There was no occasion, however, for Hardicanute to attempt force for the recovery of his kingdom, for not many months after these transactions Harold died, and then the country seemed generally to acquiesce in Hardicanute’s accession.  The Anglo-Saxons, discouraged perhaps by the discomfiture of their cause in the person of Alfred, made no attempt to rise.  Hardicanute came accordingly and assumed the throne.  But, though he had not courage and energy enough to encounter his rival Harold during his lifetime, he made what amends he could by offering base indignities to his body after he was laid in the grave.  His first public act after his accession was to have the body disinterred, and, after cutting off the head, he threw the mangled remains into the Thames.  The Danish fishermen in the river found them, and buried them again in a private sepulcher in London, with such concealed marks of respect and honor as it was in their power to bestow.

Hardicanute also instituted legal proceedings to inquire into the death of Alfred.  He charged the Saxons with having betrayed him, especially those who were rich enough to pay the fines by which, in those days, it was very customary for criminals to atone for their crimes.  Godwin himself was brought before the tribunal, and charged with being accessory to Alfred’s death.  Godwin positively asserted his innocence, and brought witnesses to prove that he was entirely free from all participation in the affair.  He took also a much more effectual method to secure an acquittal, by making to King Hardicanute some most magnificent presents.  One of these was a small ship, profusely enriched and ornamented with gold.  It contained eighty soldiers, armed in the Danish style, with weapons of the most highly-finished and costly construction.  They each carried a Danish axe on the left shoulder, and a javelin in the right hand, both richly gilt, and they had each of them a bracelet on his arm, containing six ounces of solid gold.  Such at least is the story.  The presents might be considered in the light either of a bribe to corrupt justice, or in that of a fine to satisfy it.  In fact, the line, in those days, between bribes to purchase acquittal and fines atoning for the offense seems not to have been very accurately drawn.

Hardicanute, when fairly established on his throne, governed his realm like a tyrant.  He oppressed the Saxons especially without any mercy.  The effect of his cruelties, and those of the Danes who acted under him, was, however, not to humble and subdue the Saxon spirit, but to awaken and arouse it.  Plots and conspiracies began to be formed against him, and against the whole Danish party.  Godwin himself began to meditate some decisive measures, when, suddenly, Hardicanute died.  Godwin immediately took the field at the head of all his forces, and organized a general movement throughout the kingdom for calling Edward, Alfred’s brother, to the throne.  This insurrection was triumphantly successful.