When they could no longer carry on the course of pillage in which they took such delight, the Northmen did not care very much about coming to England; and we find that, about the time when they ceased to torment the Anglo-Saxons, they began to appear in great numbers on the Continent. The Franks and Germans now learnt to fear their name as much as the English had once done, for in the lands where Charlemagne had reigned there was no prince strong enough to drive them out of his territories, and secure peace from their attacks as Alfred had done for his subjects.

We have said nothing of the Danish wars in England, because they are fully described in the Old English History,1 but we shall now have to notice more at length what the Danes did in Gaul and Germany after they had ceased to plague England. It happens strangely enough that we know the least of the state of Denmark, and of what the Danes were doing in their own homes, at the very time that they were making their name the most feared and hated all over Christendom. The reason of this is that one thousand years ago-in 871-when Alfred the Great became King of England, and his subjects were in terror lest the Danes would deprive them of their pleasant English homes, Denmark itself was left quite unprotected, and was so deserted by the Danish people, that it may be said to have had no history of its own.

We may compare this period to the darkest hour of the night, just before the dawn of day is breaking in the sky and letting in the first faint streak of light, which is by and by to burst into full day. In the middle of the ninth century the darkness of paganism was the deepest in the North, and all objects around seemed buried in night, but at the beginning of the tenth century the course of events in Scandinavia begins to grow bright and clear. Before the death of our Alfred, in 901, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway can scarcely be said to have had any true history, but after that period-in Denmark at any ratewe begin to see our way through a regular succession of reigns, and we are able to form some idea of the manner in which the people lived, and the northern kingdoms were ruled.

See more especially Chapters VIII. and IX. “ Old English History," E. A. Freeman, D.C.L. Macmillan and Co. 1871.

CHAPTER III.

THE NORTHMEN IN EARLY TIMES.

How the Gospel came to be first preached to the Northmen-The wish of the Emperor Louis I to convert the heathen-Ebbo's mission to Jutland -King Harald Klak baptized, his sponsors, the oath he took-His presents, which required many barks to carry them to Denmark-Louis looks out for a missionary-Anscarius is sent forth to convert the Northmen; his bad success; his return to the Emperor's court; his second voyage to the North, and his labours in Sweden; he is made Archbishop of Hamburgh; what happens to him there; his deathThe fate of Christianity in the North-Gorm the Old, first king of all Denmark; his birth and descent; his mode of being brought up; his adventures at Ashloo-Charles the Fat, Emperor of Germany; his foolish conduct and cowardice; his laws in favour of the NorthinenThe siege of Paris-The Germans grow tired of their Emperor, and choose a very different ruler, who beats the Danes at LouvaineGorm's return to Denmark.

PART I.

CHRISTIANITY IN THE NORTH.

First efforts to Convert the Northmen.-BEFORE we enter upon the history of the reign of Gorm the Old, first king of all Denmark, we must go back nearly fifty years, in order to relate the manner in which Christianity was first introduced among the Northmen, and Christian monks were led to penetrate into the unknown lands of those dreaded pagans. In the time of our Ecgbert, the grandfather of Alfred the Great, foreign nations, as we have seen, knew little or nothing of the homes of the Northmen, and the people themselves were too much absorbed

in viking abroad to care much for what was going on in their own countries. An event did, however, happen in Denmark about fourteen years before King Ecgbert's death, which the Frankish chroniclers felt to be so important that they were at great pains to record all they knew about it. This event was the preaching of the Gospel in the North, in 823, by Frankish monks, who entered upon their dangerous mission in compliance with the earnest wishes of their pious Emperor, Louis le Débonnaire, but not in obedience to any command of his, for he had declared that "in so holy a work the labourers must go willingly and not by constraint."

This Louis was the son and successor of Charlemagne, the great emperor of the West, but so unlike his father in everything but his respect for the Church, that under him the newly formed empire fell rapidly into decay, and the prelates and nobles were able to make themselves independent of the crown. The vast empire, which it had cost the father so many years of anxious toil to complete, was broken up under the son into numerous states, which were free except in name; for although their rulers still did homage to the emperor for the lands which they held under him, the power of the crown seemed at an end. In this state of things, while the princes of the land did as they liked within their own domains, and cared nothing for the general welfare of the State, and the emperor spent his time with priests and monks, the boundaries of the empire were left unprotected; and very soon the poor Franks found themselves exposed to the attacks of pagan invaders, who poured in upon them from every direction. The emperor made no effort to protect his subjects, but he bent his mind to the task of finding means to convert the pagans. To lead heathens to the font and sign them with the cross, seemed to him far nobler than to subdue them by the sword. As soon, therefore, as he came to the throne, he took counsel with his friend Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, how best to carry out the work of conversion, and at his desire the primate, who shared in his wishes, hastened to Rome to demand the Pope's permission to send monks into Slesvig and Jutland to convert the inhabitants, of whose pagan practices fearful accounts had been brought to Germany.

