he) within the compasse of my dominion, and the ground whereon I sit is mine, and thou knowest that no wight dare disobeie my commandements; I therefore doo now command thee not to rise vpon my ground, nor to presume to wet anie part of thy souereigne lord and gouernour.”  But the sea keeping hir course, rose still higher and higher, and ouerflowed not onelie the kings feet, but also flashed vp vnto his legs and knees.  Wherewith the king started suddenlie vp, and [Sidenote:  The saieng of king Cnute.] withdrew from it, saieng withall to his nobles that were about him:  “Behold you noble men, you call me king, which can not so much as staie by my commandement this small portion of water.  But know ye for certeine, that there is no king but the father onelie of our Lord Iesus Christ, with whome he reigneth, & at whose becke all things are [Sidenote:  Zealouslie inough, if it had bin according to true knowledge.] gouerned.  Let vs therefore honor him, let vs confesse and professe him to be the ruler of heauen, earth, and sea, and besides him none other.”

From thence he went to Winchester, and there with his owne hands set his crowne vpon the head of the image of the crucifix, which stood there in the church of the apostles Peter and Paule, and from [Sidenote:  Ran.  Higd. Polydor. Matth.  West.] thenceforth he would neuer weare that crowne nor anie other.  Some write that he spake not the former words to the sea vpon anie presumptuousnesse of mind, but onelie vpon occasion of the vaine [Sidenote:  Polydor.] title, which in his commendation one of his gentlemen gaue him by way of flatterie (as he rightlie tooke it) for he called him the most [Sidenote:  Flatterie reproued.] mightiest king of all kings, which ruled most at large both men, sea, and land.  Therefore to reprooue the fond flatterie of such vaine persons, he deuised and practised the deed before mentioned, thereby both to reprooue such flatterers, and also that men might be admonished to consider the omnipotencie of almightie God.  He had issue by his wife queene Emma, a sonne named by the English chronicles Hardiknought, but by the Danish writers Canute or Knute:  also a daughter named Gonilda, that was after maried to Henrie the sonne of [Sidenote:  Polydor.] Conrad, which also was afterwards emperour, and named Henrie the third.  By his concubine Alwine that was daughter to Alselme, whome [Sidenote:  Alb.  Cranz.] some name earle of Hampton, he had two bastard sonnes, Harold and Sweno.  He was much giuen in his latter daies to vertue, as he that [Sidenote:  Polydor. Fabian.] considered how perfect felicitie rested onelie in godlines and true deuotion to serue the heauenlie king and gouernour of all things.