Lectures for Baltic and St Petersburg Cruise on the Ocean Countess July 2011
ANGLO-SAXONS AND VIKINGS – THE MAKING OF ENGLAND
Lecture 5 Vikings 1 England 0
Summary of Lecture 4
In the last lecture we examined how the West Saxon kings took advantage of the power vacuum left by the weak kings of Mercia after the death of Coenwulf. They were fortunate in having a succession of strong leaders from Egbert, Ethelwulf and Alfred to Edward and Athelstan. They were also fortunate geographically that the Viking armies concentrated first on East Anglia, Northumbria and Mercia. Even so Alfred only just held on to power but started the fight back which was continued by his children and grandsons.
Edgar
The year after defeating Eric Bloodaxe in 954 King Edred died and left the throne to his fourteen year old nephew Edwy who was totally unfitted to rule. At his coronation banquet, one of his clerics, Dunstan had to pull him out of bed where he was indulging in a threesome with his teenage bride and her mother, and taught what his duty was. He never forgave this but within two years of his succession he had alienated half the country who decided they would prefer his 14 year old brother Edgar as king.
Luckily Edwy’s overindulgences got the better of him and he died before his 20th birthday leaving the whole kingdom in the capable hands of Edgar and his grandmother, Edward the Elder’s widow, Eadgifu. Edgar was brought up under the influence of Aethelwold bishop of Winchester and former abbot of Abingdon, and Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury and former abbot of Glastonbury. They were interested in the rule of St Benedict and reformed monasteries which led to a religious revival and some of the best manuscripts ever produced in England. Many new monasteries were founded. Edgar was recognised as king of all England but also as overlord by the Welsh and Scottish kings who attended his court as they did Athelstan’s. Edgar had a second coronation at Bath in 973 with his queen Aelfthryth with a new order which has influenced every subsequent coronation.
[SLIDES: Coins, manuscripts especially the Benedictional of St Aethelwold, depictions of St Dunstan, churches and ivories.]
Ethelred the Unready
Known today as Ethelred the Unready the name is a misinterpretation of his nickname of Ethelred the Unraed. Ethelred means well-counselled whereas unraed means uncounselled, a condemnation of his court rather than the king. His succession was something of a scandal according to later historians. When Edgar died in 975 he left two sons by two queens, both young. The elder was Edward and he became king despite Queen Aelfthryth claiming that her 7 year old son should take precedence as Edward’s mother had not been crowned. Three years into his reign Edward died either from a riding accident or poison whilst visiting his stepmother and brother at Corfe. Later historians blamed Aelfthryth but the truth will never be known. Ethelred succeeded, still too young to rule on his own, so under the influence of his mother and counsellors.
His reign started well and the monastic reforms continued. England prospered and became one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. Too wealthy as it again became a temptation to the Vikings. The first raids were on Chester and Southampton in 980 but they did not settle. Further raids followed in the 980s. In 991 the Danes invaded Essex and were held up by the elderly Byrhtnoth but he was killed at the Battle of Maldon which was celebrated in a poem in the Chronicle. Ethelred paid them 22,000 pounds of gold to leave.
In 992 Ethelred made an alliance with Duke Richard of Normandy, himself descended from Vikings (his grandfather Rolf the Ganger founded the duchy), which led to Ethelred’s second marriage 10 years later to Richard’s daughter Emma. The English could not get used to the odd foreign name so Emma changed it to Aelfgifu which the English could cope with. In 994 joint Viking armies, Danes under Sweyn Forkbeard and Norwegians under Olaf Tryggvason, sailed up the Thames and attacked London. Ethelred was able to buy them off again. In 997 the Danes returned demanding more money and returned each year.
By 1002 Ethelred had had enough and on St Brice’s day a large number of Danish citizens were massacred in London, Oxford and probably Bristol and Gloucester. Victims included Sweyn’s sister Gunhild. In 1003 Sweyn landed again set on vengeance and devastated many places. He stayed for 2 years returning to Denmark in 1005 due to famine. He returned in 1006 and 1009. Ethelred had to pay Danegeld to get rid of the Vikings, in 1007 it was 36,000 pounds of silver, in 1012 it was 48,000. This had a ruinous effect on the economy. In 1011 another Viking army under Thorkell the Tall raided Canterbury burning the cathedral and they took Archbishop Alfheah hostage. They took him to Greenwich and when he refused to let himself be ransomed they murdered him by throwing ox bones at him. Finally Sweyn invaded in 1013 when he deposed Ethelred who fled into exile in Normandy. Sweyn was king for only five weeks and died suddenly. The Witan (council) invited Ethelred to return and he ruled for a further 2 years.
[SLIDES: Coins, English and Danish brooches, buildings, ivories, manuscripts including Beowulf.]
