nute did not owe
the crown to conquest, though his greater power contributed to the
result, but to election, which now appeared as the superior right:
hitherto the Witan had always exercised it within the limits of the
royal family; this time they disregarded that family altogether.

Canute decreed or allowed some bloody acts of violence, in order to
strengthen the power that had fallen to his lot; but afterwards he
administered it with a noble spirit answering to his position. He
became the leading sovereign of the North: men reckoned five or six
kingdoms as subject to him. England was the chief of them all, even
for him; it was in possession of the culture and religion which he
wished should prevail in the rest: the missionaries of the North went
forth from Canterbury. England itself, however, gained a higher
position in the world by its union with a power which ruled as far as
Norway and North America, and carried on commerce with the East by the
Baltic. In Gothland the great emporium of the West, Arabic as well as
Anglo-Danish coins are found; the former were carried from the North
as far as England. Canute favoured the Anglo-Saxon mode of life; he
liked to be designated the 'successor of Edgar;' he confirmed his
legislation; and it was his intention, at least, to rule according to
the laws: as he even submitted himself to the military regulations of
the Huskarls, so he commanded right and law to be administered in
civil matters without respect to his own person.

But a union of such different kingdoms could only be a transitory
phenomenon. Canute himself thought of leaving England again
independent under one of his sons.

With this object he had married Ethelred's widow Emma. For, according
to Anglo-Saxon ideas, the Queen was not merely the King's wife, but
also sovereign of the land, in her own right. It was settled that the
children of this marriage should succeed him in England. Probably
Canute did not wish the inheritance of the crown in his house to
depend merely on the goodwill of the Witan.

After Canute's death we can observe a wavering between the principles
of election and birthright. The magnates again elected, but limited
their choice to the King's house. After the extinction of the
Danish-Norman family, they came back to the English-Norman one; they
called the son of Ethelred and Emma, Edward the Confessor, to the
throne of his fathers, though, it is true, without leaving him much
power. This lay