Even while he was lying in the river Thamesis[199] with his great fleet, and was seeming to threaten the Tower of London, Knut received on board envoys and rich presents from Duke William, and was easily made to sign a treaty of amity and alliance with the Normans, even as his uncle Osbiorn had done the year before. And did the traitorous Danes enjoy the spoil they had gotten? Not so. When they got into the middle of the sea there arose a violent storm and dispersed the ships wherein were lodged the spoils made at Ely[200] and at other places, and some of these ships went to Norway, some to Ireland, and some to the bottom of the sea; and all of the spoils of Ely and Peterborough that reached Danemarck consisted of a table and a few reliquaries and crucifixes; and these things, being deposited in the church of a town belonging to King Svend, were consumed by fire, for the careless and drunken shipmen set fire to the town and church by night,[201] and so caused the loss of much more treasure than that which the shipmen had brought with them from England. The amount of the total treasure paid to Knut by Duke William was never known with any certainty in England, out of the very vitals of which it was torn; but it is known in another place, where all these acts of treachery are recorded, and heavily will it press upon the soul of Knut, and upon the selfish soul of his father, Svend Estrithson, who ratified the foul bargain he had made. And, even in this world, hath not the avenging hand of Heaven smitten them twain? Hath not the excommunication of the holy church fallen twice upon Svend? Hath not unnatural warfare raged long between the sons of Svend, and hath not Knut been murdered in his prime—aye, murdered, in a church, to which he fled for sanctuary? He had offended the saints by his broken faith, and by plundering the shrines in England; and therefore no shrine or altar could save him from the treachery and malice of his own subjects. All the evils done to England by Knut and his Danes are not yet told, but they will plainly appear hereafter. CHAPTER XIX. THE NORMAN WITCH.