Ebbo himself undertook the conduct of this first mission into

the northern lands, but after a short stay in Slesvig he was forced by the savage state of the country to return to Germany. The only apparent result of the undertaking was the conversion of a prince, called Harald Klak, who accompanied the primate to the imperial court, and together with his family and followers received baptism at the font of the church of St. Alban's at Mayence, when the emperor and his empress, Judith, stood sponsors for them all. The Danes on this occasion took an oath abjuring paganism; and to the question, "Forsachista Diabolac?" (Dost thou forsake the devil?), each one answered, "Ec forsacho Diabolæ " (I forsake the devil); and when Ebbo put the question, "Allum Diaboles Wercum?" (All the works of the devil?), the pagans replied, "End allum Diaboles Wercum end Wordum, Thuncer end Woden, end allum them unholdum, the hira Genotas sint" (And all the works and words of the devil, Thor and Woden and all the ungodly ones, who are their helpers).

After this great event Harald returned to Jutland, laden with the many rich giftst hat Louis and the empress Judith had given him and his family; and the emperor called together all his chief bishops and nobles, and begged them to take counsel with him and decide how he could best go on with the good work of converting the pagan Northmen. But for a long time nothing could be done, for no one could be found bold enough to go among such fierce heathens. At last the emperor's cousin

Walo, Abbot of Corvey in Picardy, announced that he knew a young monk, willing and able to endure all hardships in the cause of Christ, who had long been blessed by happy, holy dreams, and whose heart was set on the hope of earning for himself a martyr's crown of glory.

"Send for this holy brother with all speed, good Cousin," said Louis, when he heard his report. Accordingly this young monk, who since his infancy had dwelt in the monastery of Corvey, was sent for and brought before the emperor. Louis, on hearing his willingness to seek the heathens of Denmark, gave him a present of a bible, and caused him to be provided with tents and all things needed for his dangerous journey, together with the sacred vessels and white robes required to

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perform the services of the Church and to baptize the converts that he might make.

Anscarius, the Apostle of the North.-This monk, who is looked upon as the true apostle of the North, was named Anscarius, or Anskar. Although a man of noble origin, he was so humbleminded that he scrupled not to labour with his hands to gain his living, and never asked the monks placed under him to perform any menial kind of work in which he did not take his share. He and his friend, the monk Autbert, set sail in 827 for Slesvig, and, after undergoing all kinds of hardships in the company of the rude and half-savage Danes, with whom they made the long voyage, they landed at Hedeby (the present Slesvig), and at once began the work of conversion by buying young slaves and baptizing them.

Louis was full of hope and joy at the prospect of bringing the whole of Denmark, as he believed, to the faith of Christ. But, to his great sorrow, he soon learnt that the poor missionaries had been obliged to flee for their lives. Instead of being received at the royal court of Denmark, as they had expected, when they reached Hedeby, and being helped by a powerful king, they had found that Harald Klak, if he ever had been a king, certainly no longer had a kingdom or subjects. Instead of helping them, he had been obliged, like themselves, to leave the country in all haste and return to the court of the emperor. This was a sad blow to the hopes of the good and pious Louis le Débonnaire, who, as usual with him, had no money to spare to send the ships and men which Harald declared were needed to protect the Christian preachers, and therefore Anscarius and Autbert were forced for a time to give up the work they had so much at heart.

A few years later, a Swedish king, Björn, sent a letter written in runic characters to Louis, begging him to let Christian monks come to his country that he and his people might learn the religion of Christ. On this the emperor again sent for Anscarius, who willingly undertook the task, and with a few monks

This Björn was a king of the Svea, or Upper Swedes, and had his chief town at Uppsala near the great temple of Odin. The first visit of Anscarius to his court took place in 829; and in 853 he again ventured amongst the pagans of Sweden.