Scandinavian-Britain

SVEIN AND KNUT 149warned and then joined the Danes, and that theirattack though fruitless was not wholly disastrous tothem. We hear no more of this ^Elfric, whose shipwas captured ;and we hear no more of jarl Thord ofYork, whose place was shortly afterwards filled byWaltheof I. as ruler of Bernicia, and by ^Elfhelm inDeira.In 993 the coast from Bamborough to Lindsey wasravaged the " English " leaders, two of whom bore:Danish names, deserted their levies, and the Vikingshad a free course. Next year Olaf Tryggvason,no longer the mercenary of Wessex, joined forceswith Svein, king of Denmark, to conquer England.On September 8, 994, they attacked London, butwere repulsed ; they ravaged the shores of theThames, and Canterbury was saved only by the paymentof 90 pounds of silver and 400 ounces of gold.Then they plundered Essex, Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire,and were bought off at Southampton by a paymentof ;i 6,000 levied on all England, and a regularstipend to be paid by Wessex alone. After the conclusionof the treaty Olaf Tryggvason was brought bybishop ^Elfheah and our chronicler v^Ethelwerd toAndover, where he was confirmed in the presence ofKing ^Ethelred. According to his saga he had beenbaptised by a hermit on the " Syllingar," perhaps theScilly Islands, or possibly (as a famous abbot anda great cloister are mentioned) one of the islandmonasteries of Ireland; the geography of the sagas,when it relates to Britain, is often defective, while theincidents may contain a true tradition. At Andover,