viii.

A Ship for My Son

Act III — What Survived Released Approx. 6:36

About this track

1040. Harthacnut has come with sixty-two ships and is king, and Emma is home. In front of the king and his council she names Earl Godwin as the man who delivered her son Alfred to his killers four years before. Godwin swears it was Harold’s order, the great men of England swear with him, and he gives the new king a gilded warship with eighty armed men aboard — a blood-price for the brother. Her surviving son accepts the price of her dead one.

The song opens on her act — I said his name in front of the king, and the whole hall heard me say it — and turns the chorus into the world’s verdict against her. Its fourth line moves each time: for my other son, then for the brother he delivered, then, at the felt peak, and my son took it. The second verse goes back to Guildford in 1036, the table, the weapons by the door, the boat to Ely; the bridge drops into the noon the rider came to the treasury, when she counted it again.

Anglo-Danish symphonic doom at 90 BPM in a minor key, a cold tread after the fleet’s 138 — cello drone and dry dulcimer over a slow frame drum like a hall of men standing still, down-tuned guitars from the first chorus, one slow low lead in the solo, and the Latin office chanting with the oath rather than with her. Never grief, never pleading. The outro hands straight to the next track: Somebody wrote to him in my name. Everyone agrees it was not my hand. Nobody has ever asked me what I wrote.

Track 08 of 11 Act III — What Survived Cadence Anglo-Danish symphonic doom at 90 BPM, minor — cello drone, dulcimer and a slow frame-drum tread, one low lead guitar, the Latin office chanting cold with the oath; cold fury, never grief

Intro

Two lines spoken dry and low over cello and dulcimer.

I said his name in front of the king,
and the whole hall heard me say it.

Verse 1

Sung low, cello and dulcimer, no guitars.

My son had been a king for half a year,
and I was home, and I had kept the count,
and Godwin stood with England at his back,
and one by one they raised their hands to God,
and every hand was raised for him,

Pre-Chorus

Psaltery enters, the frame drum heavier, cello lower.

I had the truth, and he had witnesses,
and witnesses are louder,

Chorus 1

Down-tuned guitars. The Latin office low and cold under her, like an oath.

He swore it was not his order,
and the whole hall swore it with him,
he paid my son a ship,
for my other son,
Twice a queen — and the price was eighty men,

Instrumental

Cello and frame drum.

Verse 2

Dulcimer and cello, guitars out, colder.

Four years back they laid a table at Guildford,
cups down, bread down, and the weapons by the door,
they sold some of his men and fettered some,
they blinded some, and some of them they scalped,
and him they put aboard a boat,

Pre-Chorus 2

Cello lower, the frame drum alone under her.

They took his eyes out on the water,
and Ely had the rest of him,

Chorus 2

Heavier, the office closer, guitars back.

He swore it was not his order,
and the whole hall swore it with him,
he paid my son a ship,
for the brother he delivered,
Twice a queen — and he never looked at me,

Verse 3

Psaltery and her voice, one low guitar holding.

Eighty men in gilded helmets on the deck,
a gold ring on each arm and an axe in every hand,
a beast on the prow with the gold still bright on it,
and my son went down to the water to see it,

Guitar Solo

One slow, low lead guitar over the heavy tread.

Bridge

Half-tempo. Everything out but her voice and one cello drone; the office silent.

A rider came in from the east at noon,
and stood there with his cap still in his hands,
and I had all his father's guard behind me,
and every coin in England in the room,
and when he finished, I counted it again,

Instrumental

Cello and frame drum, guitars building.

Final Chorus

Heaviest — full band, the Latin office loud and close with the oath.

He swore it was not his order,
and the whole hall swore it with him,
he paid my son a ship,
and my son took it,
Twice a queen — and I watched him take it,
and I did not say his name again,

Outro

Her voice alone over dulcimer, the office gone. Dry, then a hard cut.

Somebody wrote to him in my name.
Everyone agrees it was not my hand.
Nobody has ever asked me what I wrote.

The history

1040 · the royal hall of Harthacnut, with the memory of Guildford and Ely in 1036 · Earl Godwin clears himself of Alfred’s death

Source: Anglo-Saxon Chronicle s.a. 1036 (MSS C, D) and 1040; John of Worcester, Chronicle s.a. 1040; Encomium Emmae Reginae III

Named figures

Emma of Normandy Queen-mother, home from Bruges with her son’s fleet; brings the charge over Alfred’s death
Earl Godwin Earl of Wessex, accused of handing Alfred over in 1036; cleared himself on oath and paid the king a warship. Father of the future Harold II
Harthacnut Her son by Cnut, king of England from June 1040 — and my son took it
Alfred Ætheling Her younger son by Æthelred, seized at Guildford in 1036, blinded, and dead at Ely. Never shown

What this song renders

The memory is documented. In 1036 Alfred crossed from Normandy; the Chronicle’s C and D manuscripts say Godwin met him and turned him aside, that his men were scattered, sold, killed and maimed, and that Alfred was taken by boat to Ely, blinded on board, and died with the monks there. The Encomium blames Harold Harefoot and says he lured Alfred over with a letter forged in Emma’s name.

The reckoning came after Harthacnut took the throne in 1040. Godwin was charged over Alfred’s death before the king and his council — modern accounts place Emma behind the charge — and cleared himself on oath, with most of the chief men of the kingdom swearing with him that he had acted on Harold’s orders. John of Worcester adds the price: Godwin gave the king a richly fitted warship with eighty soldiers aboard, each with gilded helmet, gold arm-rings and a Danish axe.

The song’s details are drawn from that account; its framing is its own. The whole hall, her son walking down to the water to see the ship, and the half-year since he became king are dramatisation — the day of the oath is not recorded. The letter is never shown, and the song never says whether she wrote it.

Verdict

Alfred’s capture, blinding and death, the 1040 charge against Godwin, his oath with the chief men behind him, and the warship with eighty armed men are documented. Emma as the moving party rests on modern reconstruction; the scene on the quay and the “whole hall” are the song’s staging.

See the full Truth, Saga & Legend entry →