My own self

Loki's sensible nonsense of nonsensical sense

Danegeld

, ,

Ethelread the Unready was the first Weak King of England and was thus the cause of a fresh Wave of Danes.
He was called the Unready because he was never ready when the Danes were. Rather than wait for him the Danes used to fine him large sums called Danegeld, for not being ready. But though they were always ready, the Danes had very bad memories, and often used to forget that they had been paid the Danegeld and come back for it almost before they had sailed away. By that time Ethelread was always unready again.
Finally, Ethelread was taken completely unawares by his own death and was succeeded by Canute.


- 1066 And All That, page 19.
By W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman.

Ally McBeal - seasons 3-5"The Magna Charter"

Comments

Amrasananas Saturday, November 14, 2009 10:50:12 PM

I was completely unawares of the awesomeness of this quote smile

Georgius the PeasantLoki Aesir Saturday, November 14, 2009 10:59:45 PM

Glad you liked it. The book, while at times a tiny bit dated in its humour, is really quite hilarious - and a very, very quick read. I'll probably quote it another time or two in the days to come.

Kaffekatten Sunday, November 15, 2009 1:15:15 AM

Canute is an interesting name. Figuring it out used to drive me knuts.

Georgius the PeasantLoki Aesir Sunday, November 15, 2009 2:16:33 AM

Good thing you figured it out before, then, so I'm not the one responsible for driving you knuts.

Johnoldephartte Thursday, December 17, 2009 3:00:12 AM

When do you get to the part where Canute disproves his divinity by not halting the tide ?

Georgius the PeasantLoki Aesir Thursday, December 17, 2009 8:37:57 AM

If memory serves, the very page after, through a series of obscure jokes on "aquatic kings".

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