Proceeding later on we come to the Danish invasion when Shrewsbury was an object of Danish cruelty in those struggles which took place between the ferocious pirates from Denmark and Scandinavia and the Saxons. At the time the Danes under Sween landed in the Isle of Wight, King Ethelred was at Shrewsbury. Here he called a council of his nobles to decide what measures should be adopted to effectually put a stop to the atrocities and limit the power of the Danes. A purchase of peace, advised by Edric, Duke of Mercia, was agreed upon; and England had to bear the infamy of obtaining the semblance of quiet (for the nation was soon again disturbed) by the payment of £30,000 sterling. The character of Duke Edric was stained by a foul and treacherous murder committed near Shrewsbury. Edric invited Duke Alshelm, a royal prince, to a banquet, and afterwards induced him to accompany a hunting party. During the chase Edric led Alshelm, his chief guest, into a wood where a butcher of the town named Godwin Porthund, who had been employed for the purpose, lay concealed. This ruffian seized an opportunity to attack Alshelm, who was killed. It was this dastardly crime which caused the order recorded in Domesday Book that whenever the sovereign came here twelve of the citizens should constantly guard his person, and twelve should invariably attend him with weapons of defence when he went out hunting. In the general victories of the Danes Shrewsbury revolted from the Saxon rule, and rendered allegiance to Canute; but in 1016 Edmund, son of Ethelred, marched to the town from the North, re-captured it, and punished his faithless subjects with great cruelty. At the Norman conquest Shrewsbury was known from its paying “gelt,” that is, money for 200 hides of land. Of course, it did not escape the barbarities of William the Conqueror. The Welsh, about 1067 laid siege to the town, but William, coming hither from York, opposed the besiegers with the same relentlessness, the same cruelty that characterised the violent policy he everywhere else pursued. In the reign of William the Conqueror the Earls of Shrewsbury held their court at Shrewsbury, which was then the capital of the earldom. William conferred the earldom, and with it a grant of the town and a considerable portion of the county, upon Roger de Montgomery, a near relative. William rewarded his commanders with estates—a very excellent remuneration for their services. These, given by the king, were held under the Earl of Shrewsbury; and amongst their fortunate possessors were ancestors of the families of Waring and Corbett. Both Roger and Robert Corbett held lordships or manors under Roger de Montgomery—the former to the number of twenty-four. Military offices appear to have been extremely profitable things in these days—the honours were something more valuable than crosses and medals.