[1] The common people regarded his accomplishments in this direction with superstitious awe. Many stories of his skill were circulated, and it was even whispered that in a personal contest with the Evil One, it was the foul fiend and not the monk who got the worst of it, and fled from the saint's workshop, howling with dismay. [2] R. Green's "English People." [3] E. A. Freeman's "Norman Conquest," I, 65.
61. New Invasions; Danegeld (992).
With the close of Dunstan's career, a period of decline set in. The Northmen began to make fresh inroads (S53). The resistance to them became feeble and faint-hearted. At last a royal tax, called Danegeld, or Dane money (992), was levied on all landed property in England in order to buy off the invaders. For a brief period this cowardly concession answered its purpose. But a time came when the Danes refused to be bribed to keep away.
62. The Northmen invade France.
The Danish invasion of England was really a part of a great European movement. The same Northmen who had obtained so large a part of the island (S56) had, in the tenth century, established themselves in France.
There they were known as Normans, a softened form of the word "Northmen," and the district where they settled came to be called from them Normandy. They founded a line of dukes, or princes, who were destined, in the course of the next century, to give a new aspect to the events of English history.
63. Sweyn conquers England; Canute[1] (1017-1035).
Early in the eleventh century Sweyn, the Dane, conquered England (1013), and "all the people," says the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" (S99), "held him for full king." He was succeeded by his son Canute (1017). He could hardly be called a foreigner, since he spoke a language and set up a government differing but little from that of the English.
[1] "Cnut," a shortened form of Canute.
After his first harsh measures were over he sought the friendship of both Church and people. He gave the country peace. Tradition reports that he rebuked the flattery of courtiers by showing them that the inrolling tide is no respecter of persons; he endeavored to rule justly, and his liking for the monks found expression in his song: