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04 - Vikings by Allen Mawer · Vikings

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three of the Vikings by Ellen Mauer. This librevox
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain recording by Kevin Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter three The Vikings in England to the death of Harthaknut.
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  Speaker 1: The great development of Viking activity which took place after
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  Speaker 1: eight fifty five was certainly not unconnected with the course
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  Speaker 1: of events in Denmark itself. Herriker was attacked by his
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  Speaker 1: two nephews in eight fifty and compelled to share the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom with them. In eight fifty four, large bands of
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  Speaker 1: Vikings returned to their fatherland after twenty years ravaging in
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  Speaker 1: Frankish territory. Trouble now arose between Herriker and his nephew
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  Speaker 1: Godorm Brackett, Old Norse Guthormer. Under Brackett, one of the
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  Speaker 1: returned leaders, civil war broke out, and ultimately, after a
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  Speaker 1: great fight, the kingship fell on a younger Herriker, a
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  Speaker 1: relative of the late king. A severe dynastic struggle of
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  Speaker 1: this kind must have been accompanied by much unsettlement, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps by an actual proscription. It would certainly seem that
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  Speaker 1: there was some definite connection between these events and the
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  Speaker 1: coincident appearance of the sons of Ragnar Lothbroke as leaders
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  Speaker 1: of a more extended Viking movement, both in England and
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  Speaker 1: in France. Three of his sons, half Dander, Ubi and
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  Speaker 1: Ivar took part in the first wintering in Shepe in
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  Speaker 1: eight fifty five, while in the same year another son,
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  Speaker 1: Bjurton Ironside, appeared on the Seine. The figure of Ragnar
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  Speaker 1: Lothbroke himself belongs to an earlier generation, and great as
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  Speaker 1: was his after fame, we unfortunately know very little of
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  Speaker 1: his actual career. He would seem to have been of
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  Speaker 1: Norwegian birth, closely connected with the south of Norway and
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  Speaker 1: the House of Gudrouther, and like that prince having extensive
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  Speaker 1: interests in Denmark. He probably visited Ireland in eight thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: for we read in Saxo of an expedition made by
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  Speaker 1: Ragnar to Ireland when he slew King Melbraucus and ravaged Dublin,
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  Speaker 1: an event which is pretty certainly to be identified with
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  Speaker 1: an attack made on the Coneyle District Brachet ze O
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  Speaker 1: Louth and a Brachet by foreigners in eight thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: when the king Malbrigade was taken prisoner. He led the
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  Speaker 1: disastrous Sane expedition in eight forty five. The next glimpse
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  Speaker 1: of him which we have is probably not found in
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  Speaker 1: certain Irish annals, where he is represented as exiled from
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  Speaker 1: his Norwegian patrimony and living with some of his sons
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  Speaker 1: in the Orkneys, while others were absent on expedition. Additions
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  Speaker 1: to the British isles, Spain and Africa, and Runic inscription
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  Speaker 1: has been found at Maischao in the Orkneys, confirming the
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  Speaker 1: connection of the sons of Lothbroke, and possibly of Lothbroke
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  Speaker 1: himself with those islands. The expeditions would be those mentioned
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  Speaker 1: above and yet more famous one made to Spain, Africa
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  Speaker 1: and Italy by Bjorton Ironside in the years eight fifty
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  Speaker 1: nine to sixty two. Ragnar Lothbroke's later history is uncertain.
