Hardicanute only reigned two years, and in 1042 A.D. died at a nuptial banquet, and cast a gloom over the whole thing.  In those times it was a common thing for the king or some of the nobility to die between the roast pig and the pork pie.  It was not unusual to see each noble with a roast pig tete-a-tete,—­each confronting the other, the living and the dead.

At this time, it is said by the old settlers that hog cholera thinned out the nobility a good deal, whether directly or indirectly they do not say.

The English had now wearied of the Danish yoke.  “Why wear the Danish yoke,” they asked, “and be ruled with a rod of iron?”

Edward, half brother of Edmund Ironside, was therefore nominated and chosen king.  Godwin, who seemed to be specially gifted as a versatile connoisseur of “crow,"[A] turned up as his political adviser.

[Footnote A:  “Eating crow” is an expression common in modern American politics to signify a reluctant acknowledgement of humiliating defeat—­historian.]

Edward, afterwards called “the Confessor,” at once stripped Queen Emma of all her means, for he had no love left for her, as she had failed repeatedly to assist him when he was an outcast, and afterwards the new king placed her in jail (or gaol, rather) at Winchester.  This should teach mothers to be more obedient, or they will surely come to some bad end.

Edward was educated in Normandy, and so was quite partial to the Normans.  He appointed many of them to important positions in both church and state.  Even the See of Canterbury was given to a Norman.  The See saw how it was going, no doubt, and accepted the position.  But let us pass on rapidly to something else, for thereby variety may be given to these pages, and as one fact seems to call for another, truth, which for the time being may be apparently crushed to earth, may rise again.

[Illustration:  Edward strips Emma of her means.]

Godwin disliked the introduction of the Norman tongue and Norman customs in England, and when Eustace, Count of Boulogne and author of the sausage which bears his name, committed an act of violence against the people of Dover, they arose as one man, drove out the foreigners, and fumigated the town as well as the ferry running to Calais.

This caused trouble between Edward and Godwin, which led to the deposition of the latter, who, with his sons, was compelled to flee.  But later he returned, and his popularity in England among the home people compelled the king to reestablish him.

[Illustration:  Godwin and his sons flying from England.]

Soon afterwards Godwin died, and Harold, his son, succeeded him successfully.  Godwin was an able man, and got several earldoms for his wife and relatives at a time when that was just what they needed.  An earldom then was not a mere empty title with nothing in it but a blue sash and a scorbutic temperament, but it gave almost absolute authority over one or more shires, and was also a good piece of property.  These historical facts took place in or about the year 1054 A.D.