488 SOME EXPEDITIONS AND DEEDS OF GREAT VIKINGS. 



" In the spring Olaf and the sons of King JEthelred went to 

 England, and arrived at a place called Jimgufurda, where they 

 went on shore. There were many who had promised to help 

 them ; they took the town with great slaughter. When the men 

 of Knut became aware of this, they gathered such a numerous 

 host that the sons of ^Ithelred could not resist them, and they 

 saw it was best to return to Kouen ; but Olaf parted with them 

 and would not go to Vail and. He sailed northwards along 

 England all the way to Northumberland ; he landed in the 

 harbour called Valdi, and there he defeated the townspeople 

 and traders, and got a great deal of property " (St. Olaf's Saga, 

 c. 26). 



" Knut, the son of King Svein Tjuguskegg, was ten winters 

 old when his father died ; then he was made king over Den- 

 mark, for his brother Harald was dead. The Danish chiefs 

 who remained in England, and held the land which King 

 Svein had won, sent word to Denmark that King Knut must 

 come west to England with the Danish host to help them. As 

 King Knut was then a child, and not used to command in war, 

 his friends advised him to send a host to England, and place 

 a chief over it, and not go himself until he stood better on 

 his legs ; he was three winters in Denmark after he became 

 king. Then he summoned together a host, 1 and sent word 

 to Norway, to his brother-in-law Eirik jarl, to gather a host 

 and go to England with him ; for Eirik jarl was very famous 

 for his bravery and skill in warfare, as he had gained the 

 victory in two of the most famous battles in Northern lands, 

 one when King Svein Tjuguskegg and Olaf the Swedish king 

 and Eirik jarl fought against Olaf Tryggvason at Svold, 

 the other when Hakon jarl and Eirik fought against the 

 Jomsvikings in Hjorungavag. King Knut went with a very 

 numerous host west to England. Many chiefs went with him ; 

 Ulf jarl Sprakaleggsson, his brother-in-law, who was then 

 married to his sister Astrid, Svein's daughter, also Heming 

 and Thorkel the High, the sons of Strutharald jarl, and many 

 other chiefs. Knut came to England, and landed at a place 

 called Fljot (Fleet) ; he ravaged the land, slew the people, 

 and burned their houses. The people of the land gathered a 

 host and went against the Danes. Knut fought his first battle 

 in England at Lindisey (Linolsey), and many fell there ; he 

 then took Hemingaborg in England, and there also slew 

 many. Thereafter he fought great battles in Nordimbraland 

 at Tesa (Tees). There he slew many, while some fled and 



1 Kniit the Great's English campaigns 

 are told by three poets, Sighvnt, Ottar 



the Black, and Th6rd Kolbeinsson. 



