His Subjects, - Alienated By The Sternness With Which He
Administers His Own Severely Religious Laws, Or Corrupted
By The Bribes Of Canute, King Of Denmark And England,
Are Fallen From Their Allegiance.
The brave, single-hearted
monarch is marching against the rebellious Bonders, at
the head of a handful of foreign troops, and such as
remained faithful among his own people.
On the eve of
that last battle, on which he stakes throne and life, he
intrusts a large sum of money to a Bonder, to be laid
out "on churches, priests, and alms-men, as gifts for
the souls of such as may fall in battle AGAINST
HIMSELF," - strong in the conviction of the righteousness
of his cause, and the assured salvation of such as upheld
it.
He makes a glorious end. Forsaken by many whom he had
loved and served, - yet forgiving and excusing them;
rejecting the aid of all who denied that holy Faith which
had become the absorbing interest of his life, - but
surrounded by a faithful few, who share his fate; "in
the lost battle, borne down by the flying" - he falls,
transpierced by many wounds, and the last words on his
fervent lips are prayer to God. [Footnote: The exact date
of the battle of Sticklestad is known: an eclipse of the
sun occurred while it was going on.]
Surely there was a gallant saint and soldier. Yet he was
not the only one who bore himself nobly on that day.
Here is another episode of that same fatal fight.
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