Canute
When Ethelred died in 1016 there was a struggle for the throne between his very able eldest son Edmund known as Ironside and Sweyn’s equally able son Canute. Both sides were strong and won battles (such as Assandun where Canute built a church – Ashingdon) so the stalemate led to a compromise near Deerhurst dividing the country between them. In November Edmund suddenly died and Canute took over the whole country. In 1017 Canute married Ethelred’s widow, Emma (Aelfgifu), in an attempt at reconciliation and showed he was unlike his father. Canute had despatched Edmund’s son to Hungary to get rid of any threat and had other prominent relatives killed. Emma’s sons by Ethelred, Alfred and Edward, were safe in Normandy. Canute’s son by Emma, Harthacnut, was promoted as heir to all his kingdoms above his older sons Sweyn and Harald.
Canute built churches and endowed monasteries and encouraged learning. He gained a reputation for benevolence and power which led to the apocryphal story about turning the tide back. The incident probably took place at Bosham, Sussex. Canute’s chief adviser was a distant cousin called Godwin who became very important. Canute divided the country into 4 earldoms, with Godwin as Earl of Wessex eventually. Thorkell got East Anglia and Mercia was retained by the Anglo-Saxon ealdorman under Ethelred, Eadric Streona, who had a reputation for switching sides. He was executed in 1017 and another local family took over, first under Leofwine who died in 1023 to be succeeded by his son Leofric whose wife, Godgifu is better known as Lady Godiva.
Canute continued to collect the Danegeld to run his large empire. In 1018 it was 72,000 pounds of silver. In 1023 Archbishop Aelfheah’s body was moved to Canterbury which made it a pilgrimage centre and helped bring in income for its rebuilding. In 1027 Canute made a pilgrimage to Rome to attend the coronation of the Emperor Conrad II. This was enormously prestigious. A letter from Rome survives where Canute was described as King of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden, a sort of Empire of the North.
[SLIDES: Map of Canute’s kingdoms, coins, churches, New Minster manuscript with Canute and Emma, Godwin’s seal and cup, ivories, burial chest at Winchester.]
Edward the Confessor
Canute died in 1035 leaving the throne to his young son Harthacnut with Queen Emma as regent. However, Harthacnut was still a teenager and trying to secure his throne in Denmark. In 1036 his half-brother Alfred was invited over from Normandy but was trapped and killed by Earl Godwin. In 1037 another half brother, Harold seized the throne. He died three years later by which time Harthacnut had made a treaty with Magnus of Norway that should either die without a son the other would inherit. In 1041 having made Godwin pay a wergild for Alfred’s death Harthacnut invited his remaining half-brother Edward to come to England and made him welcome. When Harthacnut died in 1042 at a wedding in Lambeth drinking the health of the bride, Edward was the only candidate to succeed.
Edward was more Norman than English having been brought up at the court of his cousin William where he had probably promised him the throne if he should ever regain it and died without a son. The power in England was Earl Godwin and Edward was obliged to marry Godwin’s daughter Edith. It is doubtful the wedding was ever consummated. Edward tried to assert himself and finally in 1051 he succeeded. He set aside Edith and Godwin fled into exile. Edward appointed Norman bishops and started on a programme of church building in the Norman style. In 1052 Godwin returned. The following year Edward accepted him and his family back but made Godwin swear on the bible that he was innocent of his brother’s death, after which he dropped dead. Godwin’s eldest son Sweyn had been the most disreputable and had died in exile in 1052 so he was succeeded as Earl of Wessex by Harald who became Edward’s chief adviser.
When it became clear Edward and Edith would have no children an embassy was sent to Hungary where the king’s nephew was living with his son and daughters. They returned to England in 1057 where the nephew died two days later. His son, Edgar was still a child. It was about this time that Lady Godiva may have made her famous ride through Coventry to protest at her husband’s harsh taxes. Harold went on an expedition to Normandy in 1064 and befriended William and appears to have sworn loyalty to him. Edward concentrated on building Westminster Abbey and it was consecrated in December 1065 just in time for Edward’s burial when he died the following month.
Harold seized the throne and was immediately challenged by Harold Hardraade King of Norway, successor of Magnus who had claimed the throne under his agreement with Harthacnut. Harald Hardraade invaded with Tostig, Harold Godwinsson’s estranged brother who had been sent into exile. The armies met at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire where the English were victorious. Meanwhile William had landed in Sussex so Harold had to march his army south and when they met at Hastings the Normans were victorious (14 October 1066). In London the Witan chose Edgar as king but he could not raise an army so submitted to William. He went to Scotland with his sisters where Margaret married King Malcolm and from whom the Kings of Scotland and later Kings of England descended.
[SLIDES: Coins, manuscripts, St Edward’s Crown, Westminster Abbey, ivories, brooches, various scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry.]
In the final lecture we shall take a further look at the Vikings, examining them in their homelands of Denmark, Norway and Sweden and how they spread further afield even reaching America and Russia.