| Keywords |
|
| ID |
5077 |
| Text |
Translatio sancti Elphegi (1080 - 1080) Osbern of Canterbury |
| Quotation |
At princeps Danorum Cnut, cum videret populum suum ab exercitu Anglorum sine intermissione dirissime caedi, et jam fere propter rerum difficultatem ad deditionem se compelli; accersitis omnibus qui ad se confugerant sapientioribus Anglis, consuluit eos quid causae esset quod tot sibi adversa contigissent. Qui omnes uno ore respondentes dixerunt: Prophetia est venerandi martyris Elphegi, qui cum a patribus tuis crudeli interrogatione circumventus fuisset, praedixit eis quod in regno Anglorum perpetuo non essent radicaturi, sed pejori quam Sodoma morte perituri. Nunc ergo si vis illum tuis temporibus placabilem facere, hujus te pollicitationis foedere apud illum constringe, ut cum felix rerum fuerit successio, venerabiles corporis illius reliquias de loco in quo conditae sunt tollas, atque ad sedem patriarchatus sui servato more antiquorum transferre studeas. Assensit itaque princeps senatorum consilio, consilium sequitur divinae propitiationis declaratio. Non post multos etenim dies Cnut pacem obtinuit; post pacem, regni dimidium; post dimidium, totum. Cumque ab omni bellorum tumultu requies undique data fuisset, recordatus quid beato Elphego quondam promisisset, directa legatione vocavit Agelnotum, qui tunc temporis summum in sancta Dorobernensi Ecclesia gerebat sacerdotium, vir sanctus et bonus, et regi propterea quod illum sacro chrismate linisset, valde acceptus. Qui Sabbato vigiliarum Pentecostes Londoniam adveniens, mandavit regi in balneas forte descendenti se adesse, et quid velit ipse statuere in ecclesia beati Pauli apostoli exspectare. Quo ille accepto, sine mora de lavacro surgit, chlamyde solummodo nudum corpus obtegit, simplices pedibus subtalares inducit, sicque ad praesulem impigro gradu tendit, mandans omnibus familiae suae militibus, quos lingua Danorum Huscarles vocant, ut alii eorum per extremas civitatis portas seditiones concitent, alii pontem et ripas fluminis armati obsideant, ne exeuntes eos cum corpore sancti Londanus populus praepedire valeat. |
| Translation |
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 by a direct legation he called Aethelnoth, who at that time exercised the supreme priesthood in the Church of Dorchester, a holy and good man, and very acceptable to the king because he had anointed him with holy oil. He came to London on the Saturday of the vigils of Pentecost, and sent to the king to tell him of his presence as he happened to be getting into the bath, and said he was waiting for him in St. Paul's Church for whatever he wanted to arrange. As soon as the king heard this message, he rose from the bathtub without delay, covered his naked body with nothing more than a light cloak, put on a simple pair of slippers, and thus he ran with in a hurried gait to the bishop, sending orders to all the soldiers of his following, who were called Housecarls, that some of them should go through the furthest gates of the city to prevent unrest, others should take their arms and guard the bridge and the banks of the river, so that the people of London would not be able to hinder them leaving with the body of the saint. (Trans. Laura Gazzoli) |
| Quotation source |
4 (coll. 0388B-0389B) |
| Temporal Coverage |
1016 - 1023 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
Cnut fought against Eadmund Ironside, son of Athelred, and in 1016 they divided the kingdom between them, Cnut taking everything north of the Thames, with the condition that whoever lived longer would inherit the other half. Eadmund died later the same year and so Cnut won the entire kingdom. The reading 'ut... seditiones concitent' means 'to incite unrest', but this is clearly the opposite of what Cnut wants his Housecarls to do, and so the text is possibly corrupt at this point. (Laura Gazzoli) |
