ager to plunder the wealthy
London of the Saxons. The brave burghers, trained to handle spear and
sword, beat back, however, the hungry foemen from their walls--the
rampart that tough Roman hands had reared, and the strong tower which
Alfred had seen arise on the eastern bank of the river.

But it was not only to such worldly bulwarks that the defenders of
London trusted. On that day, says the chronicler, the Mother of God, "of
her mild-heartedness," rescued the Christian city from its foes. An
assault on the wall, coupled with an attempt to burn the town, was
defeated, with great slaughter of the besiegers; and the two kings
sailed away the same day in wrath and sorrow.

During the year 998 a great "gemot" was held at London. Whether any
measures were taken to resist the Danes does not appear; but the priests
were busy, and Wulfsige, Bishop of the Dorsaetas, took measures to
substitute monks for canons in his cathedral church at Sherborne; and
the king restored to the church of Rochester the lands of which he had
robbed it in his youth.

In 1009 the Danes made several vain attempts on London.

[Illustration: LORD MAYOR'S WATER PROCESSION.]

In 1013 Sweyn, the Dane, marched upon the much-tormented city of ships;
but the hardy citizens were again ready with bow and spear. Whether the
bridge still existed then or not is uncertain; as many of the Danes are
said to have perished in vainly seeking for the fords. The assaults
were as unsuccessful as those of Sweyn and Olaf, nineteen years before,
for King Ethelred's right hand was Thorkill, a trusty Dane. "For the
fourth time in this reign," says Mr. Freeman, "the invaders were beaten
back from the great merchant city. Years after London yielded to Sweyn;
then again, in Ethelred's last days, it resisted bravely its enemies;
till at last Ethelred, weary of Dane and Saxon, died, and was buried in
St. Paul's. The two great factions of Danes and Saxons had now to choose
a king."

Canute the Dane was chosen as king at Southampton; but the Londoners
were so rich, free, and powerful that they held a rival _gemot_, and
with one voice elected the Saxon atheling Edmund Ironside, who was
crowned by Archbishop Lyfing within the city, and very probably at St.
Paul's. Canute, enraged at the Londoners, at once sailed for London with
his army, and, halting at Greenwich, planned the immediate siege of the
rebellious city. The great obstacle to his advance was the fortified
bridge that