VIII
Canute Marries Adela and Seeks to Strengthen the Crown Despite Opposition
The History of King Sweyn Estridsson and His Sons and of the Martyrdom of King Canute the Holy
Regum quamplurium, sed et ipsius Salomonis, deuitans lasciuiam, ob quam eius quondam posteri bis quinis regni partibus ablatis uix duabus irato deo principari merebantur, imperatorii generis nobilissimam sibi coniugem sapientum consilio elegit. Qua insigni honorificentia ex occidentalibus horis adducta, secundum nominis eius estimationem, quę Ethela (id est: nobilis) dicebatur, nobilem nobiliter excipiens impudicis concubinarum despectis amplexibus solius eius conubio, Ihesu Christo teste angelisque eius, contentus est. Sed et, quemadmodum de beato Job dicitur, causas utiles, quas nesciebat, diligentissime inuestigabat et cum prudentibus et religiosis sepius pertractans, qualiter fidei christianę religionem in regno suo in dies adaugeret, assidue reuoluebat.
Multa siquidem antiquitus tradita in presens obseruari sagaci industria perspiciebat, quę magis pro diuina essent iusticia corrigenda quam ob uulgi fauorem exequenda. Quę superni arbitris inspirante gratia cohercere disponebat; sed indomitę gentis feritas et innata duricia uoluntatis eius effectum in dies differebat. Et quia, ut Veritas attestatur, omnis, qui male agit, odit lucem et non uult uenire ad lucem, ut non arguantur opera eius, hi, qui magis prauis usibus inherere et uoluntarie cupiebant in peccatis iacere quam iniuste obseruata iusticię ratione audita relinquere, uanitati eum insistere et ueluti nouiset inauditis adinuentionibus operam dare in suis conuenticulis querebantur;
ac ob hoc, qualiter iugum dominationis eius ab indomitis et hactenus inflexis et duris contumatię suę ceruicibus excuterent, haud diuini spiritus illustratione inflammati, sed alieni spiritus suggestione inflati consiliabantur. Homo enim carnalis non percipiebat, quę regio pectori omnis scientię spiritus infundebat. Nam cum ipse eos a peccati seruitute eripere et ad iusticię libertatem conaretur reducere, audiendo non intelligentes et obcecati uidentes ueluti antiquę pacis et quietis inuasorem ac pristinę libertatis eum deputabant ereptorem.
Iccirco congregauerunt iniquitatem sibi et egrediebantur foras: foras egressi sunt, cum iusticię diuinę sua statuta preferendo dei iusticię subiecti non sunt; ac per hoc a iustorum consorcio sequestrati et a terminis eorum eiecti iniquorum collegio sunt deputati, quia uoluntarie serui peccati sunt effecti. Quapropter in laqueum, quem pedibus innocentis parauerunt, incidentes et in foueam, quam foderunt, corruentes Iudeorum emulatores extiterunt, quia uicia eorum increpantem ferre nequiuerunt. Sed relatu perditionis eorum suo tempori reseruato ad uirtutum nobilitatem magnifici herois nostri explicandam redeamus.
Unlike many kings — and even Solomon himself — Canute avoided the sin of lust, the fault for which Solomon’s descendants were later stripped of ten parts of the kingdom and scarcely judged worthy to rule even two under God’s anger. Instead, on the advice of wise men, Canute chose for himself a wife of the noblest imperial lineage. She was brought from the western lands and, true to the meaning of her name, was called Adela — that is, “noble.” Receiving this noble woman with fitting honor, he rejected the shameful embraces of concubines and was content with marriage to her alone, with Jesus Christ and His angels as witnesses.
Like blessed Job, he also made it his practice to investigate with great care matters of public concern not immediately known to him. He discussed these matters frequently with prudent and devout men, constantly reflecting on how the Christian faith might be strengthened day by day within his kingdom. For he perceived with keen judgment that many practices handed down from earlier times were still being observed, practices which ought rather to be corrected according to divine justice than tolerated for the sake of popular approval. Inspired by heavenly grace, he resolved to restrain these abuses — but the savagery of an untamed people and the stubborn hardness of their nature repeatedly delayed the fulfillment of his will.
And because, as Truth itself declares, everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds be exposed, those who preferred to cling to corrupt habits and willingly lie in sin rather than abandon unjust customs when confronted with righteous judgment complained in their private gatherings that he was pursuing empty schemes and wasting effort on strange and unheard-of innovations. As a result, they began plotting how they might cast off the yoke of his rule from their wild, long-unbending, and hardened necks — not inflamed by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, but puffed up by the prompting of another spirit.
For the worldly-minded could not grasp what the Spirit of all wisdom was pouring into a heart fitted for royal rule. While he strove to free them from slavery to sin and lead them back to the liberty of justice, they listened without understanding and saw without perceiving. They regarded him as a destroyer of their accustomed peace and as a robber of their former freedom.
Therefore they gathered wickedness to themselves and went out from among the righteous. They went out when, preferring their own customs to divine justice, they refused to submit to the law of God. By this they were cut off from the company of the just and cast outside their bounds, assigned instead to the fellowship of the wicked, because they had willingly made themselves slaves of sin. And so, falling into the snare they had laid for innocent feet and plunging into the pit they themselves had dug, they proved themselves imitators of the Jews, unable to endure one who rebuked their vices.
But leaving the account of their destruction to its proper time, let us return to the unfolding of the noble virtues of our great hero.
