Canute's plan was to establish a great northern empire embracing
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and England. To facilitate the government of
so large a realm, he divided England into four districts,--Wessex,
Mercia, East Anglia, and Northumbria--which, with their dependencies,
embraced the entire country. (See map facing p. 38.)
Each of these districts was ruled by an earl[1] invested with almost
royal power. For a time the arrangement worked well, but eventually
discord sprang up and imperiled the unity of the kingdom. After
Canute's death two of his sons divided England between themselves;
both were bad rulers.
[1] Earl ("chief" or "leader"): a title of honor and of office. The
four earldoms established by Canute remained nearly unchanged until
the Norman Conquest, 1066.
65. Restoration of the Saxon or English Kings; Edward the Confessor
(1042-1066).
On the occasion of the Danish conqueror Sweyn (S63), Ethelred II, the
English King, sent his French wife Emma back to Normandy for safety.
She took her son, Prince Edward, then a lad of nine, with her. He
remained at the French court nearly thirty years, and among other
friends to whom he became greatly attached was his second cousin,
William, Duke of Normandy.
The oppressive acts of Canute's sons (S64) excited insurrection
(1042), and both Danes and English joined in the determination to
restore the English line. They invited Prince Edward to accept the
crown. He returned to England, obtained the throne, and pledged
himself to restore the rights of which the people had been deprived.
By birth King Edward was already half Norman; by education and tastes
he was wholly so.
It is very doubtful whether he could speak a word of English, and it
is certain that from the beginning he surrounded himself with French
favorites, and filled the Church with French priests. Edward's piety
and blameless life gained for him the title of "the Confessor," or, as
we should say to-day, "the Christian."
He married the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most powerful
noble in England. Godwin really ruled the country in the King's name
until his death (1053), when his son Harold (S67) succeeded him as
earl.