KNUT. 



1ST 



trust when he refuses to become the man of Knnt, and go to 

 him ; that would be best, for Knut is so mild, that never do 

 the chiefs do so much against him that he does not forgive at 

 once, when they come to him and yield to him. It was only 

 a short time ago that two kings north from Fifi (Fife) in 

 Scotland came to him, and he forgot his wrath and gave them 

 all the lands they had owned before, and also great friendly 

 gifts ' " (St. Olaf 's Saga, c. 140). 



" Knut fought many battles in England against the sons of 

 2Ethelred, King of the English, and they were defeated by each 

 other in turns. He came to England during the summer when 

 ^Ethelred died, and then married Queen Emma ; their children 

 were Harald, Hordaknut, and Gunnhild. Kiiut made an 

 agreement with Edmund, that each of them should have 

 half of England. In the same moDth Heidrek Strjona slew 

 Edmund, and thereafter King Knut drove away all the sons of 

 JSthelred " (St. Olaf s Saga, c. 24). 



" A long time after this Knut was at a feast with Thorkel the 

 High, saw Ulfhild, and thought Thorkel had cheated him in the 

 sharing of the women (taken the finer one), and therefore had 

 him slain. Knut and Edmund fought some battles against 

 each other, after which both the Danes and the English asked 

 them to come to terms, and this they did ; the one who lived 

 longer was to have the land of the other. One month after- 

 wards Edmund was slain by his foster-father Alrek Strjona, 

 and then Knut got the whole of England, and ruled it for 

 twenty-four winters " l ( Jomsvikinga Saga, c. 52). 



" That summer the sons of King ^Ethelred went from 

 England to Euda (Rouen) in Valland, 2 to their uncles, when 

 Olaf Haraldsson came from viking expeditions in the west; 

 they were all in Normandy that winter, and entered into an 

 agreement that Olaf should have Northumberland if they got 

 England from the Danes. In the autumn Olaf sent his foster- 

 father Hrani to England to get men there, and the sons of 

 ^Ethelred sent with him tokens to their friends and kinsmen, 

 and Olaf gave him much loose property wherewith to win men 

 over. Hrani stayed during the winter in England, and ob- 

 tained the confidence of many powerful men, among them 

 those who preferred having their countrymen to rule over 

 them; but the power of the Danes in England had then 

 become so great, that all the people were subject to them " 

 (St. Olaf's Saga, c. 25). 



1 Cf. also Knytlinga Saga, c. 7 to 9 ; 

 St. Olaf, c. 23. 



- This shows that Valland was in the 

 west of Fr.-uice. 



