re.

[11] The historians of our literature have not done justice to the great
influence which the poetry of the Danes has had upon our early national
muse. I have little doubt but that to that source may be traced the
minstrelsy of our borders, and the Scottish Lowlands; while, even in the
central counties, the example and exertions of Canute must have had
considerable effect on the taste and spirit of our Scops. That great
prince afforded the amplest encouragement to Scandinavian poetry, and
Olaus names eight Danish poets, who flourished at his court.

[12] "By the splendour of God."

[13] See Note (A) at the end of this volume.

[14] It is noticeable that the Norman dukes did not call themselves
Counts or Dukes of Normandy, but of the Normans; and the first
Anglo-Norman kings, till Richard the First, styled themselves Kings of
the English, not of England. In both Saxon and Norman chronicles,
William usually bears the title of Count (Comes), but in this tale he
will be generally called Duke, as a title more familiar to us.

[15] The few expressions borrowed occasionally from the Romance tongue,
to give individuality to the speaker, will generally be translated into
modern French; for the same reason as Saxon is rendered into modern
English, viz., that the words may be intelligible to the reader.

[16] "Roman de Rou," part i., v. 1914.

[17] The reason why the Normans lost their old names is to be found in
their conversion to Christianity. They were baptised; and Franks, as
their godfathers, gave them new appellations. Thus, Charles the Simple
insists that Rolf-ganger shall change his law (creed) and his name, and
Rolf or Rou is christened Robert. A few of those who retained
Scandinavian names at the time of the Conquest will be cited hereafter.

[18] Thus in 991, about a century after the first settlement, the Danes
of East Anglia gave the only efficient resistance to the host of the
Vikings under Justin and Gurthmund; and Brithnoth, celebrated by the
Saxon poet, as a Saxon par excellence, the heroic defender of his native
soil, was, in all probability, of Danish descent. Mr. Laing, in his
preface to his translation of the Heimskringla, truly observes, "that the
rebellions against William the Conqueror, and his successors, appear to
have been almost always raised, or mainly supported, in the counties of
recent Danish descent, not in those peopled by the old Anglo-Saxon race."

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