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 The ravages continued unhindered, and early in 1010 Oxford was burnt. Later in the year East Anglia was attacked, and, after a gallant though unsuccessful resistance by Ulfcytel, was thoroughly harried. A series of ravages followed that seem to have crushed all hope of further resistance. By the beginning of 1011 sixteen shires had been overrun (A.-S. Chron.) Then Æthelred and the witan again offered tribute, and 48,000l. was demanded. During the truce Thurcytel's fleet sacked Canterbury, took Archbishop Ælfheah [q. v.], and, after keeping him in captivity for seven months, slew him on 13 April 1012. Meanwhile an expedition was made against the Welsh, who had probably taken advantage of the state of the country to make raids on Mercia [see under ]. The tribute was paid at last, and the ‘great fleet’ dispersed, Thurcytel, with forty-five ships, taking service under Æthelred, who promised to supply him and his men with food and clothing, and gave him an estate in East Anglia in return for his oath to defend the country against all invaders (A.-S. Chron.; Encomium Emmæ, i. 2; Gesta Regum, sec. 176). In the summer of 1013 Swend came over with a splendid fleet and received the submission of all northern England. Æthelred shut himself up in London, and when the Danish army, after pillaging Mercia and marching westward to Winchester, turned eastward, and appeared before the city, a vigorous defence was made, in which the king is said to have borne a foremost part, and the army again marched into the west. Swend was formally chosen as king, and Æthelred took shelter on Thurcytel's ships, which lay in the Thames. Emma went over to Normandy to her brother, the king sent the two sons he had by her to join her there, sailed to the Isle of Wight, stayed there over Christmas, and early in January 1014 crossed over to Normandy. He is said to have taken over treasure with him from Winchester, and, though the city was then in the hands of Swend, it is not impossible that his voyage to Thurcytel's station, the Isle of Wight, may have been made in order to meet some keeper of the royal ‘hoard.’ He was hospitably received by Duke Richard, and resided at Rouen (, v. 7).

When Swend died in February the ‘fleet’ chose his son Cnut as king, but all the witan, clergy, and laity determined to send after Æthelred. Accordingly he received messengers from the assembly who told him that ‘no lord was dearer to them than their lord by birth, if he would rule them rightlier than he had done before.’ Then he sent messengers to the witan, and with them his son Eadward [see ], promising that he would for the future be a good lord to them, and would be guided by their will in all things. A favourable answer was sent back, and as Olaf (afterwards St. Olaf, king of Norway) happened to be in some Norman port with his ships, he brought Æthelred back to England in Lent (, Corpus Poeticum Boreale, ii. 153). He was joyfully received, and a witenagemot was held in which some laws were published containing more good resolutions, and a declaration that ecclesiastical and secular matters ought to be dealt with in the same assemblies. At the head of a large force he marched into Lindsey, drove Cnut out, ravaged the district and slaughtered the people, evidently as a punishment for the help they had given to his enemies. The satisfaction that was felt at his return was lessened by his ordering that 21,000l. (A.-S. Chron.) or 30,000l. should be paid to Thurcytel's fleet. The next year he held a great gemot at Oxford, and during its session he, and probably the witan also, must have agreed to the treacherous murder of Sigeferth and Morkere, chief thegns in the Seven Boroughs, by Eadric. He confiscated their property, and ordered Sigeferth's widow to be kept at Malmesbury. Contrary to his wish his son Eadmund married her. When Cnut returned to England in September, Æthelred lay sick at Corsham in Wiltshire. He was in London early the next year, and when Eadmund gathered an army to oppose Cnut, his troops refused to follow him unless the king and the Londoners joined them, but Æthelred was probably too ill to do so. A little later he joined the ætheling. When he had done so he was told that there was a plot against his life, and he thereupon went back to London again. Cnut was preparing to lay siege to the city when Æthelred died there on St. George's day, 23 April, 1016. He was buried in St. Paul's. By his first wife, Ælfgifu, he had seven sons, Æthelstan, who died 1016; Ecgberht, who died about 1005; Eadmund, who succeeded him; Eadred; Eadwig, a young man of noble character and great popularity ( an. 1016; Gesta Regum, sec. 180), who was banished by Cnut and was slain by his order in 1017; Eadgar; and Eadward (Codex Dipl. p. 714); and apparently three daughters, Wulfhild, married to Ulfcytel, ealdorman of East Anglia; Eadgyth, married to Eadric Streona; and Ælfgifu, married to Earl Uhtred; the Æthelstan who fell in battle with the Danes in 1010 and is called the king's son-in-law (A.-S. Chron.; ), was probably Æthel-