Canute the Great

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Canute the Great
King of England, Denmark, Norway,as well as some of Sweden
Reign	England: 1016 - November 12, 1035 Denmark: 1016 - November 12, 1035 Norway: 1028 - 1035
Born	ca. 995
	Denmark
Died	1035
	England (Shaftesbury, Dorset)
Buried	Old Minster, Winchester. Bones now in Winchester Cathedral
Predecessor	Edmund Ironside (England) Harald II (Denmark) Olaf Haraldsson (Norway}
Successor	Harold Harefoot (England) Harthacanute (Denmark) Magnus Olafsson (Norway)
Consort	Aelgifu of Northampton Emma of Normandy
Father	Sweyn Forkbeard
Mother	Saum-Aesa, or Gunnhilda

Canute I, or Canute the Great, also known in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as Cnut (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki, Norwegian: Knut den mektige, Swedish: Knut den store, English: also Knut, Danish: Knud den Store) (ca. 995 – November 12, 1035) was a Viking king of England, Denmark, Norway, of some of Sweden^[1] (such as the Sigtuna^[2] Swedes), as well as overlord of Pomerania, and the Mark of Schleswig. He was in treaty with the Holy Roman Emperors, the German kings, Henry II and Conrad II, the vassals of the pontificate, and, in relations with the papacy. His rule was over a northern empire which saw Danish sovereignty at its height.

Contents 1 Description of Cnut 2 Birth and Kingship 3 Conquest of England 4 King of England 5 King of Denmark 6 King of Norway and the Swedes of Sigtuna 7 Other contintental domains 8 Relations with the Church 9 Succession 10 Marriages and issue 11 Family-tree 12 Popuar Culture 13 References 14 In literature 15 External links 16 See also

[edit] Description of Cnut

Here is a decription of Cnut's physical appearancee. It is an excerpt from the Knytlinga Saga of the 13th century:

Knutr was exptionally tall and strong, and the handsomest of men, all exept for his nose, which was thin, high set, and rather hooked. He had a fair complextion none the less, and a fine, thick head of hair. His eyes were better than those of other men, both the more handsome and the keener of their sight. (Two (^[3] and ^[4]) references).

[edit] Birth and Kingship

Canute was a son of the Danish king Swegen Forkbeard and Saum-Aesa, his queen, a Slavic princess (in accordance with the Encomium Emmae and Thietmar, a contemporary medieval chronicler^[5]), lent her name Gunnhilda by the Danes^[6]. As an heir to a line of kings central to unification of a strong and successful Denmark^[7], with its origins in the obscure Harthacnut, founder of the royal house and father to Gorm the Old, its official progenitor, Cnut was born into a solidly military background. It is written, in the Flatayarbok, with some certaincy, that as a boy Cnut was brought up in the house of a Viking chieftain known as Thurkil inn havi, the Tall^[8], brother to Sigurd Strut-Haraldsson, commander of the legendary Jomsvikings and the mythical Jomsborg, a stronghold, possibly on the Island of Wollin.

Cnut's date of birth is unknown, yet in the skald Ottar the Black's Knutsdrapa there is a statement that he began his career unusually young, while it mentions an attack on Norwich also, which might be one his father lead in 1004. If it is the case that Cnut fought in this battle, his birthdate may be near 990, or even 980. If not, and the poetic verse means some other assault, his warhardy years may only have begun in the 1013 and 1014 campaigns, which suggest he was born nearer 1000^[9]. His age at the time of his death, and the moments of his life as king, are never otherwise of any especial mention, other than the Encomium of Emma, which only states that Cnut was rather youthfull.

Concisely, hardly anything is known for sure of Cnut's life, until, 1013. That year, in August, he was with the Scandinavian forces under Swegen Forkberd on the successful conquest of England. While his father was off in the process of consolidation, Canute was left in charge of the remainder of the Vikings at Gainsborough, the base of the invasion, in Lincolnshire. Which was probably down a considerable number of men, likely to have been sent home for winter once the payments for their services were made. Fortuitously, upon the sudden death of Swegen, in February, 1014, Canute was subsequently held by the Danes to be their commander, and the King of England.

