THE SCENE: When a group of nobles embezzled funds from King Hading’s royal treasury, their true crime, in the opinion of the historian by Saxo Grammaticus, was their stupidity.
THE TEXT: When Hading came home from his Swedish campaigns he found that the treasury in which he usually stowed the proceeds of his warfare and plundering had been broken into and riffled. He immediately hanged his guard, Glumer, and devised a cunning scheme. A proclamation went out that any of the culprits who took pains to return the stolen goods should inherit the position of honour which Glumer had occupied. This premise made one of the thieves keener to grasp at the concessions than conceal his felony and he saw that his portion of the money was returned to the king. His confederates, fancying that he had been taken into the monarch’s close friendship and understanding that his reward was genuine as it was lavish, revealed their guilt and restored the treasure in the hope of similar recompense. Their confession was at first received with preferments and kindness, but shortly punished by torture, a clear warning for folks to avoid over-trustfulness. In my opinion they deserved the gallows for breaking their silence; when holding their tongues sensibly could have ensured safety, their stupidity blabbing dragged them to ruin.
– Gesta Danorum, Saxo Grammaticus,12th Century AD
