Játvarðar Saga relates that when the English rebels, fighting against
William the Conqueror, became sure that the Danish king
Sveinn Ástríðarson would not help them any more, they agreed to leave England for Constantinople (
Miklagarðr). The English force consisted of 350 ships, a "great host" and "three earls and eight barons", all led by one "Siward earl of Gloucester" (
Sigurðr jarl af Glocestr). They sailed past
Pointe Saint-Mathieu (
Matheus-nes), Galicia (
Galizuland), through the
Straits of Gibraltar (
Nörvasundz) to
Ceuta (
Septem). They captured Ceuta, killing its Muslim defenders and plundering its gold and silver. After Ceuta, they seized
Majorca and
Menorca, before embarking to
Sicily, where they heard that
Constantinople was being besieged by
infidels.
The English sailed to Constantinople, vanquishing the besieging fleet and clearing the heathen army. The ruler of Constantinople,
Alexius I Comnenus (
Kirjalax), offered to take the English into service, allowing them to live in Constantinople as his bodyguards, "as was the wont of the
Varangians who went into his pay". While some of the English liked this idea, Earl Siward and some others desired a realm of their own to rule over into old age. Alexius told them of a land over the sea that had formerly been under the emperor of Constantinople, but was now occupied by heathens. The emperor granted this land to the English, and a party led by Earl Siward sailed for this land while another party of English remained in the service of Alexius. The land lay "6 days north and north-east of Constantinople", and was won by Earl Siward, who after many battles drove away the heathens. They called it "England" and the territory's main towns were called "London", "York", and "by the names of other great towns in England". The English did not adopt "St Paul's law" (the Eastern rite liturgy), but instead sought bishops and other clergymen from the
Kingdom of Hungary. The descendants of these English are said to have remained in the region ever since.
The story told by the
Chronicon Universale Anonymi Laudunensis is largely the same in summary, but has a few variant details. It does not name the Danish king (Sveinn Ástríðarson), named as "Sveinn son of Ulf" by the
Játvarðar Saga. Likewise, it does not mention the route taken by the English to the Mediterranean, a route added by the Icelandic author(s) probably from "general knowledge". There are other small variants, like, for instance, "William king of England" (
Willelmus rex Anglie) in the
Chronicon is called by the
Játvarðar Saga "William the Bastard" (
Viljálmr bastharðr), "Sicily" in the saga is "
Sardinia" in the
Chronicon, the names of the cities (London and York) are not given by the
Chronicon, and the "New England" (
Nova Anglia) of the
Chronicon is called only "England" by the saga. A bigger variant is that the Earl "Siward" (
Sigurðr) of the saga is called
Stanardus by the
Chronicon. Most of the narrative however is largely the same, the numbers and ranks of the earls and barons, their ships, as is the sailing distance from Constantinople to the colony. The
Chronicon, after its account of the foundation of New England, adds that when Alexius sent an official to take tribute from them, the "eastern English" (
Angli orientales) killed the official; the English who remained in Constantinople, fearing that Alexius would take his revenge upon them, are said to have fled to New England and to have taken up
piracy.