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  Speaker 1: According to the Irish annals quoted above, his sons, while
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  Speaker 1: on their expedition, dreamed that their father had died in
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  Speaker 1: a land not his own, and on their return found
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  Speaker 1: it to be true. This agrees with Scandinavian tradition, according
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  Speaker 1: to which Ragnar met his death at the hands of Ale,
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  Speaker 1: King of Northumbria, by whom he was thrown into a
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  Speaker 1: snake pit, while the capture of York by Ivar the
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  Speaker 1: Boneless in eight sixty six per cent is represented as
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  Speaker 1: part of a great expedition of vengeance undertaken by the
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  Speaker 1: sons of Ragnar. This tradition bracket, apart from certain details
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  Speaker 1: and a bracket, is probably historical, but we have no
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  Speaker 1: definite confirmatory evidence. With this note on the history of
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  Speaker 1: Denmark at this time and on the career of the
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  Speaker 1: most shadowy, if at the same time the most famous
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  Speaker 1: of the Viking leaders, we may turn once more to
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  Speaker 1: the history of events in England. For ten years after
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  Speaker 1: the wintering in Shepee, England was left in a state
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  Speaker 1: of comparative peace. The change came in eight sixty six
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  Speaker 1: when a large Danish force, which had been bribed to
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  Speaker 1: leave the Seine by Charles the Bald, sailed to England
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  Speaker 1: and took up its quarters in East Anglia. In eight
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  Speaker 1: sixty seven, they crossed the Humber and captured York, the
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  Speaker 1: task being made easier by the quarrels of Ailey and
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  Speaker 1: asbort As to the Kingship of Northumbria. Next year, the
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  Speaker 1: rivals patched up their differences, but failed to recapture York
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  Speaker 1: from the Danes under Ivar and Ubi, setting up a
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  Speaker 1: puppet king Egbert in Northumbria north of the Tyne. The
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  Speaker 1: Danes next received the submission of Mercia and returned to
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  Speaker 1: York in eight sixty nine. In eight seventy they marched
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  Speaker 1: through Mercia into East Anglia as far as Thetford engaged
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  Speaker 1: the forces of Edmund, King of East Anglia, defeated and
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  Speaker 1: slew him. Whether an actual battle or in later martyrdom,
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  Speaker 1: as popular tradition would have it, is uncertain. The death
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  Speaker 1: of Saint Edmund, King and martyr soon became an event
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  Speaker 1: of European fame, and no Viking leader was more widely
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  Speaker 1: execrated than the cruel Ivar, who was deemed responsible. The
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  Speaker 1: Turn of Wessex came next. The fortunes of battle fluctuated,
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  Speaker 1: but the accounts usually terminate with the ominous words. The
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  Speaker 1: Danes held possession of the battle field in eight seventy one.
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  Speaker 1: Alfred commenced his heroic struggle with the Danes, and in
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  Speaker 1: the first year of his reign some nine pitched battles
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  Speaker 1: were fought, besides numerous small engagements. So keen was the
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  Speaker 1: West Saxon resistance that a truce was made in eight
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  Speaker 1: seventy one, and the Danes turned their attention to Mercia
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  Speaker 1: once more. London was forced to ransom itself at a
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  Speaker 1: heavy price, and a coin of half dinner, probably minted
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  Speaker 1: in London at the time, has been found. After a
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  Speaker 1: hurried visit to Northumbria, the heire settled down for the
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  Speaker 1: winter of eight seventy two to three at Torksey in
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  Speaker 1: the Lindsay District. Whence they moved in eight seventy three
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  Speaker 1: to Repton in Derbyshire. They overthrew Burghred of Mercia and
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  Speaker 1: set up a foolish thane of his as puppet ruler
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  Speaker 1: of that realm. In the winter of eight seventy four
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  Speaker 1: to five the Heiree divided forces. One part went under
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  Speaker 1: half Danner to the Tyne Valley, the other under Guthorm
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  Speaker 1: Bracket old Norse Gutharmer under Brachet, to Cambridge. In eight
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  Speaker 1: seventy six, Half Danner divided up the lands of Northumbria
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  Speaker 1: among his followers, who soon plowed and cultivated them. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, they did not forget their old occupations.
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  Speaker 1: Raids were made against the Picts and the Strathclyde Welsh,
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  Speaker 1: while half. Danner soon became involved in the great struggle
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  Speaker 1: going on in Ireland at that time between Norsemen and Danes.
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  Speaker 1: This ultimately led to his death in eight seventy seven.
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  Speaker 1: In the meantime, the struggle continued in Wessex. In eight
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  Speaker 1: seventy five, Alfred captured seven Danish ships. In eight seventy six,
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  Speaker 1: the southern division of the Here slipped past the West.
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  Speaker 1: Saxon feared and reached Wareham in Dorsetshire, but came to
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  Speaker 1: terms with Alfred, though the peace was sworn with all
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  Speaker 1: solemnity on their sacred altar ring. The mounted portion of
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  Speaker 1: the Heire slipped off once more and established themselves in Exeter.
