“A.D. 1023. This year King Cnut, within London, in St. Paul’s Minster, gave full leave to Archbishop Æthelnothe and Bishop Brithwine and to all the servants of God who were with them that they might take up from the tomb the Archbishop St. Elphege.” This they did, and transported the remains to Canterbury, where they still lie. This archbishop, who had been murdered by the Danes, was sainted. There is a church in the City of London dedicated to him.
The manner of the exhumation and translation, as described in the Translatio S. Elphegi by Osborne, is quoted by Wright (The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon) to illustrate the sturdy independence and the turbulence of the Londoners.
“When Archbishop Elfey had been slain by the Danes in 1012, the Londoners purchased his body of the murderers, and deposited it in St. Paul’s Cathedral. After Cnut had obtained the crown by conquest, and peace was restored, Archbishop Agelnoth (Elfey’s successor) applied to the king to give up the body of the martyr to the monks of Canterbury. Cnut, who was then holding his court in London, consented, but he would only undertake to get the body away by deceiving the citizens. He gave orders to his huscarles, or household soldiers, to disperse themselves in parties, some on the bridge and along the banks of the river, whilst others went to the gates of the city, and there raised tumults and riots. By dint of promises and persuasions, the men who had the care of the body of Elfey were prevailed upon to assist in the plot, and, whilst the attention of the citizens was called to the disturbances at the gates, the sacred deposit was carried by stealth to the river and there placed in a boat, which was rowed in all haste beyond the limits of the capital, and then landed in Kent. The king stood on the bank of the Thames, and watched its progress with anxious eye, for he was afraid of the citizens. When the latter discovered the trick which had been played upon them, they sent out a party in pursuit of the fugitives, who, however, had reached a place of safety before they were overtaken.”
“A.D. 1035. This year,” says the Chronicle, “died King Cnut.” If, as Freeman maintains, King Alfred was the most perfect character in all history, then is Cnut the wisest and the strongest character in English history. He founded a standing army with his regiment of Huscarles, or Guards; he respected old laws and customs; he recognised the right of the people to accept or refuse new laws; he defined the right of hunting, leaving every man free to hunt over his own land; he denounced the slave trade; he ordered that there was to be no trading on Sunday—surely the weekly day of rest is the greatest boon ever bestowed upon men who have to work for their living. He enjoined the discharge of church duties and the payment of church dues. All these things, however, belong to the history of England.
On the death of Cnut a Witenagemot was held at Oxford for the election of his successor. How the kingdom was partitioned between Harold and Hardacnut; how the partition was found impossible; how Harold ruled over all England; how evil was his rule and how disastrous—these things belong to English history. London, which suffered from Harold’s misrule with the rest of the kingdom, had been mainly instrumental in the election of that king. She was represented at Oxford by her “lithsmen,” i.e. her sea-going men. Were they the merchants? or were they the Danes—men of the sea—who formed a considerable part of her population? Freeman thinks they were the latter; there seems, however, no reason for adopting that view, or for supposing that in a general parliament of the kingdom the Danes of London should be called upon to send special representatives. Why were not the Danes of Leicestershire, or of Norfolk, where there were so many, also called? There is, however, a passage in the laws of Athelstan which seems to clear up this point. Athelstan conferred the rank of Thane on every merchant who made three voyages over the sea with a vessel and cargo of his own. Therefore, in calling the Witenagemot these navigators—men of the sea—who had in this manner obtained the rank of Thane were summoned by right. The “lithsmen” were not the merchants; they were not the Danes; they were simply the merchant adventurers who had traded outre mer, beyond the seas and back for three voyages, and claimed for that service the rank of Thane.
The reign of Harold is only important to us for these reasons—First, the part played by London in the election of the king. Next, the illustration of the savagery which still remained among the Danes, and was shown in their horrible treatment of the Etheling Alfred and his men. Alfred, the son of Ethelred, thought that the death of Cnut would give him a chance of succession. He therefore came over, accompanied by a small following. But “Godwin, the earl, would not allow him.” His fate is recorded in the A.S. Chronicle:—
“But Godwin him then let,
and him in bonds set;
and his companions he dispersed;
and some divers ways slew;