The first was called Harold, and his surname was Harefoot, because he was a swift runner. When he became king it seems that the two princes in Normandy, the sons Harold of Ethelred and Emma, began to think they might Harefoot. have a chance of getting back their father's kingdom. The younger of them, Alfred, went over to England, where his mother was. But he was seized with all his followers and most cruelly used; he was blinded, and afterwards killed; and the "Chronicle " says "Now is our trust in the beloved God, that they are in bliss, Harold Harefoot was very irreligious, and he took pleasure in insulting the services of the church. He would call out his huntsmen and his dogs with great noise and bustle, and ride off hunting just at the moment when people were going to church. After reigning about four years, he died. 1040. Upon this his half-brother Harthacnut, generally called Hardicanute, was chosen king. He was the son of Canute and of Emma, and was at this time in Flanders Hartha with his mother, but he had been born and bred in cnut. England. The people therefore hoped that he would be a good king like his father, but it turned out that he was worse even than Harold. This is the account the "Chronicle" gives of him. "Then was Harthacnut sent after at Bruges; it was imagined to be well done. And he then came hither with sixty ships before midsummer, and imposed a very heavy contribution, so that it was borne with difficulty; and then was everyone unfavorable to him who before had desired him; nor did he perform aught kingly while he reigned. He caused the dead Harold to be dragged up, and had him cast into a fen." But the Danes afterwards took the body of Harold and laid it in a buryingground they had, where now stands the church of St. Clement Danes. Harthacnut exasperated the people greatly by laying on them a heavy tax, called the Danegeld. This tax had been first levied by Ethelred the Unready, to pay his tribute to the Danes, and perhaps it was for that reason that it was always looked on as hateful. Some of the people rebelled and would not pay it. Then Harthacnut sent his soldiers to ravage the land and kill the people, and so made himself still more detested than before. The chief thing to be said in his favor is, that he seems to have had some natural affection for his half-brothers, the two princes who had been brought up in Normandy. He was very angry at the cruel murder of Alfred, and accused Earl Godwine of having a hand in it. Godwine solemnly swore that he was innocent, and a great many other lords swore it too; but to this day no one knows whether he was innocent or guilty. To pacify the king, he made him a splendid present. He gave Harthacnut a magnificent ship, with eighty men on board, all beautifully dressed, with fine weapons, and with golden bracelets on their arms. This royal gift so pleased the king that he accepted Godwine's oath. He then invited his other brother, Edward, to come over to England and live with him, which he did. After Harthacnut had reigned about two years, he went to a marriage feast of one of his great lords. "And as he stood at his drink he fell suddenly to the earth with a terrible struggle, and then they who were nigh took hold of him, and he afterwards spoke not a word." An inglorious and disgraceful death, after an inglorious and disgraceful reign. CHAPTER XIV. THE CONFESSOR. Edward the Confessor. The Normans and the English. The English party and Earl Godwine. Godwine's banishment and return. Harold. Westminster Abbey. 1042. ONCE more a descendant of Cerdic and of Egbert sat on the throne of England. Harold and Harthacnut had left no children, and Harthacnut had evidently intended Edward the his brother Edward to be king after his own death, Confessor. when he invited him to come back from Normandy and live with him. So all the people made Edward king; and he was the last king of that old royal family which had reigned so gloriously, on the whole, through those hundreds of years. may The people, no doubt, thought they had an English king again; but this was not so. Though Edward was half an Englishman by birth, he was, in fact, much more a Frenchman. [Henceforth the words Norman and French be used interchangeably; for the old histories generally call the Normans Frenchmen, and, indeed, they had become so in fact.] Edward had a French mother, had been taken to Normandy when he was a child, and had lived there with his uncle and cousin until maturity, so that he was far more like a Frenchman than an Englishman. There was a great difference between the Normans and the English, though they were such near neighbors and were descended from kindred races. Our information The English and the comes largely from a writer named William of Normans. Malmesbury, who had good knowledge of the subject, since his father was a Norman and his mother an Englishwoman; and he was anxious to do justice to both sides, though, on the whole, he seems