Danish-men who were in England to be slain. This was done on St. Brice's mass-day...

A. IOII. In this year sent the king and his witan to the army, and desired peace, and promised them tribute and food, on condition that they would cease from their plundering. They had then overrun, 1st, East-Anglia, and 2d, Essex, and 3d, Middlesex, and 4th, Oxfordshire, and 5th, Cambridgeshire, and 6th, Hertfordshire, and 7th, Buckinghamshire, and 8th, Bedfordshire, and 9th, half of Huntingdonshire, and 10th, much of Northamptonshire; and south of Thames, all Kent, and Sussex, and Hastings, and Surry, and Berkshire, and Hampshire, and much of Wiltshire. All these misfortunes befel us through unwise counsel, that they were not in time offered tribute, or fought against; but when they had done the most evil, then peace and truce were made with them. And nevertheless, for all the truce and tribute, they went everywhere in bands, and plundered our miserable people, and robbed and slew them...

A. 1016. ... The army then went again up into Essex, and passed into Mercia, and destroyed whatever it over-ran. When the king learned that the army was upward, then assembled he, for the fifth time, all the English nation, and followed after them, and overtook them in Essex, at the down which is called Assingdon: and there they strenuously joined battle. Then did Edric the ealdorman, as he had oft before done, begin the flight first with the Maisevethians, and so betrayed his royal lord and the whole people of the English race. There Canute had the victory; and all the English nation fought against him...

A. 1017. In this year king Canute obtained the whole realm of the English race, and divided it into four parts: Wessex to himself, and East-Anglia to Thurkill, and Mercia to Edric, and North-humbria to Eric.

A. 1017.

This year Canute was chosen king.

(Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for years given, ed. cited.) 41. The Laws of Canute

Ancient Laws and Institutes of England

The examples of the laws of the Danish kings of England prove, among other things, the continuity of the legal principles developed in the days of the Anglo-Saxon kings. They also demonstrate the justice and equity of Canute, a king whose greatness endeared him, despite his alien birth, to that heterogeneous mass which was called the English People.

THAT EVERY MAN SHALL BE IN A TITHING

And we will, that every freeman be brought into a hundred, and into a tithing, who wishes to be entitled to "lad" or to “wēr," in case any one shall slay him after he is XII. years of age; or let him not afterwards be entitled to any free rights, be he "heorth-fæst," be he follower. And that every one be brought into a hundred and in "borh"; and let the "borh" hold and lead him to every plea. Many a powerful man will, if he can and may, defend his man in whatever way it seems to him that he may the more easily defend him; whether as a freeman or a "theow." But we will not allow that injustice.

SECULAR DOOMS

Cap. 17. And let no one apply to the king unless he may not be entitled to any justice within his hundred; and let the hundred gemot be applied to under penalty or the "wite," so as it is right to apply to it.

Cap. 18. And thrice a year let there be a "burh-gemōt," and twice a "shire-gemōt"; under penalty of the "wite," as is right, unless there be need oftener. And let there be present the bishop of the shire and the ealdorman, and there let both expound as well the law of God as the secular law.

Cap. 19. And let no man take any distress either in the shire or out of the shire, before he has twice demanded his right in the hundred. If at the third time he have no justice, then let him go at the fourth time to the "shire-gemōt,” and let the shire appoint him a fourth term. If that then fail, let him take leave either from hence or from thence, that he may seize his own.

Cap. 20. And we will that every free man be brought into a hundred and a tithing... And that every one be brought into a hundred and in "borh"; and let the "borh" hold and lead him to every plea...

Cap. 21. And we will that every man above XII. years make oath that he will neither be a thief nor cognisant of theft.

Cap. 70. This then is the alleviation which it is my will to secure to all the people of that which they before this were too much oppressed with. That then is first; that I command all my reeves that they justly provide on my own, and maintain me therewith; and that no man need give them anything as "feorm-fultum" unless he himself be willing. And if any one after that demand a “wite," let him be liable in his "wer" to the king.

Cap. 71. And if any one depart this life intestate, be it through his neglect, be it through sudden death; then let not the lord draw more from his property than his lawful heriot. And according to his direction, let the property be distributed very justly to the wife and children and relations, to every one according to the degree that belongs to him.

Cap. 72. And let the heriots be as it is fitting to the degree. An elor's such as thereto belongs, that is, eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, and four helmets and four coats of mail, and eight spears and as many shields, and four swords and 200 mancuses of gold. And after that, a king's thegn's, of those who are nearest to him; four horses, two saddled and two unsaddled, and two swords and four spears and as many shields, and a helmet and a coat of mail and fifty mancuses of gold. And of the medial thegns, a horse and his trappings and his arms; or his "healsfang” in Wessex; and in Mercia two pounds; and in East Anglia two pounds. And the heriot of a king's thegn among the Danes, who has his soken, four pounds. And if he have further relation to the king, two horses, one saddled and the other unsaddled, and one sword and two spears and two shields and fifty mancuses of gold; and he who is of less means, two pounds.

