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and walking. He died the 14th of April, 1039 , chap.little regretted or esteemed by his subjects ; m»and left the succession open to his brother ,Hardicanute.

HARD 1 CANUTE.

HaRDICANUTE, or Canute the Hardy , that 1039.is, the robust (for he too is chiefly known byhis bodily accomplishments) though, by remain-ing so long in Denmark, he had been deprivedof his share in the partition of the kingdom, hadnot abandoned his pretensions ; and he haddetermined, before Harold’s death , to recover byarms , what he had lost , either by his ownnegligence, or by the necessity of his affairs.

On pretence of paying a visit to the queendowager in Flanders, he had assembled a fleetof sixty fail , and was preparing to make adescent on England , when intelligence of hisbrother’s death induced him to fail immediatelyto London , where he was received in triumph ,and acknowledged king without opposition.

The first act of Hardicanute’s governmentafforded his subjects a bad prognostic of hisfuture conduct. He was so enraged at Harold,for depriving him of his share of the kingdom,and for the cruel treatment of his brother Alfred,that, in an impotent desire of revenge against thedead, he ordered his body to be dug up , andto be thrown into the Thames: And when itWas found by feme fishermen, and buried in