to have preferred his father's race. The Normans were at this time in some respects more civilized than the English. They had more polished man ners, and were more gay and lively. Frenchmen are still considered more polite and affable than the English, who are looked on, whether justly or unjustly, as blunt and clumsy in comparison. The Normans were skilful architects, and had built many beautiful churches and minsters far superior to those of England. They had noble and splendid houses, in which they lived temperately and frugally; "they were delicate in their food, but not excessive;" while the English lived in "mean and despicable houses," and were overfond of eating and drinking. It had long been the habit, on festive occasions, to begin dining early in the morning, and to continue revelling all day; but manners had even grown worse, for the brutal King Harthacnut, who, as we saw, died drinking, had introduced the custom of having four great meals every day; and they would sometimes pass entire nights in drinking. It seems too that the English, including the clergy, had again fallen into a state of ignorance, so that "they could scarcely stammer out the words of the sacrament, and a person who understood grammar was an object of wonder and astonishment. The nobility, given up to luxury and wantonness, went not to church in the morning after the manner of Christians, but merely in a careless manner heard matins and masses from a hurrying priest in their chambers." The same writer mentions the degrading slave-trade which was still carried on in England, and which struck him with horror. After writing of this drunkenness and ignorance he added, "I would not, however, have these bad propensities universally ascribed to the English. I know that many of the clergy at that day trod the path of sanctity by a blameless life; I know that many of the laity of all ranks and conditions in this nation were well-pleasing to God. Be injustice far from this account; the accusation does not involve the whole indiscriminately." Normans. Edward very naturally preferred the people he was used to, though when he became king of England he ought to have set himself to understand and love his whole Edward people, as Canute had done. He was a good man, favors the and in some ways a good king, but he could not help showing a great partiality to the French, which led to much trouble in his days, and to still more afterward. A great number of Frenchmen came over, and Edward gave them offices and estates, so that they grew rich at the expense of the English. Above all, he promoted the French clergy, and set them over the English. He made a Frenchman Bishop of London, and another Bishop of Dorchester. We can imagine how offensive this would be to the English. It appears, too, that this Bishop of Dorchester, though a Frenchman, must have been quite as ignorant as an Englishman, for when he went to Rome the Pope was very near depriving him of his bishopric, or, as the "Chronicle" it, "they were very near breaking his staff, if he had not given the greater treasures, because he could not do his offices [that is, read the prayers, etc.] as well as he should." After that the king made a Frenchman Archbishop of Canterbury, and as he who holds that office is considered the highest person in the whole kingdom next to the king, this was also a great insult to the English. His piety puts Nevertheless, on the whole, Edward was much beloved. He was of a gentle and pious nature; not shrewd or able, but meek and good. He seems, too, to have been and good good-looking, and he had pleasant, polished manness. ners, which he had learnt in France. The "Chronicle" says that though he had dwelt so long in exile, "he was aye blithe of mood." He pleased the people greatly by taking off a heavy tax which had oppressed them very much. The tale is, that one year, when it had just been collected, the king was brought to see the masses of gold. He was so struck with the sight, and with the thought of the misery it must cause the people to have so much money wrung out of them, that he fancied he saw an exulting little devil jumping about upon the casks. This story, with others, was afterwards carved in stone, as a decoration for his chapel in Westminster Abbey, where they may still be seen, though so worn away with age that they are not very easy to understand. Edward was surnamed by his people the "Confessor," which meant in those days almost the same as a saint. They thought him so nearly a saint that it was believed he could work miracles, and had the gift of prophecy. His principal miracle was healing scrofula by his touch, or by the patient being bathed with the water in which the king had washed his hands. It has been mentioned that the king was believed to have been descended from the god Woden, and that there was a sacredness in him, which made him different from other men. After Woden came to be regarded as only a man this par |