Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Scandinavian Britain - I. The Earlies Raids
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
plundering on French, British, and Irish coasts—
places which, at an earlier date, they had not ventured
to assail.
The Saxon war, begun in 772 (Eginhard), brought
the people of Denmark directly into touch with
Western Europe. Sigfred, the Danish king, received
Widukind, the Saxon chief, when he sought refuge
from Charlemagne’s armies. In 777 an embassy was
sent from Sigfred to Charlemagne, and though the
Danes took no general part in the struggle, in 803
Godfred, the successor of Sigfred, advanced with a
fleet to Sleswick to protect his land, and in 808, after
a raid across the Elbe, he built the first Danework
in the hope of making invasion impossible. This
earliest earthwork has been described by Mr. H.
A. Kjær in The Saga-book of the Viking Club (iv.
pp. 313-325). The conduct of the war must have
opened the eyes of the Baltic folk to the opportunity
of plundering in regions which, up to that time, they
had regarded as beyond them in every sense. They
found that monasteries were wealthy and unprotected ;
gold and silver, rich clothes, wine and dainties, cattle
and captives to sell in the market, could be had for the
taking, in places which they had thought unassailable
and impracticable. When once this new world
was opened up, as in later ages America was opened,
adventure was the obvious duty of every one who
wished to better himself. But as we now-a-days find
that a war teaches us geography, so it needed the
Saxon war to call attention to the wealth and weakness
of these western regions.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
