Edmund, the Saxon king, was dead.

His brothers Edward and Alfred, the two remaining sons of Ethelred, were with their mother in Normandy.

They, of course, represented the Saxon line.

The Saxon portion of Canute's kingdom would of course look to them as their future leaders.

Under these circumstances, Canute conceived the idea of propitiating the Saxon portion of the population, and combining, so far as was possible, the claims of the two lines, by making the widow Emma his own wife.