PEG vis io \ s mi's. 



179 



Knut the Great had gathered a fleet of 1 ,200 vessels l for 

 an attack on Norway. 



" King Knut called to mind many things with which he 

 charged King Olaf, as follows : That he captured his nephew 

 Hakon, and let him take oath to him, and then seized the 

 kingdom and drove him from the land ; that he also took 

 possession of the land which for a long time had been tributary 

 to the Danish kings ; that he had ravaged in the country of 

 King Knut. So he went east from England with a great host 

 to Denmark, reached the Limafjord, and thence sailed to 

 Norway with 1,440 ships, for he had raised a general levy 

 both in Denmark and England. Arriving at Agdir, he pro- 

 ceeded northward along the coast, and held meetings with 

 the boendr ; he was acknowledged as king wherever he went, 

 and he did not stop until he came to Nidaros " 2 (Fagrskinna, 

 c. 104). 3 



When fleets went on distant expeditions, special vessels 

 called vistdbyrding (provision ships) followed them. Butter, 

 the hard bread still used, dry, smoked, or salted meat, formed 

 the stock of eatables, and there are many instances where ale 

 and beer are mentioned. 



of 200 ships coming from the country of 

 the North had landed in Frisia, and 

 ravaged all the islands adjacent to their 

 shores. 



In the year 845 Eurick, king of the 

 Northmen, advanced against Louis in 

 Germany with (300 vessels along the 

 river Elbe. 



In the year 850 Rorik, the nephew of 

 Harold, who had recently left the service 

 of Lothair, taking with him an army of 

 Northmen, comes by the Rhine and the 

 Watal with a multitude of ships, de- 

 vastating Frisia, the island of Batavia, 

 and other neighbourhood places. 



In the year 852 the Northmen arrived 

 in Frisia with 252 ships ; after having 

 received much silver they go elsewhere. 



In the year 852 Godfrey, son of Handd 

 the Dane, formerly baptized at Mayence, 

 under the leign of the Emperor Louis, 

 left Lothair and went to find his people. 

 Afterwards having assembled a powerful 

 force, he attacks Frisia with a multitude 

 of vessels, and then enters the territory 

 bordering on the river Scheldt. 



In the year 857 the Danish pirates 

 invaded the city of Paris and set fire to 



it. Here there must have been an 

 enormous fleet. 



In the year 861 the Danes, who had 

 lately burned the town of Terouanne, 

 came back under their chief Weland from 

 the country of the Angles with more 

 than 200 ships. 



In the year 865. from Attigny Charley 

 marched an army against the Northmen, 

 who had entered the Seine with . r >()i> 

 ships. (We find at the >ame time North- 

 men on the Loire.) 



1 This means actually 1,440, as every 

 hundred was equal to 120. 



2 Unfortunately some of the fart- 

 which we would like to know are missing 

 in the Northern records in regard to th>- 

 size of the fleet which c;ime to England, 

 with the son of Ragnar Lodbrok ; but 

 from what old English chronicles tell us, 

 and from the depredations committed by 

 them, we may assume that their number 

 must have been very great. The sanir 

 may also be said about the fleets <>i 

 Svein and Knut. 



3 Cf. also Olaf Tryggvasoii'-; Saga. 

 i. 89 ; Fornmannu Sogur. 



N 2 



