Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 04
    Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 04
    Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 04
    Ebook79 pages1 hour

    Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 04

    By Edward Bulwer-Lytton

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 15, 2013
    Harold : the Last of the Saxon Kings — Volume 04
    Author

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton

    Edward Bulwer-Lytton, engl. Romanschriftsteller und Politiker, ist bekannt geworden durch seine populären historischen/metaphysischen und unvergleichlichen Romane wie „Zanoni“, „Rienzi“, „Die letzten Tage von Pompeji“ und „Das kommende Geschlecht“. Ihm wird die Mitgliedschaft in der sagenumwobenen Gemeinschaft der Rosenkreuzer nachgesagt. 1852 wurde er zum Kolonialminister von Großbritannien ernannt.

    Read more from Edward Bulwer Lytton

    Related to Harold

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Norman Conquests

      Jul 7, 2022

      Norman Conquests
      10 min read

    • Article

      England’s Holy Hardman

      Aug 6, 2020

      England’s Holy Hardman
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Family Behind The Tudors

      Apr 14, 2022

      The Family Behind The Tudors
      9 min read

    • Article

      William the Conqueror

      Mar 27, 2020

      William the Conqueror
      9 min read

    • Article

      Emperor Of The North

      Nov 25, 2021

      Emperor Of The North
      11 min read

    • Article

      The Last Of The English

      Aug 19, 2021

      The Last Of The English
      7 min read

    • Article

      Nemesis Of The Normans

      Oct 28, 2021

      Nemesis Of The Normans
      8 min read

    • Article

      My History Hero

      Nov 25, 2021

      My History Hero
      2 min read

    • Article

      HEROES & VILLAINS

      Feb 3, 2023

      HEROES & VILLAINS
      4 min read

    • Article

      The WARRIOR KING

      Aug 12, 2022

      The WARRIOR KING
      5 min read

    • Article

      Æthelred the Unready

      Dec 15, 2021

      Æthelred the Unready
      3 min read

    • Article

      Alfred The Great’s Battles With The Vikings

      Sep 30, 2021

      Poor Alfred. The not-insignificant achievements of one of the most important Saxon kings have, largely thanks to primary school history lessons, never got much of a look-in when it comes to the nation’s collective knowledge of him. Instead, he’s ofte

      3 min read

    • Article

      Murder In The Cathedral

      Nov 25, 2021

      Murder In The Cathedral
      1 min read

    • Article

      Did The Confessor Promise His Throne To The Conqueror?

      Aug 6, 2020

      One of the great debates of Edward’s reign is whether he promised the throne to William, Duke of Normandy. The larger question to consider is whether he promised the throne to more than one person, including Harold. Some historians see Edward as a wi

      1 min read

    • Article

      Right Royal Nazi Wedding

      Mar 8, 2023

      How bizarre the wedding of the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson on 3rd June 1937 was. There were almost no guests. A renegade priest hosted the ceremony. The Royal Family boycotted it. And the man who hosted the lavish affair was a Nazi collaborato

      3 min read

    • Article

      The FIRST Edwardians

      Jun 11, 2021

      The FIRST Edwardians
      11 min read

    • Article

      Otto I

      Feb 28, 2020

      Otto I
      7 min read

    • Article

      What’s In A Name?

      Mar 19, 2020

      What’s In A Name?
      4 min read

    • Article

      I’m A Norman, You Know (or Are You?)

      Feb 17, 2023

      One phrase professional genealogists hear regularly is: “Our family arrived with William the Conqueror”, and it doesn’t always fill us with the level of excitement you might expect. Firstly, it’s probably not the case. Secondly, even if true, it’s ve

      4 min read

    • Article

      I’m A Norman, You Know (or Are You?)

