Introduction
In 1014 Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard, who had ousted Ethelred the Unready, unexpectedly died. Ethelred and his Norse ally Olaf Haraldsson each raised a fleet and swept up the Thames to London, but Sweyn’s son Cnut was barring their way, his Danes strung right across the Thames on a wooden bridge.
KING Ethelred called together all the chiefs to consult how they should get the bridge broken down. Then said King Olaf he would attempt to lay his fleet alongside of it, if the other ships would do the same.*
King Olaf ordered great platforms of floating wood to be tied together with hazel bands, and for this he took down old houses; and with these, as a roof, he covered over his ships so widely, that it reached over the ships’ sides. There both was room for swinging their swords, and the roofs were strong enough to withstand the stones cast down upon them.
Now when the [English] fleet and men were ready, they rowed up along the river; but when they came near the bridge, there were cast down upon them so many stones and missile weapons, such as arrows and spears, that neither helmet nor shield could hold out against it and the ships themselves were so greatly damaged, that many retreated out of it.
Olaf was not yet King of Norway; that title he claimed in 1015, and confirmed in 1016 when he defeated Norway’s de facto ruler Earl Sweyn at the Battle of Nesjar to become Olaf II. He is credited with helping to establish Christianity in Norway, in part using English bishops. The first Bishop of Nidaros, the Mediaeval name for Trondheim, was an English monk named Grimketel.
Précis
In 1014, King Sweyn of Denmark died while attempting to conquer England, leaving the campaign to his son Cnut. Ethelred the Unready, emboldened, allied with Norwegian prince Olaf Haraldsson and attempted to recapture London; but when his fleet attempted to pass a bridge over the Thames, the Danes hurled missiles from above and drive his ships off. (57 / 60 words)
In 1014, King Sweyn of Denmark died while attempting to conquer England, leaving the campaign to his son Cnut. Ethelred the Unready, emboldened, allied with Norwegian prince Olaf Haraldsson and attempted to recapture London; but when his fleet attempted to pass a bridge over the Thames, the Danes hurled missiles from above and drive his ships off.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, if, or, otherwise, since, whereas, whether.
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