the hostages whom Swein had taken to secure the
loyalty of Englishmen. And in the first months
of his rule the same stern temper was shown in the
measures by which his authority was secured.
Policy, indeed, had its share with cruelty in the
blood-shedding with which the reign opened. The
new king's hand fell heavily on the great nobles
whose strife had been the weakness of the crown.
The two ealdormen of East Anglia lay dead at As-
sandun. The sons-in-law of Æthelred who held
north and middle England in their hands met a
like fate; for a murder rid Cnut of Uhtred, the Eal-
dorman of Northumbria, while Eadric of Mercia,
whom the division of the realm had left all power-
ful, was summoned to the court at Eadmund's death,
and fell by an axe-blow at the king's signal. Before
the year was out, three other nobles of dangerous
rank and position had been condemned and slain at
London.

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