At the Witan (a national assembly of Ealdormen/Earls)^[10] England's nobility refused to accept Cnut and instead held a vote for restoreing their defeated English king Ethelred the Unready from exile in Normandy. Which was due cause for the gathering of an army, and the Englishmen obliged Canute to abandon his kingship, and sail back to Denmark with the remnants of the invaders. On the beaches of Sandwich, the Danes mutilated their hostages, taken from the English as pledges of allegiance given to Forkbeard.

Harald, Canute’s older brother, was the King of Denmark on the death of their father. A suggestion of joint rulership was supposedly made to Harold, although this found no ground with him. In turn, Harald was to offer Cnut the command of the Danes for their second conquest of England, on the condition he laid off his claim to the Danish kingdom. Canute, with acceptance of this proposition, kept silent, ready for the moment to present itself when he could settle his scores with the nobles, and sit once again as ruler over the Kingdom of England.

[edit] Conquest of England

Canute's fleet set off for England, in summer, 1015, with a Danish army maybe of 10,000 men, along with allies of Denmark, such as token troops of Boleslav, the Duke of Poland, and his uncle. Eiríkr Hákonarson, Cnut's brother-in-law, as Trondejarl, the Earl of Lade, and ruler of Norway, under Swegen, as well as, Forkbeard's sons, as his was a liege and lord alliance, was left in Denmark as the commander of the reserves, probably with men still to gather after the dispersal of the previous campaign's fleet. Olof Skötkonung, son of Sigrid the Haughty, by her first husband, Eric the Victoriuous, and the King of Sweden, was also an ally, as he was step-brother of Cnut, by his mother's second husband, Sweyn Forkbeard.

Thorkell the High, who fought with Ethelred, in 1013, after alliance to the English, in 1012, as a Joms chief^[11], also was with Cnut, although not on the best of terms. An explaination for his, as well as the Jomsviking's, change of allegiance, may be found in verse of the Jomsvikingsaga with a statement that two attacks were launched against Viking mercenaries. Injury on top of this insult, was that amoungst their dead soldiers was a chieftain of the Jomvikings known as Henning, who was also a brother to Thorkell the Tall^[12]. Likewise, if it is true that Cnut's childhood mentor was indeed this man, an explaination may be found for the love and hate relations of Cnut and the Jomsviking, ultimately a servant of Jomsborg, apparant until the latter falls out of historical note, in 1023^[13], not least for Cnut's acceptance of his allegiance after the opposition from the Jomsvikings against the Dane's previous expedition. Their bonds must have been made tight, even though Jomsborg's allegiances were often contrary.

Eadric Streona, a nobleman risen a long way to be the wealthy Earl of Mercia under his king, also thought it prudent to join the Scandinavian invaders, with forty ships, probably of the Danelaw anyway^[14]. Ethelred was clearly at a wits end, and the distresses which were a fact of his reign, as a man risen to kingship through assassination, were too much for many to put up with. In spite of his faults, the Mercian Earl was a srong ally to be had, pivotal to any successes which the English might hope to make, and Cnut probably knew it, yet was wary.

Altogether, the invasion force, to be in fourteen months of often close and grisly warfare under Cnut, with most of the battles against Ethelred's son, Edmund Ironside, was more formiddable than any seen since the Anglo-Saxon's black days under Alfred the Great^[15]. The same royal house of Wessex that stood against the tide of Vikings then, stood against it still, although now the might of Cnut was to prove too great for the English.

Here is a passage out of the Encomium Emmae which paints a good picture of the scence which was to confront the English as Cnut and his fleet, which, as the Encomiast writes, had 200 ships, made landfall:

There were so many kinds of shields, that you could have believed that troops of all nations were present... Gold shone on the prows (of their ships), silver also flashed... (and) who could look upon the lions of the foe, terrible with the brightness of gold, who upon the men of metal, who upon the bulls on the ships threatening death, their horns shining with gold, (who), without feeling any fear for the king of such a force. Moreover, in the whole force there could be found no serf, no freedman, none of ignoble birth, none weak with old age. All were nobles, all vigourous with the strength of complete manhood, fit for all manner of battle, and so swift of foot that they despised the speed of cavalry. (Two, ^[16] and ^[17], references).

