Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 09.djvu/12

 doubt, and while there is no evidence that he acted unjustly, the killing in the church is perhaps almost too startling to be a mere invention, and if it took place it would of course have been an outrage on the feelings of the age. Cnut continued to intrigue with the subjects of Olaf, and he did so with such good effect that, when in 1028 be again sailed to Norway, Olaf was forced to flee. In 1030 Olaf made an attempt to regain his throne, but he was defeated and slain by Cnut's party at Stikelstead. By his death Cnut gained secure possession of Norway. Besides his three kingdoms of England, Denmark, and Norway, he reigned over certain Slavic peoples on the coast of the Baltic, whose lands are described as Sclavia and Sembia (, 196, notæ, 212). On the authority of Florence of Worcester he is said to have de-scribed himself in the Roman letter as 'king of part of the Swedes.' He certainly was never in any sense king of the Swedes, and the passage has been satisfactorily explained by the suggestion that there has been a confusion between 'scl' and 'su,' and that it refers to his Slavic subjects (, Normannerne, iii. 327-30). His dominions are constantly spoken of as an empire, and now in imperial fashion he committed Norway to his son Sweyn, whom he sent thither in 1030 under the charge of his mother and Earl Hakon. Harthacnut, the son of Emma, also was made ruler of Denmark.

The defeat of the Northumbrians by the Scots at Carham in 1018 only concerns the personal history of Cnut in so far as it led him in after years to force the Scottish king to acknowledge his superiority. Although the submission of Malcolm was of the same vague character as earlier instances of 'commendation,' the relationship thus established served to confirm the Scottish claim to Lothian, and the addition of this purely English land to the Scottish crown was the beginning of a momentous change in the character of the monarchy. Cnut seems to have actually entered Scotland before Malcolm's submission, and this display of his strength induced two under-kings, Maelbeth and Jehmarc, dwelling north of Fife,' to submit them-selves to him in like manner. These events are placed in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under 1031, but they certainly happened before Olaf's flight in 1028 (, Corp. Poet. Bor. ii. 133, 134). The description of Cnut as king of the Irish and the Inlanders (Hebrideans) given by a contemporary poet (, Corp. Poet. Bor. ii. 152, 157) and the coins minted with his name at Dublin go far to prove that the Ostmen looked on him as their head. With the Welsh Cnut does not seem to have been brought into any per-sonal connection. From the contradictory notices of his relations with the Norman duchy it seems that after he had put Ulf to death he gave his sister Estrith, the earl's widow, in marriage to Duke Robert, who hated her and put her away ; that Robert demanded that the tethelings should be allowed to return, and that restoration should be made to them; and that on Cnut's refusal the duke fitted out a fleet for the invasion of England, but that many of his ships were wrecked off Jersey, and so the expedition was abandoned (., iv. ;, 193; , ap. . ii. 205; WIill. of Jumièges}}, vi. 10; {{sc}Will. Malm.}} ii. 180, who says that some remains of the shattered fleet were to be seen at Rouen in his day ; Norman Conquest, i. 520-8). It was probably in order to strengthen himself against any possible attacks from Normandy that Cnut made alliance with William V, duke of Aquitaine and count of Poitou (, 149).

Cnut's table of laws, 'decreed with the consent of the witan 'at some uncertain date, contains no absolutely new principles or customs. It is divided into ecclesiastical and civil laws. The command with which it opens, that men 'should ever love and worship one God and love King Cnut with right truthfulness,' breathes the spirit of the king's government and puts forward the religious duty of loyalty, still a somewhat new idea in our constitution ; this is further illustrated by the comparison between breaches of the peace in a church and in the king's house. Sundays are to be strictly observed. The payment of tithes and of other ecclesiastical dues is enforced, and all men are bidden to live in chastity, a command which leads one to suppose that the king had then separated from Alfgifu of Northampton. The civil laws are for the most part re-enactments, and in some cases developments, of the legislation of earlier kings, and especially of Eadgar, and may be looked on as the explanation of the agreement in 'Eadgar's law' made by the men of both races at the Oxford assembly. Among the most noteworthy provisions are the list given of cases which the king reserved for his own court, the later pleas of the crown, and the few, virtually nominal, differences recognised between Danish and English customs, such as the fine paid by the Englishman under the name of 'wite' and by the Dane under that of 'lah-slite' (, Ancient Laws, 152). The forest constitutions which bear Cnut's name are, at least as they have come down to us, a later compilation. All that is known for certain about his legislation on this matter is contained in