g sixteen ounces, and were armed and clothed in the most
sumptuous manner. Hardicanute, pleased with the splendour of this
spectacle, quickly forgot his brother's murder; and on Godwin's
swearing that he was innocent of the crime, he allowed him to be
acquitted.

Though Hardicanute, 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 Danegelt, 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. The king, enraged at this
opposition, swore vengeance against the city, and ordered three
noblemen, Godwin, Duke of Wessex, Siward, Duke of Northumberland, and
Leofric, Duke of Mercia, to execute his menaces 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 confined in a small island of the Severn,
called Bevery, till, by their intercession, they were able to appease
the king, and obtain the pardon of the supplicants.

This violent government was of short duration. Hardicanute died in
two years after his accession, at the nuptials of a Danish lord, which
he had honoured with his presence. His usual habits of intemperance
were so well known, that, notwithstanding his robust constitution, his
sudden death gave as little surprise as it did sorrow to his subjects.

[MN Edward the Confessor. 1041.]
The English, on the death of Hardicanute, saw a favourable opportunity
for recovering their liberty, and for shaking off the Danish yoke,
under which they had so long laboured. Sweyn, King of Norway, the
eldest son of Canute, was absent; and as the two last kings had died
without issue, none of that race presented himself, nor any whom the
Danes could support as successor to the throne. Prince Edward was
fortunately at court on his brother's demise; and though the
descendants of Edmund Ironside were the true heirs of the Saxon
family, yet their absence in so remote a country as Hungary, appeared
a sufficient reason for their exclusion, to a people like the English,
so little accustomed to observe a regular order in the succession of
their monarchs. All delays might be dangerous; and the presen