In September 1015, Cnut was seen off shore of Sandwich again, and the fleet went around on the coast about Kent until it came upon the mouth of the Frome, where it put to land and began the occupation of Wessex^[18]. Cnut had his army gather supplies and made a base of the English heartland, with his fleet at his back.

Until mid-winter the Vikngs stood their ground, then, across the Thames the invaders went, with no pause in bleak weather, through Mercia, and onwards, north, to confront Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria, and Edmund Ironside, the commander of England's army, with Ethelred held up in London. Cnut found the lands without their main garrisons, as Uhtred was away with Ironside in Mercia to countermand the properties of Eadric Streona. Northumbria fell, while at Uhtred's return to sue for peace Canute was to execute its Earl, for breaking oaths pledged to Sweyn Forkbeard two years earlier, which left Ironside alone. Cnut brought over his reserves and strategically put the Trondejarl, Eiríkr Hákonarson in control of Northumbria^[19], and the army he led was made stronger with additional troops which had come together over winter. His fleet was at his command in the north too, and with England at the Vikings' mercy they set sail for the south.

In April 1016, Canute entered the Thames with his fleet and besieged London. King Ethelred died suddenly during the siege, and his son Edmund Ironside was proclaimed king. When Edmund left London to raise an army in the countryside, he was intercepted by Canute at Ashingdon, Essex. After a decisive victory for Canute in the Battle of Ashingdon, Edmund was forced to negotiate under unfavourable circumstances.

Meeting on an island in the Severn River, King Edmund was forced to accept defeat and sign a treaty with Canute in which all of England except for Wessex would be controlled by Canute, and when one of the kings should die, the other king would take all of England; his sons being the heir to the throne. After Edmund's death (possibly murder) on 30 November 1016, Canute ruled the whole kingdom. Canute was recognised by the nobility as the sole king in January 1017.

In order to associate his line with the overthrown English dynasty and to insure himself against attack from Normandy, where Ethelred's sons Edward the Confessor and Alfred Atheling were in exile, Canute married (July 1017) Ethelred's widow Emma of Normandy, daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy. He duly proclaimed their son Harthacanute as his heir, while his first son, Harold Harefoot (by Aelgifu of Northampton) was on the sidelines. He sent Harthacnut to Denmark while he was still a boy, and the heir to the throne was brought up in Denmark.

[edit] King of England

As King of England, Canute combined English and Danish institutions and personnel. His mutilation of the hostages taken by his father in pledge of English loyalty is remembered above all as being uncharacteristic of his rule.

By dividing the country (1017) into the four great earldoms of Wessex, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria, he instituted the system of territorial lordships which would underlie English government for centuries. The very last Danegeld ever paid, a sum of £82,500, went to Canute in 1018. He felt secure enough to send the invasion fleet back to Denmark with £72,000 that same year.

Canute reinstated the laws passed under King Edgar. However, he reformed the existing laws and initiated a new series of laws and proclamations. Two significant ones were On Heriots and Reliefs, and Inheritance in Case of Intestacy. He strengthened the coinage system, and initiated a series of new coins which would be of equal weight as those being used in Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia. This greatly improved the trade of England, whose economy was in turmoil following years of social disorder.

Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributable to his good treatment of the church, which controlled the history writers of the day. However, he brought England more than two decades of peace and prosperity. The medieval church loved order and believed in supporting good and efficient government, whenever the circumstances allowed it. Thus we see him described even today as a religious man, despite the fact that he lived openly in what was effectively a bigamous relationship, and despite his responsibility for many political murders.

[edit] King of Denmark

Upon Sweyn Forkbeard's death, Cnut's brother Harald was King of Denmark. Cnut went to Harald to ask for his assistance in the conquest of England, and the division of the Danish kingdom. His plea for division of kingship was denied, though, and the Danish kingdom remained wholly in the hands of his brother, although, Harald lent to Cnut the command of the Danes in any attempt he had a mind to make on the English throne.

It is possible Harald was at the siege of London, although as the King of Denmark, with Cnut in control of the invasion. He was to enter the faternity of Christ Church, Canterbury, after which he sailed back to Denmark, in 1018, with the fleet of his Danes.

