[188] The Össeby Stone. Montelius, ibid..
[189] The Valleberga Stone. Wimmer, De danske Runemindesmærker, iii., 165.
[190] Chronicon, viii., c. 5. Thietmar's account is strictly contemporary.
[191] Annales Cambriæ, 23.
CHAPTER VI
THE BEGINNINGS OF EMPIRE—1019-1025
The first three or four years of Canute's government in England can have given but little promise of the beneficent rule that was to follow. To the conquered Saxon they must have been a season of great sorrow. On the throne of Alfred sat an alien king who had done nothing as yet to merit the affectionate regard of his subjects. In the shire courts ruled the chiefs of the dreaded Danish host, chiefs who had probably harried those same shires at an earlier date. A heavy tax had been collected to pay the forces of the enemy, but a large part of those forces still remained. The land was at peace; but the calm was the calm of exhaustion. The young King had shown vigour and decision; thus far, however, his efforts had been directed toward dynastic security rather than the welfare of his English subjects.
But with Canute's return from Denmark in 1020 begins the second period in the history of the reign. After that date, it seems that more intelligent efforts were made to reconcile the Saxons to foreign rule. For one thing, Canute must have come to appreciate the wonderful power of the Church; for an attempt was made to enlist its forces on the side of the new monarchy. Perhaps he had also come to understand that repression could not continue indefinitely.