Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/75

A. D. 1038.]



, or Canute the Strong, had never resigned his pretensions to the crown of England; and the country was only spared the horrors of a civil war by the death of the late king. 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 Hardicanute's government afforded his subjects a bad prognostic of his future conduct. He was so enraged at Harold for depriving him of his share of the