On the 6th of April, a great synod met at the Lateran to consider various weighty matters and to settle certain important controversies. It may have been at this meeting, though preliminary negotiations must have prepared the matter to some extent, that King Canute or his spokesman stated the complaints of the English Church. For one thing he urged that the price extorted from the English archbishops for the pallium was too high. The Pope promised to reduce the charges on condition that Peter's pence be regularly paid. Apparently the curia urged reform in church dues generally, for a little later Canute sent his English subjects a sharp reminder on this point. The Pope also agreed to exempt the English school at Rome from the customary tribute. On the whole it seems, however, that the more substantial results of the negotiations remained with the Roman curia.
The English King had another set of grievances which seem to have been discussed in the same synod, but which particularly interested the ruler of Burgundy. English and Danish pilgrims, he asserted, were not given fair and considerate treatment on their journeys to Rome: they were afflicted with unjust tolls and with overcharges at the inns; evidently Canute also felt that the highways should be made safer and justice more accessible to those who travelled on holy errands. In the matter of undue charges, the Burgundians appear to have been especially guilty. The reasonableness of Canute's request was apparent to the synod, and it was decreed that the treatment of pilgrims should be liberal and just:
and all the princes have engaged by their edict, that my men, whether merchants or other travellers for objects of devotion, should go and return in security and peace, without any constraint of barriers or tolls.[325]
From Rome, Canute hurried back to Denmark, following the same route, it seems, as on the journey south. Soon after his return he sent a message to the English clergy and people, advising them as to his absence and doings in Italy.[326] From the use of the phrase, "here in the East" in speaking of the Scandinavian difficulties, it seems likely that the message was composed in Denmark or somewhere on the route not far from that kingdom. It was carried to England by Bishop Lifing of Crediton. In this document Canute also recounts the honours bestowed upon him in Italy; especially does he recall the presents of Emperor Conrad: "divers costly gifts, as well in golden and silver vessels as in mantles and vestments exceedingly precious."
The document also asks that the lawful church-dues be regularly paid,—Peter's pence, plough alms, church scot, and tithes of the increase of animals and of farm products. This admonition was later enacted into law. At the same time he forbids his sheriffs and other officials to do injustice to any one, rich or poor, either in the hope of winning the royal favour or to gain wealth for the King. He has no need of wealth that has been unjustly acquired. But this lofty assertion of principle looks somewhat strange in the light of the fact that the King was in those very days engaged in bribing a nation.
There can be no doubt that the visit to the Eternal City was of considerable importance for the future career of the Anglo-Danish King. Doubtless Rome began to realise what a power was this young monarch who up to this time had probably been regarded as little better than a barbarian, one of those dreaded pirates who had so long and so often terrorised the Italian shores. Here he was next to the Emperor the most redoubtable Christian ruler in Europe. Probably Canute returned to the North with the Pope's approval of his plans for empire in Scandinavia,—tacit if not expressed. John XIX. was a Pope whose ideal of a church was one that was efficiently administered and he may have seen in Canute a ruler of his own spirit.
FOOTNOTES:
[303] Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1023.
[304] Snorre, Saga of Saint Olaf, c. 148.
[305] Steenstrup, Normannerne, iii., 349.