Browsing through a translation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles (ASC) yesterday, the entry for 1015 caused us much merriment on account of a little rhyme at the end.
Much of the ASC after the early ninth century deals with intermittent (and increasingly vicious) raids by the Vikings, to whom the Chroniclers often refer as ‘the force’. In 1015, King Canute was busy plundering and pillaging around Wessex, and, if my reading of this passage is correct, the people of Wessex not only surrendered to the invaders, but also provided them with horses (presumably from fear, not just out of the goodness of their hearts). As Anne Savage so eloquently translates it (bold type mine):
…the West-Saxons bowed and gave hostages, and they horsed the force. It was there until midwinter.
The gross violence that one must assume to have been involved in the events described is, of course, inexcusable. Bad Vikings! But it was all a long time ago, and you can’t beat a bit of verse, can you?
