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CHAPTER V.

FROM THE REIGN OF CANUTE TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.

From A.D. 1016 to A.D. 1066.

CANUTE, who was king of Denmark and Norway, as well as of England, acquired the affections of his Saxon subjects by the wisdom and equity of his government; but his character is stained by the cruelty with which he treated the two sons of Edmund Ironside, whom he sent out of the kingdom with such instructions to the Dane who was entrusted with them, as were likely to ensure their death. They were, however, received by Solomon king of Hungary, where one of them, called from his misfortunes Edward the Outlaw, married the queen's sister, by whom he became the father of Edgar Atheling, and Margaret, afterwards queen of Scotland.

There were two other princes, from whose claims Canute apprehended danger to his crown. These were Alfred and Edward, the sons of Ethelred the Unready, by Emma of Normandy, his second queen. They resided in Normandy, at their uncle's court, and in order to guard himself from any attempts from that quarter, Canute prevailed on Emma to marry him, by settling the succession to the crown on such issue as they might have.

After thus establishing his power, Canute had a prosperous reign of nearly twenty years, and earned the title of "the Great," no less by the wisdom and justice of his government than by his victories over his enemies. His laws are indeed almost the first that make mention of the Pope, as having any recognized authority over the English clergy, but are in general marked by a spirit of mildness and piety, and by respect for the freedom and ancient customs of the Saxons. He is said to have shown his wisdom by the reply which he made to the flattery of his courtiers, who one day, when he was walking by the seashore, compared his power to God's. The tide was coming in, and Canute ordered a chair to be brought, on which he sate upon the beach, and commanded the waves to retire. When his chair was quite surrounded by the waters, he

FROM THE REIGN OF CANUTE TO THE CONQUEST.

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rebuked his followers, desiring them to observe that no power can be likened to His, who alone can say to the sea, Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.

Canute died A.D. 1036, leaving three sons, Sweyne, king of Norway; Hardicanute (his son by Emma), already settled on the throne of Denmark; and Harold, surnamed Harefoot, who succeeded to the English crown, notwithstanding the superior claims and efforts of his half-brother, Hardicanute. His reign of four years is disgraced by the murder of Alfred, his mother's son by Ethelred, who came to England with his brother Edward to visit that queen, now again a widow. By the help of Earl Godwin, a powerful nobleman, who gave much trouble in the following reigns, Alfred was arrested in the castle of Guildford, by virtue of Harold's order, and died from the cruel treatment he received. On the death of Harold, A.D. 1039, Hardicanute became king, and was chiefly remarkable for his brutal intemperance. He died after a reign of two years, A.D. 1041, and the line of Saxon monarchs was restored in the person of Edward the son of Ethelred, who had escaped from the treachery of Earl Godwin, and now secured the interest of that nobleman by marrying his daughter Egitha. This princess was a lady of much piety and learning. Ingulphus, a Saxon historian, who was a scholar in the monastery at Westminster, tells us that the queen used often to meet him and his school-fellows in her walks. On these occasions she would try to pose the scholars with some grave or playful question of grammar or logic. She would then direct her maid to give the youths a piece or two of silver, and send them for some refreshment to the palace buttery.

Edward acquired the titles of Saint and Confessor by the zeal with which he lent himself to the designs of the monks. Having been educated in Normandy, he was too much biassed in favour of foreign churchmen, whom he placed in English sees. He also made several monasteries (in Sussex and elsewhere) subject to abbeys in Normandy. The reign of this king was chiefly disturbed by the ambition of Earl Godwin, whose son, Harold, who was connected with the line of the Danish kings, began to take steps for securing the succession to the crown, as he saw that Edward was childless, and Edgar Atheling the rightful heir, a prince of feeble character.

20 FROM THE REIGN OF CANUTE TO THE CONQUEST.

It was in this reign that Siward, earl of Northumberland, was sent to assist Malcolm Canmore, king of Scotland, against Macbeth, who had murdered his father, Duncan, and usurped the throne. The history of Macbeth has furnished the plot to one of the noblest dramas of William Shakspere.

King Edward was the founder of Westminster Abbey, where all the English kings have since been crowned. He died, A.D. 1066, just after the consecration of that monastery; and Harold prevailed on the nobles to elect him as their sovereign, without regarding the right of Edgar Atheling, or the pretensions of William, duke of Normandy, whose claims were founded on a pretended will of Edward the Confessor, and had been allowed by Harold himself when on a visit some years before at William's court.

Harold, on his accession, did all in his power to engage the affections of his people, and induce them to support him in the struggle with William, which now awaited him. He was first called to repel the invasion of Harfager, king of Norway, who was supported by Toston, a brother of Harold; and he gained a great victory over them at Battlebridge, in Yorkshire. In this battle both Harfager and Toston fell; and Harold hastened to the south to oppose Duke William, who had already landed in Sussex. The armies met near Hastings, and the battle which ensued was long doubtful, till Harold was slain by an arrow, and his followers, discouraged by that event, were routed with great slaughter.

The death of Harold put an end to the dominion of the Anglo-Saxons in England; but the manly spirit of the Saxon institutions had taken such hold of the people, that, though curbed by the tyranny of Norman rule, it could not in the end be put down. Much of our English greatness is owing, under God, to the fact that the Saxons, however much depressed in the next reigns, formed a middle class between the Norman nobles and the mere peasantry; of greater weight and of a more manly and independent character than was to be found in other parts of Europe. England was thus still possessed of the materials of national greatness, in having a people proud of the glory of their forefathers, and attached to those ancient laws which were well suited to train them in simple and manly habits.