It is probable that such decorations were not unfrequently the prizes of piracy rather than of fair trade: for, though some of the people of the southern portions of Norway are said to have been considerable traders to England, Ireland, Saxony, Flanders, and Denmark, yet their attachment to trade in no way interfered with occasional amusements of a very different kind, or with quartering themselves during the winters on the countries of the Christians. Nor were they particular in their objects of plunder. In the periodical fairs of Germany, which were established about this period, a large portion of the merchandise brought to them for sale consisted of slaves of both sexes; ordinary slaves of either sex realizing about a mark, or eight ounces of silver, while three times that sum was frequently given, at these northern fairs, for female slaves who were “fair in form and beautiful in countenance.” Helmold relates that he saw seven thousand Danish slaves at one time exposed for sale in the market at Mecklenburg.[498]
Mode of navigating.
Long before the compass was known, the seamen of Norway, like the ancient mariners of the Island of Ceylon, regulated their track through the ocean by the flight of birds set free from on board their vessels; a proof that, in regions of the world far removed from each other, the same primitive practices prevailed. It is related of Flok,[499] a famous Norwegian navigator, that when about to set out from Shetland[500] to Iceland, he took with him some crows on board of his ship. Under the impression that he had made considerable progress in his voyage, he liberated one of these birds, which, seeing land astern, flew for it; whereby Flok, considering that he was nearer Shetland or Faroe “than any other land, kept on his course for some time, and then sent out another crow, which, seeing no land at all,” returned to the vessel. At last, as he conceived, having accomplished the greatest part of his voyage, a third crow was set at liberty, which seeing land ahead immediately flew for it, and Flok, following his guide, fell in with the east end of the island of Iceland.
Canute, A.D. 1016. Reduction of the English fleet.
A.D. 1031.
Happily, the accession of Canute to the throne of England had put a stop to the cruel wars so long waged between the Danes and English, and commerce once more began to flourish; the influence and dread of this prince being so great, that he found it unnecessary to maintain more than forty[501] ships at sea to protect his coasts and his maritime commerce, a number which was afterwards reduced to sixteen.[502] Indeed, so far from entertaining any apprehensions of an inclination to revolt among the English, he frequently made voyages to the Continent, once proceeding even as far as Rome, where he met the Emperor Conrad II. and other princes, from whom he obtained, for all his subjects, whether merchants or pilgrims, a complete exemption from the heavy tolls usually exacted on their visits to that city.[503] Canute, indeed, by his conquest of Norway, represented in his own person both the English whom he had subjugated, and the Danes, who had been their constant and persevering rivals, thus uniting under one sovereignty all the maritime nations of the north.
Prosperity of commerce.
Under such favourable circumstances as these, the trade and shipping of England could hardly fail to prosper, although there are no records left whereby we can measure their extent or character. But as Canute materially increased the number of mints[504] throughout the kingdom, and as the merchants of London had become sufficiently powerful to be the chief instruments in placing his son Harold upon the throne at his death,[505] it may be inferred that the mercantile community, while requiring a greater amount of currency for the conduct of their business, had likewise become an important element in the State. It is further recorded, that the merchants of London, with the seamen of that city, many of whom had probably become Thanes, mingled with the nobility and performed a leading and conspicuous part at the coronation of Harold at Oxford, who soon afterwards increased the wages of the sailors of his fleet, giving to each of them eight mancusses[506] (2l. 16s. 8d.) annually; but when Hardicanute increased his navy to seventy-two ships,[507] a further advance was required to be made in the wages of the seamen, who were discontented with the remuneration they received.
Norman invasion, A.D. 1066.
During the short period of the restoration of the Saxon monarchy the Danes resumed their marauding expeditions; but, after ravaging the coasts of Wales and Sussex, they were repulsed with great slaughter by the English under Harold II., who was however less successful in resisting the Norman invasion under William the Conqueror, whose accession constitutes a new era in the commercial and maritime, as well as in the political and general, history of Britain.