h; so that whosoever
slew a hart, or a hind, should be deprived of his eyesight. As
he forbade men to kill the harts, so also the boars; and he loved
the tall deer as if he were their father. Likewise he decreed by
the hares, that they should go free. His rich men bemoaned it,
and the poor men shuddered at it. But he was so stern, that he
recked not the hatred of them all; for they must follow withal
the king's will, if they would live, or have land, or
possessions, or even his peace. Alas! that any man should
presume so to puff himself up, and boast o'er all men. May the
Almighty God show mercy to his soul, and grant him forgiveness of
his sins! These things have we written concerning him, both good
and evil; that men may choose the good after their goodness, and
flee from the evil withal, and go in the way that leadeth us to
the kingdom of heaven. Many things may we write that were done
in this same year. So it was in Denmark, that the Danes, a
nation that was formerly accounted the truest of all, were turned
aside to the greatest untruth, and to the greatest treachery that
ever could be. They chose and bowed to King Cnute, and swore him
oaths, and afterwards dastardly slew him in a church. It
happened also in Spain, that the heathens went and made inroads
upon the Christians, and reduced much of the country to their
dominion. But the king of the Christians, Alphonzo by name, sent
everywhere into each land, and desired assistance. And they came
to his support from every land that was Christian; and they went
and slew or drove away all the heathen folk, and won their land
again, through God's assistance. In this land also, in the same
year, died many rich men; Stigand, Bishop of Chichester, and the
Abbot of St. Augustine, and the Abbot of Bath, and the Abbot of
Pershore, and the lord of them all, William, King of England,
that we spoke of before. After his death his son, called William
also as the father, took to the kingdom, and was blessed to king
by Archbishop Landfranc at Westminster three days ere Michaelmas
day. And all the men in England submitted to him, and swore
oaths to him. This being thus done, the king went to Winchester,
and opened the treasure house, and the treasures that his father
had gathered, in gold, and in silver, and in vases, and in palls,
and in gems, and in many other valuable things that are difficult
to enumerate. Then the king did as his father bade him ere he
was dead