Canute now felt that his kingdom was secure; and he hoped, by making Hardicanute his heir, to perpetuate the dominion in his own family.  It is true that he had older children, whom the Danes might look upon as more properly his heirs; and Emma had also two older children, the sons of Ethelred, in Normandy.  These the Saxons would be likely to consider as the rightful heirs to the throne.  There was danger, therefore, that at his death parties would again be formed, and the civil wars break out anew.  Canute and Emma therefore seem to have acted wisely, and to have done all that the nature of the case admitted to prevent a renewal of these dreadful struggles, by concentrating their combined influence in favor of Hardicanute, who, though not absolutely the heir to either line, still combined, in some degree, the claims of both of them.  Canute also did all in his power to propitiate his Anglo-Saxon subjects.  He devoted himself to promoting the welfare of the kingdom in every way.  He built towns, he constructed roads, he repaired and endowed the churches.  He became a very zealous Christian, evincing the ardor of his piety, whether real or pretended, by all the forms and indications common in those days.  Finally, to crown all, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome.  He set out on this journey with great pomp and parade, and attended by a large retinue, and yet still strictly like a pilgrim.  He walked, and carried a wallet on his back, and a long pilgrim’s staff in his hand.  This pilgrimage, at the time when it occurred, filled the world with its fame.

At length King Canute died, and then, unfortunately, it proved that all his seemingly wise precautions against the recurrence of civil wars were taken in vain.  It happened that Hardicanute, whom he had intended should succeed him, was in Denmark at the time of his father’s death.  Godwin, however, proclaimed him king, and attempted to establish his authority, and to make Emma a sort of regent, to govern in his name until he could be brought home.  The Danish chieftains, on the other hand, elected and proclaimed one of Canute’s older sons, whose name was Harold;[2] and they succeeded in carrying a large part of the country in his favor.  Godwin then summoned Emma to join him in the west with such forces as she could command, and both parties prepared for war.

Then ensued one of those scenes of terror and suffering which war, and sometimes the mere fear of war, brings often in its train.  It was expected that the first outbreak of hostilities would be in the interior of England, near the banks of the Thames, and the inhabitants of the whole region were seized with apprehensions and fears, which spread rapidly, increased by the influence of sympathy, and excited more and more every day by a thousand groundless rumors, until the whole region was thrown into a state of uncontrollable panic and confusion.  The inhabitants abandoned their dwellings, and fled in dismay into the eastern part