For what length of time the relief which ho thus purchased might have lasted it is impossible to say. Ethelred now resorted to another mode of dealing with the evil, which was of a very different character from that to which he had hitherto adhered, but combined the quali ties of being at once still more unjustifiable and still leas likely to prove efficacious. On the 13th of November (the festival of St. Brice) in the year 1002, the English inhabitants, in obedience, it is said, to secret instructions received in every city from the government the evening before, suddenly rose in all parts of the kingdom upon tho Danes who were resident among them, and put them to death—men, women, and children. There has been some dispute as to the precise extent to which the massacre was carried, and it cannot bo supposed to have comprehended all the persons of Danish descent resident in the country, for in many districts it is certain that the majority of tho inhabitants were of this description ; but there can be no doubt that a very large number of persons perished. This atrocious and in every way unwise proceeding did not long remain without its fit punishment. The next year Sweyn, whose sister, married to an English earl, had been among the butchered, again appeared on the south coast ; and from this time it may be said the kingdom had no rest. After the devastations of the invaders had been continued for four years, they were once more bought off in 1007 by a payment of 36,000 pounds of silver. The next year, by extraordinary efforts a numerous fleet was built, and assembled at Sandwich ; but a dispute arising among the captains, one of them deserted with twenty vessels, and turned pirate, and nearly all the rest were soon after destroyed by a tempest. DIcanwhile, all the other forms of public calamity combined to afflict the Didion. The king was an object of general hatred or contempt ; the nobility were divided into hostile factions ; and famines and con tagious diseases vied with the swords of the invaders in destroying the miserable people. In 1009 a new Danish force arrived, under a leader named Thurkil, who for the three following years spread devastation throughout the only pert of the country that had hitherto afforded an asylum from the foreigners—the fens of East Anglia. At last, after he had sacked and burned the oity of Canterbury, Thurkil was bought off in 1012 by a payment of 48,000 pounds of silver, and he and his followers agreed, on being allowed to settle in the country, to become the subjects of the English king. But the next year Sweyn himself again made his appearance, now avowing his determination not to depart till he had the oonquest of the country. Entering the ,
number, he received the submission both of the Northumbriane and I of the parts of Lincoln that were in like manner chiefly inhabited by I a population of Danish descent. lie then marched across the country to London, putting all the males to the sword as he advanced ; but the capital, which was defended by Ethelred and Thurkil, resisting his assault, ho turned to the west, and, compelling the nobles to make their submission to him wherever he passed, be proceeded to Bath, and there caused himself to be proclaimed king of England. Soon after this London submitted to his authority; and in the middle of January 1014 Ethelred fled to the court of Richard, duke of Nor mandy, whose sister Emma ho had married some years before. Ile had previously Bent thither Emma and her two children.
On the 2nd of February however Swayn died. His son Canute was immediately proclaimed king by the army ; but the English deter mined to recall Ethelred. He was brought back accordingly, after entering into a solemn agreement with the Witan, that he wuuld be • good lord to them, and amend all they wished to have amended, and that all things should be forgiven which had been done or said against I him, they on their parts promising that they would all turn to him without fraud, and would never again permit the Dance to have dominion in England. Canute deemed it prudent to take flight before the national enthusiasm of the moment; and it is said that another general massacre of the Danes that were left behind in the country signalised the restoration of a national government. But Canute returned the following year with a powerful fleet ; he was immediately joined by Thurkil, who till now had remained faithful to his English allegiance; other chiefs followed Thurkil's example, and a great part of the country appears to have again speedily submitted to the Danes. Ethelred was confined to his bed by illness when Canute arrived, and ho died in London on the 23rd of April 1016, at the moment when the enemy was preparing to attack that city. He was succeeded by Edmund, surnamed 'ram:lido, his eldest son by a lady named Elgiva or Elfieds, who is said to have borne him six eons and four daughters, but to whom it has been doubted whether he was ever married. Edward, one of his two sons by Emma of Normandy, whom he married in 1002, also afterwards ascended the throne. [EDMUND IRONSIDX ; EDWARD TUX CONFESSOR.)