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  Speaker 1: Their land forces were supported by a parallel movement of
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  Speaker 1: the fleet. At Exeter, Alfred made peace with them, and
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  Speaker 1: the Here returned to Mercia. There half the land was
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  Speaker 1: divided up among the Danes, while the southern half was
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  Speaker 1: left in the hands of Kilwulf. Alfred reached the nature
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  Speaker 1: of his fortunes when the Heire returned to Wessex in
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  Speaker 1: the winter of eight seventy seven to eight. Drove many
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  Speaker 1: of the inhabitants into exile across the sea, and received
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  Speaker 1: the submission of the rest, with the exception of King
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  Speaker 1: Alfred and a few followers, who took refuge on the
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  Speaker 1: island of athelnay amid the Somersetshire of Marshes. Alfred soon
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  Speaker 1: gathered round him a force with which he was able
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  Speaker 1: to issue from his stronghold and ultimately to inflict a
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  Speaker 1: great defeat on the Danes at Eddington, near Westbury. They
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  Speaker 1: now made terms with Alfred by the Peace of Wedmore,
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  Speaker 1: and agreed to leave Alfred's kingdom while their king Guthrum
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  Speaker 1: received Christian baptism. They withdrew first to Sir Ancestor and
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  Speaker 1: then to East Anglia. Here they settled, portioning out the
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  Speaker 1: lands as they had done in Northumbria and Northern Mercia.
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  Speaker 1: A peace was drawn up between Alfred and Guthram of
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  Speaker 1: East Anglia, defining the boundary between their realms. It was
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  Speaker 1: to run along the Thames Estuary to the mouth of
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  Speaker 1: the Lee Bracket, a few miles east of London and
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  Speaker 1: of Bracket, then up the Lee to its source near
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  Speaker 1: Leyton Buzzard, and due north to Bedford, then eastwards up
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  Speaker 1: to the Ouse to Watling Street, somewhere near Fenny or
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  Speaker 1: Stony Stratford. From this point the boundaries left undefined, probably
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  Speaker 1: because the kingdoms of Alfred and Guthrum ceased to be conterminous.
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  Speaker 1: England now had peace for some twelve years. Alfred made
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  Speaker 1: good use of the interval in reorganizing his army and
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  Speaker 1: strengthening the kingdom generally, so that when attacks were renewed
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  Speaker 1: in eight ninety two, he was much better prepared to
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  Speaker 1: meet them. In the autumn of that year, two fleets
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  Speaker 1: coming from France arrived in England. One landed on the
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  Speaker 1: Limen Bracket between Hythe and Romney Marsh and a bracket
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  Speaker 1: the other under the leadership of Heisten Bracket Old Nurse Haystein,
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  Speaker 1: and a bracket at Milton in North Kent. Alfred's difficulties
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  Speaker 1: were increased by the fact that during the next four
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  Speaker 1: years the Danish settlers in Northumbria and East Anglia played
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  Speaker 1: a more or less actively hostile part both by land
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  Speaker 1: and sea. The Danes showed all their old mobility and
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  Speaker 1: in a series of raids, crossed England more than once,
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  Speaker 1: first to Buddington on the Severn, Bracketti, se Montgomery and
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  Speaker 1: to Bracket, then to Chester and on a third occasion
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  Speaker 1: to Bridgenorth in Shropshire. They met with the uniformly stout
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  Speaker 1: and well organized resistance under the leadership of Alfred, his
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  Speaker 1: son Edward the Elder and his brother in law Ethelred
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  Speaker 1: of Mercia, and in the end they had to retire
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  Speaker 1: with no fresh acquisition of territory. For the most part
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  Speaker 1: they distributed themselves among the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes,
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  Speaker 1: but those who had no cattle wherewith to stalk their
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  Speaker 1: land took ship and sailed back to the Seine. There
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  Speaker 1: were no further attacks from abroad during Alfred's reign, but
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  Speaker 1: piratical raids made by the East Anglian and Northumbrian Danes
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  Speaker 1: caused him a good deal of trouble, and in order
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  Speaker 1: to meet them, he definitely addressed himself to the long
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  Speaker 1: delayed task of equipping a fleet. The vessels were carefully
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  Speaker 1: designed according to Alfred's own ideas. They they were larger, swifter,
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  Speaker 1: and steadier than the Danish vessels, and they soon showed
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  Speaker 1: their worth when more than twenty vessels with their crews
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  Speaker 1: were lost by the Danes in one year. It is
