"Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely Tha Cnut Ching rew there by: Roweth, cnihtes, noer the lant, And here we thes muneches saeng."
— Cnut

January 1, 1970

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Original Language: English

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Merry [sweetly] sung the monks within Ely That [when] Cnut King rowed thereby: Row, knights, near the land, And hear we these monks' song. — Cnut is said to have composed this song on hearing the music of Ely Abbey, as he was sailing by in a boat. This one verse of that song has been preserved by a monk of Ely in the Historia Eliensis (c. 1166). Reported in Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature, 3rd ed, vol. 1 (1876) p. 4 — Merrily sung the monks of Ely when Cnut King rowed by... Row, boat