power, which Rome possessed in monastic production, would ultimately prove stronger than force of arms. Like his predecessor Charles, the Saxon Emperor freed the papacy from its foes and enabled it to reassert its control over its landed possessions in Europe. Otto the Great also neglected to establish imperial authority in Rome and attacked the pagan North. King Harold Bluetooth of Denmark met the attack of Otto the Great and his son Otto II by the traditional counter-attack on Normandy. The Cluniac reformation reunited the producing monasteries to Rome, and thus closed markets which had been open to Danish trade. Two parties sprang up in Normandy, a monastic party, who desired to establish close relations with Rome, and an anti-monastic party, who wished to retain their old connexion with Denmark. Similar parties came into existence in England at a later date.

In 945 Harold Bluetooth, with the aid of Norman allies, won a victory on the banks of the Dive; and for a while Normandy was restored to the sphere of Danish influence. A dual alliance of the Saxon Emperors and the Carlovingian Kings of Laon was met by a triple alliance of Flanders, Normandy, and the Dukes of the French, who reigned at Paris. In the North the Germans defeated the Danes and compelled Harold Bluetooth to accept Christianity; but the conquest of Denmark was far from complete. Their Carlovingian allies fared badly. In 987 the dynasty of the descendants of Charles the Great was extinguished, and the Dukes of the French inherited an almost nominal sovereignty over powerful vassals,

amongst whom were the Dukes of Normandy and the Counts of Flanders.

In 940 Athelstan was succeeded by his brother Edmund, and six years later another brother, Edred, became King of England. It was during their reigns that St. Dunstan acquired power. At first Edmund appears to have feared the young monk; but he finally yielded and made him Abbot of Glastonbury. Edred, a chronic invalid, allowed Dunstan to keep the royal deeds and treasures at Glastonbury. On his deathbed in 955 Edred called for the treasure; but the king died before Dunstan's arrival. Then Edred's nephew, a boy of fifteen, became king. The chronicles are silent as to the fate of the treasure, but they tell of a violent quarrel between St. Dunstan and the King's mother-in-law. Edwy's marriage was dissolved; and, after a very short reign, Edwy died. The scanty records of this short reign suggest a furious contest between the two parties. On the one hand Glastonbury Abbey was attacked, probably by searchers for the royal treasure, and Dunstan was banished; on the other hand Edwy made lavish grants of land to other monasteries.

When Edgar, Edwy's brother, became king, St. Dunstan was recalled and the monks continued to increase their hold over England's soil. Grants of monastic lands were made by written books or conveyances which the kings signed by making their mark in the form of a cross. The consideration or price paid for the land was often the promised salvation of the king's soul; and the lands were called boclands to distinguish them from the folclands held by the

people. Sometimes monastic lands were subject to the threefold obligation of repairing roads and bridges, maintaining fortifications, and military service; but it was the lay tenants not the monks who could be asked to fight. Since even this threefold obligation was not always imposed, the area on which secular taxation could be levied was narrowed, and Alfred's navy was neglected by his successors.

Edward, surnamed the Martyr, became king when Edgar died in 975. His reign was short and troubled. The chronicler's statement that, in 976, "Alphere commanded the monasteries to be demolished, which King Edgar had before commanded the holy bishop Ethelwold to found," proves that there was active opposition to Edward's ecclesiastical councillors. Two years later the chronicle relates that "in this year King Edward was slain (martyred), and Ethelred Atheling, his brother, succeeded to the Kingdom." This is the king who was called Redeless, i.e. without counsel, a name naturally given to a king placed on the throne to free England from monkish advisers. This epithet has been distorted into Unready; and all the misfortunes which befel England during Ethelred's reign have been attributed to Ethelred's lack of political foresight, although he was only ten years old when he began to reign. Thus the lesson which England's history in the tenth century teaches is obscured. Then, as in subsequent centuries, the diversion of money from England's army and navy has tempted the foreigner to attack her shores.

The Danes came in Ethelred's time; in England the invaders found many Christians who preferred

alliance with the pagan to submission to monkish rule. The chronicle records repeated acts of treachery for which no other explanation seems possible. St. Dunstan died in 988, nine years after the accession of Ethelred. His last years were embittered by an attempt, made by his opponents, to seize Church land in the diocese of Rochester; but the cause of St. Dunstan was upheld by his successors. In 995 the monastic party regained power, and the secular clergy in Canterbury Cathedral were replaced by monks. The struggle in England was political rather than religious. The question at issue was not whether Christianity was to flourish in England, but whether celibate monks, whose chief interest was their order, and who looked to Rome as their centre, should be allowed to transform their hold over English land into complete control over the secular government of England. The secular clergy, or married parish priests, were on the other hand bound to England by family ties. When monks replaced secular priests in the cathedral chapters, they obtained a predominant voice in the appointment of bishops; and completely to control the Church was a long step towards the absorption of all authority over England.

Civil war in Denmark followed the baptism of Harold Bluetooth. The nationalist or pagan party found a leader in Harold's son, Sweyn, who succeeded to the Danish throne when his father was killed. In concert with Olaf of Norway, Sweyn invaded England, where he could count upon a certain amount of sympathy from the anti-monastic party. In the absence of an adequate navy Viking ships were able to select

undefended points on England's coast where they could land unopposed. Again and again the invaders were bribed to withdraw. During one of these attacks Olaf accepted Christianity and abandoned his alliance with Sweyn; but the Danes continued to attack England. Ship money was levied in England; but, owing to internal discord, the hurriedly collected fleet proved unequal to the defence of England's coast.

After leaving England Olaf became King of Norway only to lose his life and throne when attacked by Sweyn and King Olaf of Sweden. Then, in 1013, Sweyn began a serious invasion of England. By this time a change had occurred in Normandy; its connexion with the North had almost disappeared. Up to the commencement of the eleventh century the Danes found shelter in Normandy after harrying England. Two years later, in 1002, Ethelred married the daughter of Duke Richard of Normandy. Hence the English national party came to rely on the Danes whilst the cosmopolitans turned towards Normandy. Ethelred fled to Normandy when Sweyn invaded England in force. In 1014 Sweyn died, and Ethelred, recalled from Normandy, succeeded in expelling Canute, the son of Sweyn. Two years later Canute was preparing a fresh invasion when Ethelred died. After some fighting an arrangement was made between Canute and Edmund, Ethelred's successor, which, before the end of 1016, gave Canute undisputed possession of England on Edmund's death. When England thus became part of a Great Scandinavia, the Normans began to plan their scheme of conquest which was carried into effect by William I.

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