cerning the hares, that they should go free. The rich complained and the poor murmured, but he was so sturdy that he recked nought of them; they must will all that the king willed, if they would live; or would keep their lands; or would hold their possessions; or would be maintained in their rights. Alas! that any man should so exalt himself, and carry himself in his pride over all! May Almighty God show mercy to his soul, and grant him the forgiveness of his sins! We have written concerning him these things, both good and bad, that virtuous men might follow after the good, and wholly avoid the evil, and might go in the way that leadeth to the kingdom of heaven.
We may write of many events which happened during this year. In Denmark, the Danes who were formerly accounted the most loyal of people, turned to the greatest possible perfidy and treachery, for they chose king Canute, and submitted to him, and swore oaths of allegiance, and afterwards they shamefully murdered him in a church.[1] It also came to pass in Spain, that the heathen men went forth, and made war upon the Christians, and brought great part of the country into subjection to themselves. But the Christian king, whose name was Alphonso, sent to all countries and begged assistance. And allies flocked to him from every Christian land, and they went forth, and slew or drove away all the heathens, and they won their land again by the help of God. The same year also many great men died in this land: Stigand bishop of Chichester, and the abbat of St. Augustine's, and the abbats of Bath and of Pershore, and the lord of them all William king of England, concerning whom we have spoken above.
After his death, his son William, of the same name with his father, took to himself the government, and was consecrated king in Westminster by archbishop Lanfranc three days before Michaelmas: and all the men of England acknowledged him, and swore oaths of allegiance to him. This done, the king went to Winchester and examined the treasury, and the hoards which his father had amassed; gold and silver, vessels of plate, palls, gems, and many other valu-
- ↑ A church at Odensee, dedicated to St. Alban, whose relic had been brought from England by this Canute.
