had so often hindered the Danes. Canute, with prompt energy,
instantly had a great canal dug on the southern bank, so that his ships
might turn the flank of the bridge; and, having overcome this great
difficulty, he dug another trench round the northern and western sides
of the city. London was now circumvallated, and cut off from all supply
of corn and cattle; but the citizen's hearts were staunch, and, baffling
every attempt of Canute to sap or escalade, the Dane soon raised the
siege. In the meantime, Edmund Ironside was not forgetful of the city
that had chosen him as king. After three battles, he compelled the Danes
to raise their second siege. In a fourth battle, which took place at
Brentford, the Danes were again defeated, though not without
considerable losses on the side of the victors, many of the Saxons being
drowned in trying to ford the river after their flying enemies. Edmund
then returned to Wessex to gather fresh troops, and in his absence
Canute for the third time laid siege to London. Again the city held out
against every attack, and "Almighty God," as the pious chroniclers say,
"saved the city."

After the division of England between Edmund and Canute had been
accomplished, the London citizens made peace with the Danes, and the
latter were allowed to winter as friends in the unconquered city; but
soon after the partition Edmund Ironside died in London, and thus Canute
became the sole king of England.

On the succession of Harold I. (Canute's natural son), says Mr.
Freeman, we find a new element, the "lithsmen," the seamen of London.
"The great city still retained her voice in the election of kings; but
that voice would almost seem to have been transferred to a new class
among the population. We hear now not of the citizens, but of the
seafaring men. Every invasion, every foreign settlement of any kind
within the kingdom too, in every age, added a new element to the
population of London. As a Norman colony settled in London later in the
century, so a Danish colony settled there now. Some accounts tell us,
doubtless with great exaggeration, that London had now almost become a
Danish city (William of Malmesbury, ii. 188); but it is, at all events,
quite certain the Danish element in the city was numerous and powerful,
and that its voice strongly helped to swell the cry which was raised in
favour of Harold."

It seems doubtful how far the London citizens in the Saxon times could
claim the right to elec