Note 911 — Chapter VI · THE DANISH KINGS IN ENGLAND.[818] 1017–1042.

Something of this sort, which is quite likely in itself, is implied in some stories told by the Ramsey historian, who enters into much detail about various Danish thegns at this time. For instance, in cap. lxxxiv. (p. 440) we read about the Dane Thurkill when summoned before the Bishop’s court; “Quo citato apparere contemnente, a severitate tamen meritæ ultionis censuit episcopus ad tempus temperandum, ne Anglus Dacum ad regis injuriam injuste vexare diceretur.” Cnut however steps in to support the law against his grantee.

In cap. lxxxvi. again is a story about a Danish thegn, who greatly oppressed the neighbouring “rustici,” who conspired his death. He is “vir factiosus et dives, qui Anglorum animos ex suo ponderans, illis Dacos fore semper exosos, quod patriam suam invasissent, et sibi insidias, occulte tamen propter metum regis, ab eis parari arbitratus.” He escapes by selling his estate to the Bishop, who was always on the look-out for such chances, and who gave it to Ramsey abbey. The really important point in the story is an allusion to Welsh robbers (“Britones latrones”) as still possible in Huntingdonshire in the time of Cnut.