north and centre, headed by Leofwine's son,
Leofric,[7] Earl of the Mercians, chose Harold, the son of Cnut by an
earlier wife or concubine. Godwine perhaps hoped that Harthacnut would
make the West Saxon earldom the centre of the empire which had been
his father's. Cnut's empire was, however, breaking up. The Norwegians
chose Magnus, a king of their own race, and Harthacnut remained in
Denmark to defend it against the attacks of Magnus. In Normandy there
were two English Ethelings, AElfred and Eadward, the sons of AEthelred
by Emma, who seem to have thought that the absence of Harthacnut gave
them a chance of returning to England. AElfred landed, but was seized
by Harold. He was blinded with such cruelty that he died. His death
was, truly or falsely, attributed to Godwine. As Harthacnut still
remained in Denmark, the West Saxons deposed him and gave themselves
to Harold, since which time England has never been divided. In =1040=
Harold died, and Harthacnut came at last to England to claim the
crown. He brought with him a Danish fleet, and with his sailors and
his house-carls he ruled England as a conquered land. He raised a
Danegeld to satisfy his men, and sent his house-carls to force the
people to pay the heavy tax. Two of them were killed at Worcester, and
he burnt Worcester to the ground. In =1042= he died 'as he stood at
his drink' at a bridal.

[Footnote 7: Genealogy of the Mercian earls:--

Leofwine
|
Leofric
|
AElfgar
|
---------------------------
| |
Eadwine, Morkere,
Earl of Mercia Earl of North-humberland]

[Illustration: First Great Seal of Eadward the Confessor (obverse).]

13. =Eadward the Confessor and Earl Godwine. 1042--1051.=--The English
were tired of foreign rulers. 'All folk chose Eadward king.' Eadward,
the son of AEthelred and the brother of the murdered AElfred, though an
Englishman on his father's side, was also the son of the Norman Emma,
and had been brought up in Normandy from his childhood. The Normans
were now men of French speech, and they were more polite and
cultivated than Englishmen. Eadward filled his court with Normans. He
disliked the roughness of the English, but instead of attempting to
improve them as the great AElfred had formerly done, he stood entirely
aloof from th