Apart from this traditional interest, Swineshead has other antiquarian
and historical associations. The circular Danish encampment, sixty yards
in diameter, surrounded by a double fosse, was, doubtless, a post of
importance, when the Danes, or Northmen, carried their ravages through
England in the time of Ethelred I., and the whole country passed
permanently into the Danish hands about A.D. 877. The incessant inroads
of the Danes, who made constant descents on various parts of the coast,
burning the towns and villages, and laying waste the country in all
directions, led to that stain upon the English character, the Danish
massacre. The troops collected to oppose these marauders always lost
courage and fled, and their leaders, not seldom, set them the example.
In 1002, peace was purchased for a sum of L24,000 and a large supply of
provisions. Meantime, the King and his councillors resolved to have
recourse to a most atrocious expedient for their future security. It had
been the practice of the English Kings, from the time of Athelstane, to
have great numbers of Danes in their pay, as guards, or household
troops; and these, it is said, they quartered on their subjects, one on
each house. The household troops, like soldiers in general, paid great
attention to their dress and appearance, and thus became very popular
with the generality of people; but they also occasionally behaved with
great insolence, and were also strongly suspected of holding secret
intelligence with their piratical countrymen.
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