d to spread through the
more inland counties the fury of their depredations. In this extremity,
Ethelred and his nobles had recourse to the former expedient; and
sending ambassadors to the two northern kings, they promised them
subsistence and tribute, on condition they would, for the present, put
an end to their ravages, and soon after depart the kingdom. Sweyn and
Olave agreed to the terms, and peaceably took up their quarters at
Southampton, where the sum of sixteen thousand pounds was paid to them.
Olave even made a journey to Andover, where Ethelred resided; and he
received the rite of confirmation from the English bishops, as well as
many rich presents from the king. He here promised that he would never
more infest the English territories; and he faithfully fulfilled the
engagement. This prince receives the appellation of St. Olave from the
church of Rome; and, notwithstanding the general presumption, which lies
either against the understanding or morals of every one who in those
ignorant ages was dignified with that title, he seems to have been a man
of merit and of virtue, Sweyn, though less scrupulous than Olave, was
constrained, upon the departure of the Norwegian prince, to evacuate
also the kingdom, with all his followers.

{997.} This composition brought only a short interval to the miseries of
the English. The Danish pirates appeared soon after in the Severn; and
having committed spoil in Wales, as well as in Cornwall and Devonshire,
they sailed round to the south coast, and entering the Tamar, completed
the devastation of these two counties. They then returned to the Bristol
Channel; and penetrating into the country by the Avon, spread themselves
over all that neighborhood, and carried fire and sword even into
Dorsetshire. They next changed the seat of war; and after ravaging the
Isle of Wight, they entered the Thames and Medway, and laid siege to
Rochester, where they defeated the Kentish men in a pitched battle.
After this victory, the whole province of Kent was made a scene of
slaughter, fire, and devastation. The extremity of these miseries forced
the English into counsels for common defence, both by sea and land;
but the weakness of the king, the divisions among the nobility, the
treachery of some, the cowardice of others, the want of concert in all,
frustrated every endeavor; their fleets and armies either came too late
to attack the enemy, or were repulsed with dishonor; and the people
were thus eq