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  Speaker 1: interesting to note that these vessels were manned in part
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  Speaker 1: by Frisian sailors, probably because of the low ebb to
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  Speaker 1: which England seamanship had sunk. When once Edward the Elder's
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  Speaker 1: claim to the throne was firmly established, and the battle
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  Speaker 1: fought at the Holme somewhere in south Cambridgeshire. He commenced,
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  Speaker 1: with the active cooperation of his brother in law Ethelred
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  Speaker 1: Aldermen of Mercia, the great work of strengthening the hold
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  Speaker 1: of the English on southern Mercia, preparatory to an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to reconquer the Dane. Log Chester was rebuilt in nine
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  Speaker 1: o seven. In nine ten a fort was built at
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  Speaker 1: Braemsbrigg possibly Bromesberro in Gloucestershire. Ethelred died in the next year,
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  Speaker 1: but his wife ethel Flyde, the Lady of the Mercians,
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  Speaker 1: continued his work and forts were built at Skergiat perhaps Shrewsbury,
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  Speaker 1: at Bridgenorth on the Severn, at Tamworth, and at Stafford
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  Speaker 1: in nine twelve. In nine fourteen, Warwick was fortified, while
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  Speaker 1: in nine fifteen forts were built at Chirbury in Shropshire
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  Speaker 1: and Runcorn in Cheshire. On the death of Athelred, Edward
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  Speaker 1: took London and Oxford and the parts of Mercia, adhering
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  Speaker 1: to them into his own hands. Two forts were built
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  Speaker 1: on the north and south sides of the Lee at
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  Speaker 1: Hertford in nine eleven to twelve, and another at Whittham
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  Speaker 1: on the Blackwater in Essex. Edward's work soon bore fruit,
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  Speaker 1: for we read that in the same year a large
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  Speaker 1: number of those who had been under Danish rule now
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  Speaker 1: made submission to the king. The Danes in the five
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  Speaker 1: boroughs became restless under the continued day advance of the English,
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  Speaker 1: and twice in the year nine thirteen they made raids
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  Speaker 1: from Leicester and Northampton as far as hook Norton in
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  Speaker 1: Oxfordshire and Leighton buzzard Well. In the next year, Edward,
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  Speaker 1: for the first time in his reign, was troubled by
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  Speaker 1: raiders from abroad, coming from Brittany. They sailed up the Severn,
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  Speaker 1: ravaged South Wales and the Archenfield district of Herefordshire, but
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  Speaker 1: could do nothing against the garrison of Gloucester, Hereford and
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  Speaker 1: other neighboring towns, which seem already to have been fortified.
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  Speaker 1: They were forced to leave the district, and so careful
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  Speaker 1: a watch did Edward keep over the coast of Somerset,
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  Speaker 1: Devon and Cornwall, that they could make no effect of landing,
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  Speaker 1: though they tried twice at Porlock and at Watchett. Ultimately
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  Speaker 1: they took up their quarters in the islands of Flatholm
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  Speaker 1: and Steepholme in the Bristol Channel, but lack of food
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  Speaker 1: soon drove them away to Ireland in a starving condition.
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  Speaker 1: In the same year, Edward built two forts at Buckingham,
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  Speaker 1: one on each side of the ouse, and his policy
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  Speaker 1: again found speedy justification when Earl Thurkitle Bracket Old Norse
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  Speaker 1: thorkelt and a Bracket, and all the chief men who
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  Speaker 1: obeyed Bedford, together with many of those who obeyed Northampton,
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  Speaker 1: submitted to him. Everything was now ready for the great
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  Speaker 1: advance against the Danes. Derby fell in nine seventeen, while
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  Speaker 1: in the next year Lester yielded without a struggle. Their
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  Speaker 1: fall was accompanied by the submission of the men of
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  Speaker 1: Derbyshire and Leicestershire. At the same time, the inhabitants of
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  Speaker 1: York declared themselves ready to enter the service of Mercia.
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  Speaker 1: Edward fortified Bedford in nine fifteen, Malden and Towchester in
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  Speaker 1: South Northampshire in nine sixteen. Again the Danes from Northampton
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  Speaker 1: and Leicester tried to break through the steadily narrow ring
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  Speaker 1: of forts, and they managed to get as far south
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  Speaker 1: as Aylesbury, while others from Huntingdon and East Anglia built
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  Speaker 1: a fort at Tempsford in Bedfordshire, near the junction of
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  Speaker 1: the Ivel and the Ouse. They besieged a fort at
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  Speaker 1: Wygingemere bracket unidentified and a bracket, but were forced to withdraw.
