Malcolm rendered some sort of homage in 1027, but for what territories we do not know. That he became Canute's vassal for all his possessions is unlikely; he had already for a decade been the man of the English King for Lothian; and the probabilities are that the homage of 1027 was merely the renewal of the agreements entered into after the battle of Carham in 1018. With the Northern war still unfinished, Canute cannot have been in position to exact severe terms. Furthermore, the acquisition of the Norwegian crown would bring to Canute important possessions to the north and north-west of Malcolm's kingdom and place him in a more favourable position for conquest at some future time. Whether Malcolm realised it or not, further victories for Canute in Scandinavia would mean serious dangers for the Scottish realms.
The identity of the other two kings, Mælbeathe and Jehmarc, is a matter of conjecture. Mælbeathe was probably Macbeth, who as earl ruled the country about Moray Firth, the Macbeth whom we know from Shakespeare's tragedy. Skene believes that Jehmarc, too, must have ruled in the extreme north or north-west, the region that was under Norse influence. But the language of the Chronicle need not mean that these kings were both from Scotland; Munch's conjecture that Jehmarc was Eagmargach, the Celtic King of Dublin after the Irish victory at Clontarf,[327] is at least plausible. That Canute counted Irishmen among his subjects appears from a stanza by Ottar the Swart:
Let us so greet the King of the Danes,
Of Irish, English, and Island-dwellers,
That his praise as far as the pillared heaven
May travel widely through all the earth.[328]
If Munch's identification is correct, it reveals a purpose of combining all the Scandinavian West with the older kingdoms, a policy that must have seemed both rational and practical. The homage of Malcolm and Macbeth seems to be mentioned by Sighvat though here again the chronology is defective, the submission of the kings "from far north in Fife" being dated before 1026.
In the meantime Norway was not forgotten. During the year 1027, while Canute was absent in Rome or busied with North British affairs, his emissaries were at work in Norway still further undermining the tottering loyalty of the Norwegian chiefs. No attempt was made at secrecy—it was bribery open and unblushing. Says Sighvat the Scald:
Jealous foes of King Olaf
Tempt us with open purses;
Gold for the life of the lordly
Ruler is loudly offered.
The poet was a Christian and seems to have taken grim satisfaction in the teachings of the new faith regarding future punishment:
Men who sell for molten
Metal the gentle ruler
In swart Hell (they deserve it)
Shall suffer the keenest torture.[329]
The activities of the Danish envoys appear to have extended to all parts of the country, though it seems likely that their success was greatest in the West and South-west where they enjoyed the protection and assistance of the mighty nobleman Erling Skjalgsson, who thus added dishonour to stubborn and unpatriotic wilfulness. After Holy River Canute apparently dismissed his fleet for the winter, in part at least, and Erling returned to his estates at Soli.