Cap. 81. And I will that every man be entitled to his hunting in wood and in field, on his own possession. And let every one forego my hunting: take notice where I will have it untrespassed on, under penalty of the full "wite."

Cap. 83. And I will that every man be entitled to "grith" to the "gemōt" and from the "gemōt," except he be a notorious thief. (Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, ed. Thorpe.)

42. Charter of Canute

York Gospel Book

The Charter of Liberties given by Canute should be studied in connection with those later charters which render notable the reigns of Henry I. and John. The even-handed justice assured to all men, both English and Danes, finds a parallel in the laws enforced by William the Conqueror.

Canute, the king, greets his archbishops and his suffragan bishops, and Thurcyl the earl, and all his earls and all his people, twelfhynde and twyhynde, clerk and lay, in England, friendly; and I do you to wit that I will be kind lord and unfailing to God's rights and to right secular law. I took to my remembrance the writing and the word that archbishop Lyfing brought me from Rome from the Pope, that I should

everywhere maintain the glory of God and put down wrong, and work full peace by the might that God would give me. Now I shrank not from my cost while hostility was in hand among you; now I with God's help took away at my cost that of which men told me that it threatened me with more harm than well pleased us; and then went I myself into Denmark, with the men that went with me, from whence most harm came to you; and that have I with God's help taken precautions for that never henceforth should enmity come to you from thence whilst ye men rightly hold, and my life lasteth. Now I thank God Almighty for his help and mercy, that I have so allayed the great harms that threatened us, that we need expect from thence no harm, but to full peace and to deliverance if need be. Now I will that we all reverently thank God Almighty for the mercy that he has done for our help. Now I beseech my archbishops and all my suffragan bishops that they all be attentive about God's right, every one in his district which is committed to him; and also my ealdormen I command that they help the bishops to God's right and to my royal authority and to the behoof of all the people. If any be so bold, clerk or lay, Dane or English, as to go against God's law and against my royal authority, or against secular law, and be unwilling to make amends, and to alter according to my bishop's teaching, then I pray Thurcyl my earl, and also command him, that he bend that unrighteous one to right if he can; if he cannot, then will I with the strength of us both that he destroy him in the land or drive him from out of the land, be he better, be he worse; and also I command all my reeves, by my friendship and by all that they own, and by their own life, that they everywhere hold my people rightly and do judge right judgments by the shire bishop's witness, and do such mercy therein as the shire bishop thinks right, as a man may attain to; and if any harbour a thief, or neglect the pursuit, be he answerable to me as the thief should, unless he can clear himself towards me with full purgation. And I will that all people, clerk and lay, hold fast Edgar's law, which all men have chosen and sworn to at Oxford, for that all the bishops say that it right deeply offends God, that a man break oaths or pledges; and likewise they further teach us that we should with all might and main, alike seek, love, and worship the eternal merciful God, and eschew all unrighteousness; that is, slaying of kinsmen, and murder, and perjury, and witchcraft and enchantment, and adultery, and incest; and also they charge in the name of

God Almighty, and of all his saints, that no man be so bold as to marry a hallowed nun or mynchen; and if any have done so, be he outlaw towards God, and excommunicated from all Christendom, and answerable to the king in all he has, unless he quickly alter and deeply make amends to God; and further still, we admonish that men keep Sunday's festival with all their might, and observe it from Saturday's noon to Monday's dawning; and no man be so bold that he either go to market or seek any court on that holy day; and all men, poor and rich, seek their church, and ask forgiveness for their sins, and keep earnestly every ordained fast, and earnestly honour the saints that the mass priests shall bid us, that we may altogether through the mercy of the everlasting God and the intercession of his saints come to the joy of the kingdom of heaven, and dwell with him who liveth and reigneth for ever without end. Amen.

(Select Charters and other Illustrations of English Constitutional History, from the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward I., ed. William Stubbs, Oxford, 1870.)

43. Letter of Canute to his People

Florence of Worcester The letter of Canute to his people after his return from Rome is of great value because of the insight into the king's character given in its quaint phraseology.

Canute, king of all England, and of Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, to Ethelnote, metropolitan, and Alfric, archbishop of York, and to all the bishops and prelates, and to the whole nation of the English, both the nobles and the commons, greeting:

I notify to you that I have lately taken a journey to Rome, to pray for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the welfare of my dominions, and the people under my rule. I had long since vowed this journey to God, but I have been hitherto prevented from accomplishing it by the affairs of my kingdom and other causes of impediment. I now return most humble thanks to my God Almighty for suffering me in my lifetime to visit the sanctuary of his apostles, SS. Peter and Paul, and all others which I could find either within or without the city of Rome, and there in person reverentially worship according to my desire. I have performed this chiefly, because I have learnt from wise men that St. Peter the apostle has received from God great power in binding and in loosing, and carries the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and therefore I esteemed it very profitable to seek his special patronage with the Lord.