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  Speaker 1: Edward gathered an army from the nearest garrison towns, besieged,
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  Speaker 1: captured and destroyed Tempsford bracket nine fifteen and a bracket.
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  Speaker 1: In the autumn he captured Colchester and a Danish attempt
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  Speaker 1: on Malden failed. Edward now strengthened Touchester and received the
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  Speaker 1: submission of Earl Thurfrith bracket Old Norse thorother and a bracket,
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  Speaker 1: and all the Danes in Northamptonshire as far north as
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  Speaker 1: the welland Huntington was occupied about the same time, and
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  Speaker 1: the ring of forts around East Anglia brought about the
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  Speaker 1: submission of the whole of that district, Cambridgeshire making a
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  Speaker 1: separate compact on its own account. In nine eighteen, Edward
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  Speaker 1: built a fort just south of Stamford, and soon received
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  Speaker 1: the submission of the Danes of South Lincolnshire, and in
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  Speaker 1: the same year occupied Nottingham, building a fort and garrisoning
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  Speaker 1: it with a mixed English and Danish force. He was
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  Speaker 1: now ruler of the whole of Mercia owing to the
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  Speaker 1: death of his sister Ethel Flyde, and in nine nineteen
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  Speaker 1: he fortified Thelwall in Cheshire on the Mercy and rebuilt
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  Speaker 1: the old Roman fort at Manchester. In nine twenty he
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  Speaker 1: built a second fort at Nottingham and won at Bakewell
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  Speaker 1: in Derbyshire. The reconquest of the Danelg was complete, and
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  Speaker 1: Edward now received the submission of the Scots the Strathclyde
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  Speaker 1: Welsh of Regnold Brackett, Old Norse, Rogenwalder and of Brackett
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  Speaker 1: of Northumbria, and of English, Danes and Norsemen alike. The
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  Speaker 1: Danish settlers accepted the sovereignty of the West Saxon King
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  Speaker 1: and henceforward formed part of an expanded Wessex, which had
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  Speaker 1: consolidated its power over all England south of a line
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  Speaker 1: drawn roughly from the Humber to the d The submission
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  Speaker 1: of Rogenwalder, King of Northumbria and the mention of Norsemen
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  Speaker 1: need some comment. On the death of half Danner in
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  Speaker 1: eight seventy seven, an interregnum of seven years ensued, and then,
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  Speaker 1: in accordance with instructions given by Saint Cuthbert in a
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  Speaker 1: vision to abbot Adread of Carlisle, the Northumbrians chose a
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  Speaker 1: certain Guthred brachet old Norse Gudrother and a brachet as
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  Speaker 1: their king. He was possibly a nephew of the late king,
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  Speaker 1: ruled till eight ninety four and was also known as
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Canut Bracket Old North Canutter and a brachet. We have
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: coins bearing the inscription Alfred Rex on the obverse and
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Canute Rex on the reverse, indicating apparently some overlordship of
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: King Alfred. Together with these we have some coins with
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: Canute Rex on the obverse and Sifrides or bracket Siefert
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  Speaker 1: and a brachet on the reverse, and others minted at
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  Speaker 1: Ibroke Kibitas bracket i e York and a brachet with
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  Speaker 1: the sole inscription Sefredus Rex. This latter king would seem
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  Speaker 1: to have been the first a subordinate partner and then
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  Speaker 1: on Goodrother's death sole ruler of Northumbria. Other coins belonging
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  Speaker 1: to about the same period and found in the Great
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  Speaker 1: Kurdale Horde near Preston bear the inscription Citric comes and
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  Speaker 1: there is good reason to believe that sefridas Brachet old
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  Speaker 1: Norse Sigrother and a brachet and Citric bracket old Norse
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  Speaker 1: Sigtrieger and a brachet are to be identified with Sikfrith
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  Speaker 1: and Citriuc, who just at this time are mentioned in
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the Irish Annals as rival leaders of the Norsemen in Dublin.
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  Speaker 1: The identification is important as it shows us that Northumbria
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  Speaker 1: was now being brought into definite connection with the Norse
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: kingdom of Dublin, and that the Norse element was asserting
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  Speaker 1: itself at the expense of the Danish. In northern England.
