means wherewith to make resistance. All Edgar's successors had fleets; some of them at times had very large ones; but every squadron, and almost every ship, seem to have been jealous and distrustful of every other. Many of the English leaders at the most critical period of the struggle must have had Danish connections, if not Danish blood in their veins; and the mere presence in England of a tolerated Danelagh, or Danish pale, acted as a perpetual reminder to every weak-kneed Englishman that a large extension of the Danish power was not only possible, but probable. Hence, there were encouragements to half-heartedness, and, indeed, to continual double dealing. Many sought to stand well with both English and Danes, not certain which of the two would eventually gain the upper hand. Resistance, consequently, was partial and inefficient on the side of almost all, except those few whose fortunes were inextricably bound up with the fortunes of the royal house of Wessex.
Edgar was able, and probably understood how, to employ sea power; but his Anglo-Saxon successors certainly failed in the task, even if they comprehended the nature of it. It is abundantly clear that from the year of Edgar's death sea power in the narrow seas belonged almost exclusively to the Danes. What some of the Danish ships of the period were like we know from the 'Heims Kringla,'[1] in Snorri Sturluson's 'Edda.' They were high-decked, and each bore the emblem of her commander. The prow was ornamented with a figurehead of gilt copper, and at the truck was a vane. The vessels were painted externally, and carried round their bulwarks the polished steel shields of the crew. Sweyn's own ship, in 1004, called the Great Dragon, was in the form of the legendary animal of that name. His standard,[2] a black raven embroidered on white silk, was not hoisted on board, and was only displayed when English soil was reached. The importance of the Danish navy in the economy of the State may be gauged by the fact that Canute, though only a younger son, owed his election to the fleet,[3] and that although his elder brother Harold seized the throne of Denmark, the latter could not have held it had the sailor prince cared to take it. Until Harold's early death, Canute, a pirate king in the true sense of the words, swept the seas, and afterwards he succeeded in Denmark without opposition.
