Matters were in this good train in the camp when intelligence was brought that Knut, with the whole of his mighty fleet, had returned to the Wash. The Danish faction, or all those Saxon lords who counted more upon Danish assistance than upon their own valour and the valour of their countrymen, were greatly rejoiced at these tidings, and would not allow any man to doubt that Knut, having made good seizings and spoils, was now come to co-operate with the English warriors and their great captain the Lord of Brunn; and these unwise lords, being partly guided or misguided by traitors, outvoted the Lord Abbat, and sent down a deputation to Lynn to salute and welcome the royal Dane, and to invite him and escort him to Ely. And this time Knut was nothing loth to come: and he came up the river with a part of his fleet of ships and with many of his jarls and most famed warriors. Crowned kings had visited the great house of Ely before now, and kings of the Danish as well as of the Saxon line, but to none of them had there been given a more splendid feast than was now given to Knut, who as yet was but a jarl and a king’s son. The Saxon dames of high name and beauty came in from the Camp of Refuge, or from houses in the township of Ely, or in circumjacent hamlets, to welcome the princely stranger and adorn the festival; and fairest among these fair was Alftrude, the young wife of the Lord of Brunn. The Lord Hereward himself was there, but much less cheerful and festive than was his wont; for on his last sally from the fens he had heard more than he knew before of the evil doings of the Dane; and, moreover, he had ever suspected their good faith.
When the feasting was over, the cunning old Dane, that had come up to Ely before as envoy from the prince, began to relate what great mischief Knut had done to Duke William, and what great service he had rendered to the House of Ely and the Camp of Refuge, and the whole fen country, by the diversion he had made with his ships; and before any of the Saxon lords could reply or make any observation upon these his words, the astute Dane asked whether the festivals of Saint Sexburga and Saint Withburga had been well attended by pilgrims, and whether the shrine-boxes had had a good replenishing? The chamberlain, who ought not to have spoken before his superior the Lord Abbat, said that the festivals had been thronged, and that, considering the troublesome times, the donations of the pilgrims had been liberal.
“That is well,” said the old fox, “for our ships have had much wear and tear, and stand in need of repairs; and the prince wants some gold and silver to pay his seamen and his fighting men, who are growing weary and dissatisfied for want of pay.”
Here the Lord Abbat looked rather grim, and said, “Of a truth I thought that thy people had made great booty! By Saint Etheldreda, the founder of this house—the house was never so poor as it now is, or had such urgent need of money as it now hath! By my soul it is but a small matter that is in our shrine-boxes, and all of it, and more than all, is due unto the Jews!”
“It is sinful and heathenish to pay unto Jews the gold and silver which Christian pilgrims have deposited on the shrines of their saints,” said one of the Danish jarls.
And hereat the Lord Abbat Thurstan blushed and held down his head, much grieving that, though against his vote and will, the house had been driven to traffic with Israelites and money-changers; yet still remembering that this evil thing had been begun in order to get money to send to the insatiate Danes. All this while Prince Knut kept his state, and said not a word. But the cunning old man went on to say, that hitherto the profits of the expedition had not been half enough to pay King Svend Estrithson the price of half the ships he had lost last year; and that, although the amount of gold and silver in the shrine-boxes might be but small, there was a rumour that there was other good treasure in the house.[[196]]
Here it was that the Lord of Brunn grew red, for he was the first to understand that the greedy Dane meant to speak of the chalices and pateras, the crown of gold, the gold and silver tables, and the other things of great price that he had brought away with him from Peterborough in order that they might be saved from Torauld of Fescamp. Again speaking, when he ought not to have spoken—before Abbat Thurstan could speak or collect his thoughts—the chamberlain said, “Verily, oh Dane! I have under my charge some strong boxes which the Lord of Brunn sent hither from Peterborough; and, albeit, I know not with precision what these strong boxes contain...”
Here Abbat Thurstan stopped the talkative chamberlain and said, “Let the strong boxes contain what they will, the contents are none of ours! They be here as a sacred deposit, to be returned to the good monks of Peterborough when they can get back to their house and their church, and live without dread of Saxon traitors and Norman plunderers!”
But many of the Danes, believing the Peterborough treasure to be far greater than it was, said that it would be no such sin to employ it for secular purposes, or to give it for the support of friends and allies who had quitted their homes and their countries, and had crossed the stormy ocean to aid the English; for that, when the Danes and the English between them should have driven the Normans out of the land, there would be no lack of gold and silver wherewith to replace the sacred vessels, and to give back to Peterborough Abbey far more than had been taken from it. Some of them declared, and severally promised and swore by their own saints, that if Knut, their leader, and the son of their king, was but gratified in this particular, he would land all his best warriors and join Hereward the Saxon, and so go in search of Duke William and bring the Normans to battle: and if Knut did not swear by his saints, or say much by word of mouth, he nodded his head and seemed to consent—the christened infidel, and unprince-like prince that he was.
It may be judged whether Lord Hereward was not eager for such an increase of strength as might enable him to carry the war into the heart of England or under the walls of the city of London! It may be judged whether he did not burn for the opportunity of fighting a great and decisive battle: but Hereward had a reverence for the property of the church, and a great misgiving of the Danes; and he whispered to his best friend, the Lord Abbat, “If we put this guilt upon our souls, and give these insatiate Danes all that they ask, they will do not for us that which they promise, but will sail away in their ships with the plunder they have made as soon as the storms of winter approach.”