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  Speaker 1: The rule of Sigrother and Sigdriger alike had come to
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  Speaker 1: an end by nine eleven, and we know nothing more
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  Speaker 1: until the year nine eighteen, when a fresh invasion from
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  Speaker 1: Ireland took place under a certain Rogenwalder. He gained a
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  Speaker 1: victory at Corbridge on Tyne and captured York in nine
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  Speaker 1: nineteen or nine twenty. He divided the lands of Saint
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  Speaker 1: Cuthbert among his followers, but died in nine twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: the year of his submission to the overlordship of Edward.
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  Speaker 1: The Irish annals speak of him as king of white
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  Speaker 1: and black foreigners alike, thus emphasizing the composite settlement of Northumbria.
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  Speaker 1: Another leader from Ireland, one Sigtriger, succeeded Rogenwalder as King
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  Speaker 1: of Northumbria. He was on friendly terms with Athelstan and
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  Speaker 1: married his sister in nine twenty five. He died in
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  Speaker 1: nine twenty six or nine twenty seven, and then Athelstan
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  Speaker 1: took Northumbria under his own control. Sigtrigger's brother Gudrother, submitted
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  Speaker 1: to Athelstan, but after four days at the court of
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  Speaker 1: King Athelstan, he returned to Piracy as a fish to
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  Speaker 1: the sea. Both Sigtrigger and Gudrother left sons bearing the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: name Adlaf Bracket Old Norse Oliver and of Brachet, and
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: with them Athelstan and his successors had much trouble. Adlaf
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Scythrichsen lived in exile in Scotland and gradually organized against
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Athelstan a great confederacy of Scots, Strathclyde, Welsh and Vikings
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: both Danish and Norwegian. An Laugh Godfreyson brought help from
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Ireland and the great struggle began. The course of the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: campaign is uncertain, but if the site of its main battle, Runanburgh,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: is to be identified with Birnswark Hill in southeast Dumfriesshire,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: it would seem that Athelstan carried the war into the
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: enemy's country. The result of the battle was a complete
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: victory for the forces of Athelstan and his brother Edmund,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Constantine's son, five kings and seven year olds, were among
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: the slain. We have in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle a
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: poem celebrating the victory, and it describes in vivid language
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the hurried return home of Constantine, lamenting the death of
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: his son, and the headlong flight of an Laugh Godfreysen
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: to Dublin. England had been freed from its greatest danger
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: since the days of King Alfred and his struggle with Guthrum.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Athelstan had no more trouble with the Norsemen, and we
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: have evidence from other sources that at some time during
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: his reign, probably at an earlier date, he exchanged embassies
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: with Harold Fairhair, King of Norway. The latter sent him
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: a present of a ship with golden prow and purple
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: sails and the usual bulwark of shields along the gunwale.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: While Harold's favorite son, Hakkon was brought up at Athelstan's court.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: There he was baptized and educated, and is known in
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Norse history as Hakon Athelstane's fostri. After the death of Athelstan,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: An laf Scythrichsen, nicknamed Kuran bracket Ai, with the sock
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: or brogue of leather, so called from his Irish dress
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: and a bracket, came to England and captured York. From
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: there he made an attempt to conquer the Danish district
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: of the Five Boroughs. He seems to have got a
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: good part of Mercia into his hands, but in the
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: end Edmund freed the Danes from north suppression and took
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: once more into his hands all Mercia south of a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: line from Doray Bracket near Sheffield and a bracket to
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Whitwell Brackett, Derbyshire, and a bracket and thence to the Humber.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Edmund and ann Laugh came to terms, but ann Laugh
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: was driven out by the Northumbrians in nine forty three,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and in the next year that province fell into the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: hands of Edmund. In nine forty seven, Eric blood Axe,
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: son of Harold Fairhair, was accepted as king by the Northumbrians.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: In Scandinavian tradition, we learn how he was expelled from
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Norway in nine thirty four by the supporters of Hakon,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: went on Viking raids in the west. Was appointed ruler
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: of Northumbria by Athelstan on condition of his defending it
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: against attack, but was not on good terms with Edmund,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: who favored one Orlaf, probably Eirik, retired after Athelstan's death
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and only returned to England in nine forty seven. In
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: nine forty eight, Edmund forced the Northumbrians to abandon his cause,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and about the same time Anlaf returned from Ireland and
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: ruled till about nine fifty, when he was replaced by Eirik,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: whose short rule came to an end in nine fifty four.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: In that year he was expelled by the Northumbrians and
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: killed at Stainmoor in Westmoreland. The attempt to establish a
