They were obliged to set fire
to the city, and deliver it up to be plundered by their soldiers; but
they saved the lives of the inhabitants, whom they confined in a small
island of the Severn, called Beverey, till, by their intercession, they
were able to appease the king, and obtain the pardon of the supplicants.
This violent government was of short duration. Hardicanute died in two
years after his accession, at the nuptials of a Danish lord, which he
had honored with his presence. His usual habits of intemperance were so
well known, that, notwithstanding his robust constitution, his sudden
death gave as little surprise as it did sorrow to his subjects.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
{1041.} The English, on the death of Hardicanute, saw a favorable
opportunity for recovering their liberty, and for shaking off the Danish
yoke, under which they had so long labored. Sweyn, king of Norway, the
eldest son of Canute, was absent; and as the two last kings had died
without issue, none of that race presented himself, nor any whom the
Danes could support as successor to the throne. Prince Edward was
fortunately at court on his brother's demise; and though the descendants
of Edmond Ironside were the true heirs of the Saxon family, yet their
absence in so remote a country as Hungary, appeared a sufficient reason
for their exclusion to a people, like the English, so little accustomed
to observe a regular order in the succession of their monarchs.
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