Saturday Scenes

On the 13th of November 1002, King Ethelred the Unready’s order for the slaughter of all the Danes in the Kingdom of England was carried out.

Britannia: The AngloSaxon Chronicle

A.D. 1002 This year the king and his council agreed that tribute should be given to the fleet, and peace made with them, with the provision that they should desist from their mischief. Then sent the king to the fleet Alderman Leofsy, who at the king’s word and his council made peace with them, on condition that they received food and tribute; which they accepted, and a tribute was paid of 24,000 pounds. In the meantime Alderman Leofsy slew Eafy, high-steward of the king; and the king banished him from the land. Then, in the same Lent, came the Lady Elfgive Emma, Richard’s daughter, to this land. And in the same summer died Archbishop Eadulf; and also, in the same year the king gave an order to slay all the Danes that were in England. This was accordingly done on the mass-day of St. Brice; because it was told the king, that they would beshrew him of his life, and afterwards all his council, and then have his kingdom without any
resistance.

The date (13 November) was the feast day of Saint Brice of Tours. Brice initially came to attention when a nun in his household became pregnant and he was rumoured to be the father. Supposedly, he asked the newborn if he was the father and the babe made a sound which he stated sounded like “No”. He then carried hot coal in his coat to the grave of a martyr and then showed that the coat was unblemished and the fabric had not burned as proof of his innocence. It is said that the townspeople of Tours remained unconvinced.

Perhaps Ethelred should have chosen a more auspicious date. The St. Brice’s Day Massacre resulted in the murder of many townsfolk and St Frideswide’s church in Oxford was burned down when the Danes tried to take refuge within it. The Danes invaded in revenge the following year and their persecution led to Ethelred fleeing the country and King Sweyn I of Denmark crowned King of England.

So our theme for next week is “Be Nice to Danes” … just in case.

On the 13th of November 2010, twenty great photographs were shared as Saturday Scenes. No Danes were damaged in the process:

There are our intredid photographers of the week:

• carotwit
• elibrody
• ernmander
• JanetIsserlis
• Pewari
• RAFairman
• akrabat
• raumsinn
• pixelfreund
• robdavies
• jamesnnb
• mousewords
• ingridf
• sahfenn
• Dramagirl
• fembat
• carocat
• akaSylvia
• timewind
• andrew_lillie

If you know any Danes, why not ask them to join in on the fun? Anyone from anywhere in the world can take part! All you have to do is take a photograph on Saturday and send it to @SatScenes to be included.