on which he regarded as a yoke laid on him by the
German conquerors; he could not destroy the order of things
established in Denmark, but he revived the old sea-king's life, and
threw himself with the old superiority of the Viking arms on the
English coasts.

Ethelred on this attack fell into the greatest distress, mainly
because he was not sure of his great nobles. How often did the
commanders of the fleet desert it at the moment of action, and the
leaders of the inland levies go over to the enemy! Ethelred sought for
safety by an alliance with the Duchy of Normandy, then daily rising to
greater power. Thus supported, he proceeded to unjustifiable outrages
against his domestic as well as his foreign foes. The great nobles
whom he suspected were mercilessly killed or exiled, and their
children blinded. The Danes who remained in the land he caused to be
murdered all on one day.

The consequences of this deed necessarily recoiled upon himself. When
Sven some years after again landed with redoubled enmity, which was to
a certain extent justified, he experienced no effectual resistance
whatever; Ethelred had to fly before him and quit the island. But now
that Sven too, who had been already saluted by many as King, died in
the first enjoyment of his victory, a question arose which extended
far beyond the personal relations and embarrassments of the moment.

The influence always exercised by the Witans of the Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms in determining the succession to the throne remained much the
same when they were all fused into a single kingdom; even among the
descendants of Alfred, the great men designated the sovereign. In the
disturbed state of things in which they now found themselves, the
lawful King having fled, and the other, who had put himself into
actual possession of the supreme authority, being dead, they framed
the largest conception of their right. They formally made conditions
with Ethelred for his return, and he consented to their demands
through his son.[7] Since he, however, did not fulfil his promise--for
how could he have altered his nature?--they held themselves released
from their engagement to maintain this family on the throne. Sven's
son, Canute, had taken his father's place among the Danes; he had been
long ago baptised, he was of a character which commanded confidence,
and possessed at the time overwhelming power. After Ethelred's death
the lay and spiritual chiefs of England decided to abandon the