      Feb 17, 2023

      One phrase professional genealogists hear regularly is: “Our family arrived with William the Conqueror”, and it doesn’t always fill us with the level of excitement you might expect. Firstly, it’s probably not the case. Secondly, even if true, it’s ve

      4 min read

    • Article

      Blue Bloods

      Apr 13, 2023

      Blue Bloods
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Queen Behind The Veil

      Nov 23, 2023

      The Queen Behind The Veil
      6 min read

    Reviews for Harold

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Harold - Edward Bulwer-Lytton

      The Project Gutenberg EBook Harold, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Book 4. #103 in our series by Edward Bulwer-Lytton

      Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.

      This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.

      Please read the legal small print, and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.

      **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

      **EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

      *****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers*****

      Title: Harold, Book 4. The Last Of The Saxon Kings

      Author: Edward Bulwer-Lytton

      Release Date: March 2005 [EBook #7675] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 8, 2003]

      Edition: 10

      Language: English

      *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAROLD, BY LYTTON, BOOK 4 ***

      This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger, widger@cecomet.net

      BOOK IV.

      THE HEATHEN ALTAR AND THE SAXON CHURCH.

      CHAPTER I.

      While Harold sleeps, let us here pause to survey for the first time the greatness of that House to which Sweyn's exile had left him the heir. The fortunes of Godwin had been those which no man not eminently versed in the science of his kind can achieve. Though the fable which some modern historians of great name have repeated and detailed, as to his early condition as the son of a cow-herd, is utterly groundless [99], and he belonged to a house all-powerful at the time of his youth, he was unquestionably the builder of his own greatness. That he should rise so high in the early part of his career was less remarkable than that he should have so long continued the possessor of a power and state in reality more than regal.

      But, as has been before implied, Godwin's civil capacities were more prominent than his warlike. And this it is which invests him with that peculiar interest which attracts us to those who knit our modern intelligence with the past. In that dim world before the Norman deluge, we are startled to recognise the gifts that ordinarily distinguish a man of peace in a civilised age.

      His father, Wolnoth, had been Childe [100] of the South Saxons, or thegn of Sussex, a nephew of Edric Streone, Earl of Mercia, the unprincipled but able minister of Ethelred, who betrayed his master to Canute, by whom, according to most authorities, he was righteously, though not very legally, slain as a reward for the treason.

      I promised, said the Dane king, to set thy head higher than other men's, and I keep my word. The trunkless head was set on the gates of London.

      Wolnoth had quarrelled with his uncle Brightric, Edric's brother, and before the arrival of Canute, had betaken himself to the piracy of a sea chief, seduced twenty of the king's ships, plundered the southern coasts, burnt the royal navy, and then his history disappears from the chronicles; but immediately afterwards the great Danish army, called Thurkell's Host, invaded the coast, and kept their chief station on the Thames. Their victorious arms soon placed the country almost at their command. The traitor Edric joined them with a power of more than 10,000 men; and it is probable enough that the ships of Wolnoth had before this time melted amicably into the armament of the Danes. If this, which seems the most likely conjecture, be received, Godwin, then a mere youth, would naturally have commenced his career in the cause of Canute; and as the son of a formidable chief of thegn's rank, and even as kinsman to Edric, who, whatever his crimes, must have retained a party it was wise to conciliate, Godwin's favour with Canute, whose policy would lead him to show marked distinction to any able Saxon follower, ceases to be surprising.

      The son of Wolnoth accompanied Canute in his military expedition to the Scandinavian continent, and here a signal victory, planned by Godwin and executed solely by himself and the Saxon band under his command, without aid from Canute's Danes, made the most memorable military exploit of his life, and confirmed his rising fortunes.

      Edric, though he is said to have been low born, had married the sister of King Ethelred; and as Godwin advanced in fame, Canute did not disdain to bestow his own sister in marriage on the eloquent favourite, who probably kept no small portion of the Saxon population to their allegiance. On the death of this, his first wife, who bore him but one son [101] (who died by accident), he found a second spouse in the same royal house; and the mother of his six living sons and two daughters was the niece of his king, and sister of Sweyn, who subsequently filled the throne of Denmark. After the death of Canute, the Saxon's predilections in favour of the Saxon line became apparent; but it was either his policy or his principles always

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1