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: Norse kingdom of Northumbria had failed, and henceforward that district
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: was directly under the rule of the English king. English
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: authority was supreme once more, even in those districts which
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: were largely peopled with Scandinavian settlers. England had no further
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: trouble with Norse or Danish invaders until the days of
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Ethelred the Unready. But no sooner did that weak and
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: ill advised king come to the throne. Then, with that
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: ready and intimate knowledge of local conditions which they always displayed,
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: we find Danes making an attack on Southampton, and Norsemen
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: one on Chester. The renewed attacks were not, however, due
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: solely to the weakness of England. They were also the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: result of changed conditions in Scandinavia itself. In Denmark, the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: reign of Harold Bluetooth was drawn to a close, and
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the younger generation, conscious of a strong and well organized
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: nation behind them, were ambitious of new and larger conquests,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: while at the same time many of them were in
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: revolt against the definitely Christian policy of Harold. In his
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: old age, they turned with hope towards his young son's
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: fain and found in him a ready and willing leader.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: In Norway, Earl Hakon had broken away from the suzerainty
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of Harold Bluetooth, but the Norwegians could not forget that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: he owed his throne to a foreign power, and his
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: personal harshness and licentiousness, as well as his zealous cult
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: of the old Heathen rites, were a cause of much discontent.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: The hopes of the younger generation were fixed on Olaf Trigvesen,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a man filled with the spirit of the old Vikings.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: Captured by pirates from Estonia when still a child, he
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: was discovered, ransomed and taken to Novgorod, where he entered
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the service of the Grand Duke Vladimir. Furnished by him
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: with a ship, he went viking in the Baltic and
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: then ten years later we find him prominent among the
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Norsemen who attacked England in the days of King Ethelred.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: In nine ninety one, a Norse fleet under Olaf visited
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Ipswich and Malden. Here they met with a stout resistance
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: headed by the brave Biersnoth, Earl of Essex. And in
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the fragmentary lay of the fight at Malden, which has
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: been preserved to us, we see that there was still
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: much much of the spirit of the Heroic age left
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: in the English nation even in the days of Ethelred
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: the Second. It was to buy off this attack that
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: a payment of danegeld to the extent of some ten
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: thousand pounds was made from Malden. Olaf went to Wales
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: and Anglesey, and it was somewhere in the West that
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: he received knowledge of the Christian faith from an Anchorite
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and was baptized. He did not, however, renounce his Viking life,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: but joined forces with his great Danish contemporaries feined Forkbeard
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Bamborough was sacked in nine ninety three, and both were
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: present at the Siege of London in nine ninety four,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: when they sailed up the Thames with four hundred ninety ships.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: The attack was a failure, and Olif came to terms
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: with Ethelred, agreeing to desist from further attack in return
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: for a payment of sixteen thousand pounds of danegeld. Olaf
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: was the more ready to make this promise, she was
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: now addressing himself to the task of gaining the sovereignty
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: of Norway itself. Many of the Norsemen returned with Olof,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: but the attacks on the coast continued, and the invaders,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: chiefly Danes, now ravaged the country in all directions. Treachery
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: was rife in the English forces, and again and again
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the eldermen failed in the hour of need. Danegeld after
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Danegeld was paid in the vain hope of buying off
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: further attacks, and the almost incredible sum of one hundred
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: and fifty eight thousand pounds of silver bracket i e.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: Some half million sterling and a bracket was paid as
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: danegeld during a period of little more than twenty years.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Once or twice Ethelred showed signs of energy, once in
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: one thousand when a fleet was sent to Chester which
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: ravaged the Isle of Man while an army devastated Cumberland,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and again in one thousand and four when a great
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: fleet was made, made ready, but ultimately proved of no use.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: Ethelred's worst stroke of policy was the order given in
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: thousand and two for the massacre on Saint Bryce's Day
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: of all Danes settled in England. His orders were carried
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: out only too faithfully, and among the slain was Spain's
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: sister Gunhild, the wife of a Danish jarl in the
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: king's service. Spain's vengeance was relentless, and during the next
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: ten years the land had no peace until in ten
