverse of fortune. ”

“ He even allowed his forces to harry and oppress them. And as if the Danes were not enough to occupy him, he actually made an abortive expedition against the King of Cumberland, because he refused to pay the Danegeld, and even sent a fleet to harry the lands of Richard the Good of Normandy because he received Danish ships in his ports. The English were driven away ignominiously, and Ethelred shortly afterwards made peace with Richard, and in 1002 married his sister Emma, called the Pearl of Normandy on account of her beauty. ”

“ After Ethelred no one durst ascend the throne; [38] each dreading the fate of his predecessor, and preferring a life of safety in inglorious ease, to a tottering reign in anxious suspense: for most of the Northumbrian kings had ended their reigns by a death which was now become almost habitual. Thus being without a sovereign for thirty-three years, that province became an object of plunder and contempt to its neighbours. ”

“ Immediately on the death of Ethelred, his son, Edmund, who had given so many proofs of courage and devotion to his unhappy country, was proclaimed king, to the great joy of the English. At the same time the Danes declared for Canute, who was already in possession of a great part of the kingdom. ”

“ Edric, surnamed the Forester, grand-nephew to that Edric, so noted for his repeated acts of perfidy during the reigns of Ethelred and Edmond; Earl Coxo, a man famous for bravery; even Edwin and Morcar, Earls of Mercia and Northumberland, with the other principal noblemen of England, came and swore fealty to him; were received into favour, and were confirmed in the possession of their estates and dignities [m] . Every thing bore the appearance of peace and tranquillity ”

“ But contrarywise there was a man in the province of the Mercians, whose visions and words, but not his manner of life, were of profit to others, though not to himself. In the reign of Coenred,847 who succeeded Ethelred, there was a layman who was a king's thegn, no less acceptable to the king for his outward industry, than displeasing to him for his neglect of his own soul. The king diligently admonished him to confess and amend, and to forsake his evil ways, lest he should lose all time for repentance and amendment by a sudden death. ”

“ Here he was captured by a spy and taken to London, bearing on his hat a paper with the inscription, “Campion, the Seditious Jesuit.” Committed to the Tower, he was examined in the presence of Elizabeth, who asked him if he acknowledged her to be really queen of England, and on his replying straightly in the affirmative, she made him offers, not only of life but of wealth and dignities, on conditions which his conscience could not allow. He was kept a long time in prison, twice racked by order of the council, and every effort was made to shake his constancy. ”

“ He was again summoned to return to England to explain himself, but declined until he could do so with honour and safety; but he was on the point of going at all risks, when he heard from his mother and brother that the whole family would suffer if he remained obstinate. Paul III. who had prepared a bull of excommunication and deposition against Henry, summoned Pole to Rome in October, and two months after created him cardinal. ”