They ravaged and burned and took with them to their ships indescribable plunder. They killed many and had no mercy upon women and children and many they took as slaves aboard their boats. I witnessed such cruelty that I was certain the Devil guided the actions of the heathens. I saw babes slaughtered in their mothers’ arms; I saw women horribly ravished and their violators cut their throats when they had done; I saw men and women and even children cut with axes and impaled on swords; many died screaming in the houses and churches that were burned; many of the nuns who took shelter with us were violated and murdered. The Danes rejoiced in this evil. Our Minster is burned and its treasures and relics taken. But I, Edwin, by God’s good grace, did escape the town by fleeing when the enemy breached the walls. I took with me for her protection Hilda, a young nun. We give thanks to God each hour that we escaped the horrors of the evil ones. I, Edwin, shall no longer keep the Minster chronicle as the Minster is no more: but I shall record my deeds and thoughts on the blank parchments I tookfrom the scriptorium.
