CHAPTER IX.
EARL GODWIN AND HAROLD.
Harold and Harthacanute—The Murder of Alfred—Accession of Harthacanute—His Reconciliation with Godwin—The Punishment of Worcester—Edward the Confessor—His Election—Influx of Normans—The Family of Godwin—Conduct of Sweyn—The Outbreak at Dover—Godwin's Rebellion and Outlawry—William of Normandy's Visit to England—Godwin's Attempt to Return—His Appearance in the Thames—His Restoration to Power—Death of Godwin—His Place taken by Harold—Siward's Invasion of Scotland and his Death—Death of Leofric and Punishment of Ælfgar—Church Building of Harold and Edward—Harold's Conquest of Wales—Turbulence of Tostig—Death of the Atheling Edward—Candidature of Harold.
By the death of Canute the prospect of a disputed succession was opened up once more. By his second marriage he had issue one son, named Harthacanute; by the first, two, named Sweyn and Harold; but the parentage of these two was considered to be very doubtful. Sweyn nevertheless succeeded to Norway, and Harthacanute to Denmark, but the question was not settled so easily in England. There was a double election, in which the Northerners, under the leadership of Leofric of Mercia, chose Harold; and the Southerners, among whom Godwin was the most influential, chose Harthacanute. Having, however, learnt wisdom by misfortune, the Witena-gemot agreed that the kingdom should be peacefully divided; and as Harthacanute did not come over from Denmark, Earl Godwin, despite his obscure origin, for he appears to have been the son of a wealthy ceorl, was practically King of Wessex. But in 1037, when Harthacanute showed no signs of visiting England, Harold was elected by the Witena-gemot king over all England, and ruled during two years and some months (1037-1040). Of his reign we know absolutely nothing of importance, but he appears to have resembled very little his great father, being in fact more or less of a barbarian.
During the period in which Godwin was administering Wessex for Harthacanute, Alfred, the son of Emma and Ethelred, came over from Normandy, apparently with some designs on the crown. He met Earl Godwin at Guildford, and shortly afterwards was seized by Harold's servants and taken to Ely, where he was blinded, and soon afterwards died. At the time, Godwin was universally held to have had the chief hand in the deed; although it is not easy to see why he should have been leader in a crime which was committed to further the interests of Harold, whose election he had opposed. The feeling nevertheless was very strong against him, and perhaps he may have used the betrayal to make his peace with Harold. Queen Emma was soon afterwards driven from England, but found a hospitable abode at Bruges, where she was received by Count Baldwin of Flanders. She was believed to have been privy to the death of Alfred, in order that the crown might pass to Harthacanute.
Harthacanute, or Canute the Strong, had never resigned his pretensions to the crown of England; and the country was spared the horrors of a civil war only by the death of Harold. Under pretence of visiting the widowed queen in Flanders, he had assembled a fleet of sixty ships, his real intention being to make a descent upon England. The news of Harold's death induced him at once to set sail. He shortly afterwards entered London in triumph, and was acknowledged king without opposition.
The first act of Harthacanute's government promised badly for his future conduct. He was so enraged at Harold for depriving him of his share of the kingdom, and for the cruel treatment of his half-brother Alfred, that in an impotent desire of revenge against the dead, he ordered his body to be dug up and to be thrown into the Thames; and when it was found by some fishermen, and buried in London, he ordered it again to be dug up, and to be thrown once more into the river; but it was fished up a second time, and then interred with great secrecy. Godwin and the Archbishop of York submitted to be his instruments in this unnatural and brutal action.
The earl knew that he was universally believed to have been an accomplice in the barbarity exercised on Alfred, and that he was on that account obnoxious to Harthacanute; and perhaps he hoped, by displaying this rage against Harold's memory, to free himself from the suspicion of having had any participation in his counsels; but the king preferred an accusation against Godwin for the murder of Alfred, and compelled him to clear himself. Godwin, in order to appease the king, made him a magnificent present of a galley with a gilt stern, rowed by four-score men, who wore each of them a gold bracelet on his arm, weighing sixteen ounces, and were armed and clothed in the most sumptuous manner. Harthacanute, pleased with the splendour of this spectacle, quickly forgot his brother's murder; and on Godwin's proving his innocence by compurgation, he allowed him to be acquitted.
Though Harthacanute, before his accession, had been called over by the vows of the English, he soon lost the affections of the nation by his misconduct; but nothing appeared more grievous to them than his renewing the imposition of Danegeld, and obliging the nation to pay a great sum of money to the fleet which brought him from Denmark. The discontents ran high in many places. In Worcester the populace rose, and put to death two of the collectors (1041). The king, enraged at this opposition, swore vengeance against the city, and ordered three noblemen—Godwin, Earl of Wessex, Siward, Earl of Northumberland, and Leofric, Earl of Mercia—to execute his orders with the utmost rigour. They were obliged to set fire to the city, and deliver it up to be plundered by their soldiers; but they saved the lives of the inhabitants, whom they allowed to fly to a small island on the Severn, called Beverly, till by their intercession they were enabled to appease the anger of the tyrant. This violent reign was of short duration. Harthacanute died three years after his accession, in consequence of his excesses in drinking. This event took place at the marriage feast of a Danish nobleman at Lambeth, on June 8, 1042.