Stelle Non parvo tempore evoluto, venit pr...; (Vita sancti Elphegi (1080 - 1080), 15 (Coll. 0386B-0386D)) [5072]

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ID 5072
Text Vita sancti Elphegi (1080 - 1080) Osbern of Canterbury
Quotation Non parvo tempore evoluto, venit princeps Danorum Canutus cum multo navigio in Angliam, dissidensque ab illo propter quasdam res male ac perfidiose actas, quidquid residuum nefandi populi fuit, delevit, ipsum ducem cum sex tantum navibus in Daniam fugavit. Qui cum ad terram evasisset, suspectus Danorum principibus, ne intestina bella moliretur, statim per cuncta regionis loca agitatus, ad extremum ab ignobili vulgo occisus, feris et avibus projectus est. Post haec vero princeps Danorum Canutus, cum videret populum suum ab exercitu Anglorum sine intermissione caedi, et propter rerum difficultatem ad deditionem fere compelli, accersitis omnibus, qui ad se confugerant sapientioribus Anglis, consuluit eos, quid causae esset, quod tot sibi adversa accidissent. Qui omnes uno ore respondentes, dixerunt: «Prophetia est sancti martyris Elphegi: qui cum a patribus tuis fuisset circumventus, praedixit eis quod in regno Anglorum non perpetuo essent radices acturi, sed pejori quam Sodoma morte perituri. Nunc ergo, si vis illum tuis temporibus reddere placatum, promitte illi, si felix fuerit rerum successus, te reliquias illius ad sedem ejus honorifice reportandas curaturum.» Quod cum firmiter promisisset, post modicum pacem obtinuit, post pacem regni dimidium, post dimidium totum. Cumque ab omni bellorum tumultu requies undique data fuisset, recordatus est rex quid beato Elphego quondam promisisset, et, directa legatione, vocavit Egelnothum archiepiscopum, qui corpus martyris decem annis sepultum, incorruptum et inviolatum reperientes, Cantuariam cum maximo honore deducunt, in sarcophago veneranter collocantes.
Translation Before much time had passed, Cnut, Prince of the Danes, came with a great fleet to England, and took issue with him [Thurkil] because of the things he had done wickedly and in perfidiously, and whatever was left of that unspeakable people he destroyed, and drove the jarl [Thurkil] into flight to Denmark with six ships. And when he had made it to land, the Danish princes were suspicious of him, fearing he might be preparing a civil war, and drove him around all the places of the region, until finally he was killed by a common mob and his body thrown out for the birds and wild beasts to feed on. After this, the Prince of the Danes, Cnut, when he saw how his people were without cease being slaughtered by the army of the English, and on account of the dire situation nearly forced to surrender, with all gathered together, he consulted those of the wiser English, who had gone over to his side, what the reasons were that so much should go against him. All of them, responding with one mouth, said: 'It is the prophecy of St Alfheah the Martyr: who when he was besieged by your fathers, preached to them that they would sink no lasting roots into the kingdom of the English, but would perish by a death worse than that of Sodom. And so now, if you wish him to make things peaceable in your time, promise him, if you shall succeed, that you will undertake to honorably transfer his relics back to his own seat'. When he had firmly promised this, after a short time he won peace, and after peace half the kingdom, and after half, all of it. And when from all tumult of wars peace had been won on all sides, the king recalled what he had once promised to Alfheah, and sent a legation to call Archbishop Athelnoth, who with them found the martyr's body, which had been buried for ten years, incorrupt and inviolate, and processed with it with the greatest of honour to Canterbury, placing it venerably in a sarcophagus. (Trans. Laura Gazzoli)
Summary Cnut arrives in England (1014) following Svend's death and orders the translation of Ælfheah's remains to Canterbury.
Quotation source 15 (Coll. 0386B-0386D)
Temporal Coverage 1014 - 1023
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