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: thirteen Ethelred was driven from the throne and Spain himself
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: became king of England. Spain died in one thousand and fourteen,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: and his son Canute succeeded to his claim. Ethelred was
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: invited by the Wittan to return, and ultimately Wessex fell
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: to Canute, while the district of the Seven boroughs bracket
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: the Old Five, together with York and Chester and a
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Brachet and Northumbria, passed into the hands of Ethelred, or
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: rather of his energetic son Edmund. This division of the country,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: placing the district once settled by Danes and Norsemen under
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: an English king while the heart of England itself was
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: in the possession of a Scandinavian king, shows how completely
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: the settlers in those districts had come to identify themselves
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: with English interests as a whole. Mercia was nominally in
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Etheret's power, but its eldermen, Eadric Streona, was the most
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: treacherous of all the English earls. On Ethelred's death in
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: ten sixteen, the Wittan chose Edmund Ironside as king, and
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: a series of battles took place, culminating in that at
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: Ashington in Essex, where the English were completely defeated through
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the treachery of Eadric. A division of the kingdom was
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: now made, whereby Wessex fell to Edmund, Mercia and Northumbria
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: to Canute. Thus easily was the allegiance of the various
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: districts transferred from one sovereign to another. Edmund only lived
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: a few months, and Canute then became king of all England.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: For twenty years, the land enjoyed peace and prosperity. In
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: on thousand eighteen, the greater part of the Danish army
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: and fleet returned to Denmark, some forty ships and their crews,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: sufficing Connut for the defense of his kingdom. During the
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: next four years, he received the submission of the King
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: of Scotland and made a memorable pilgrimage to Rome. The
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: most important event of his latter years was, however, his
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: struggle with Olaf the Stout, the Great Saint Olaf of Norway.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Norway was now entirely independent of Danish sovereignty, and when
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: Knut sent an embassy voicing the old claims of the
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Danish kings. He received a proudly independent answer from Saint Olaf.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: For the time being, Canute had to be satisfied, but
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: in ten twenty five he sailed with a fleet to Norway,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: only to suffer defeat at the Battle of the Hallegate
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Ao Bracket i e. Holy River and a Bracket in
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Scain at the hands of the United forces of Norway
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: and Sweden. Three years later, the attack was renewed. Olaf's
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: strenuous and often cruel advocacy of the cause of Christianity
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: had alienated many of his subjects, and the Swedes had
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: deserted their ally. The result was that Olaf fled to
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Russia and Knut was declared King of Norway. Two years later,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: the exile returned and fell fighting against his own countrymen.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Knut was now the mightiest of all Scandinavian kings, but
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: on his death in ten thirty five, his empire fell apart.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Norway went to his son's Spain, Denmark to Harthacnut, and
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: England to Harald Harefoot. Harold was succeeded by Harthacnut in
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: ten forty, but neither king was of the same stamp
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: as Canut, and they were both overshadowed by the Great Godwine,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: Earl of Wessex. When Harthacnut died in ten forty two,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the male line in descent from Cnut was extinct, and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: though some of the Danes were in favor of choosing
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Knut's sisters sons Spain, Godwine secured the election of Edward
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the Confessor. With the accession of Edward, Danish rule in
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: England was at an end, and except for the ambitious
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: expedition of Harold Hardrata foiled at Stamford Bridge in ten
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: sixty six, there was no further serious question of a
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Scandinavian kingship, either in or over England. The sufferings of
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: England during the second period of invasion Bracket nine eighty
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: to ten sixteen were probably quite as severe as in
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the worst days of Alfred. The well known Sermo Lupi
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: ad Anglos, written by Archbishop Wulfstan of York in ten fourteen,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: draws a terrible picture of the chaos and anarchy then prevailing.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: But we must remember that neither of these years nor
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: the ensuing five and thirty years of Danish kingship left
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: as deep a mark on England as the earlier wars
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: and the settlements resulting from them, there was no further
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: permanent occupation or division of territory, and though some of
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: the earldoms and the great estates passed into the hands
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: of the King's Danish followers, there was no transformation of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: the whole social life of the people, such as had
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: taken place in the old Danelagh districts. End of Chapter
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: three