Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

Canute was King of Denmark and Norway as well as England; and he was one of the richest and most powerful kings, as well as the best, that lived at that time. He reigned in England for nineteen years; and all that time there was peace, and the people improved very much. They built better houses, and wore better clothes, and ate better food. Besides they had more schools, and were much better brought up. Canute was very kind to learned men, and encouraged the English in everything good and useful.

I am sorry to say, however, that they still had many slaves instead of servants to wait upon them and to help to till the ground for them.

By slaves, I mean men and women who are the property of others, who buy and sell them, as they would horses.

Formerly there were white slaves in almost every country: afterwards, when white slaves were not allowed by law, people went and stole black men, from their homes and families, and carried them to places so far from their homes, that they could never get back again, and made them work for them. And it is very lately that a law has been made that there shall be no more slavery.

The reason I tell you about slavery in this place is, that the Danes had a great many English slaves, and the rich English had a great many Britons, and even poor English, for their slaves; for, although the Danes and English loved to be free themselves, they thought there was no harm in making slaves of the prisoners they took in battle, or even of the poor people of their own country, whom they forced to sell themselves or their children for slaves, before they would give them clothes or food to keep them from starving. By degrees, however, these wicked customs were left off, and now we are all free.

After wise King Canute’s death, there were two more Danish kings in England, one called Harold Harefoot, and the other Hardicanute; but they reigned a very short time, and did little worth remembering: so I shall say nothing more about them. In the next chapter we shall have a good deal to learn.

CHAPTER XIII.
How King Edward the Confessor suffered his courtiers to rule him and the kingdom, and promised that the Duke of Normandy should be king; how some of his wise men made a book of laws; how Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, was made king; how he was killed in the battle of Hastings, and the Duke of Normandy became king.

I told you that when the Danes got so much the better of the English as to make one of their own princes king, they drove away the princes of Alfred’s family; and I told you, at the same time, that some of these princes went to Normandy, which was governed by a duke instead of a king. The duke at that time was brave and generous, and was kind to the princes, and protected them from their enemies, and allowed them to live at his court. One of the English princes was called Edward; and, after the three Danish kings were dead, this Edward was made king of England.

The people were all delighted to have a prince of Alfred’s family once more to reign over them, for although Canute had been good to them, they could not forget that he was one of the cruel Danes who had so long oppressed the English; and, as to his sons, they never did anything good, as I told you before; and the people suspected them of having murdered a favorite young prince, called Alfred.