In 1016 Harold II died and the Kingdom of Denmark was Canute's. His sailing back to over-winter in 1019 was to affirm his succession as the king of Denmark. With a Letter in which he states intentions to avert troubles to be done against England, it seems Danes were set against him, and the attack on the Wends was possibly part of his suppression of dissent. In the spring of 1020 he was back in England, his hold on Denmark supposedly stable. Ulf Jarl, his brother-in-law, was his appointee as the earl of Denmark.

When the Swedish king Anund Jakob and the Norwegian king Saint Olaf took advantage of Canute's absence and attacked Denmark, Ulf gave the freemen cause to elect Harthacanute king, discontent with Canute, in England. This was a ruse of Ulf's, since the role the earl had as the caretaker of Harthacanute subsequently made him the holder of Denmark's reigns. When Canute learnt of this, in 1026, he returned to Denmark and, with Ulf Jarl's help, he defeated the fleet of Swedes and Norwegians at the Battle of Helgeå. This service, did not, though, allow Ulf the forgiveness of Canute for his coup. At a banquet in Roskilde, the two brothers-in-law were playing chess and started a row with each other. The next day, the Christmas of 1026, one of Cnut's housecarls, with his blessing, killed Ulf Jarl, in the Church of Trinity. Contradictory evidences of Ulf's death gather doubt to this though.

[edit] King of Norway and the Swedes of Sigtuna

Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson was ruler of Norway under Cnut's father, Forkbeard, and the invasion of England in 1015-16 was with the assistance of Norwegians under Erik. Cnut showed his appreciation, awarding Eiríkr the office to the Earldom of Northumbria. Sveinn, Eiríkr's brother, was left in control of Norway, although he was beaten at the Battle of Nesjar, in 1015 or 1016, and the son of Eiríkr, Håkon, fled to his father. Of the line of Fairhair, Olaf Haraldsson was then King of Norway, and the Danes lost their control.

Thorkell the Tall, said to be a chieftan of the Jomsvikings, was a former associate of the now King Olav of Norway, and the difficulties Cnut found, in Denmark, as well as with Thurkel, were maybe to do with Norwegian pressure on the Danish lands. Jomsborg, the legendary stronghold of the Jomvikings, was possibly on the south coast of the Baltic Sea, which, if the Joms were on the side of Olaf, may account for the attack on the Wends of Pomerania, as Jomsbourg was, maybe, at the heart of this territory. King Olof Skötkonung of Sweden was an ally of Cnut's, as well as his step-brother. His death, in 1022, though, and the succession of his son, Anund Jacob, meant the Danish domains were now under threat of the Swedes too.

In a battle known as Holy River, with an alliance between the kings Olaf Haraldsson and Anund Olafsson, the Swedes and Norwegians were attacked in the mouth of a river Helgea by the navy of Cnut. 1026 is the likely date, and the apparent victory left Cnut in control of Scandinavia, confident enough with his dominance to make the journey to Rome, and the coronation of Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor, on March 26, 1027. He considers himself ruler of Sweden (victory over Sweden suggests Helgea to be a river near Sigtuna, while some Swedes appear to have been made renegades, with a hold on the parts of Sweden too remote to threaten Cnut, which left the former king alive) and Norway (it's former king still alive), with his Letter, in 1027. He also states his intention to return to Denmark, to secure peace.

In 1028, Canute set off with a fleet of fifty ships from Denmark, to Norway, and the city of Trondheim. Olaf Haraldsson stood down, unable to put up any fight, as his nobles sided against him, swayed with offers of gold, and the tendency of their lord to falay their wives for sorcery. Cnut was crowned king, his office, now, “King of all England and Denmark, and the Norwegians, and some of the Swedes”. He trusted the Earldom of Lade to the former line of earls, in Håkon Eiriksson, with Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson probably dead at this date, although was to drown in the ship which bore him to his charge. St Olaf returned, with Swedes in his army, to be defeated at the hands of his own people, at the Battle of Stiklestad, in 1030.

Cnut's attempt to rule Norway through Aelgifu of Northampton and his second son by her, Sweyn, was to be put to an end, with his death, in rebellion, and the restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under Olaf's son Magnus the Good.

[edit] Other contintental domains

On the death of his father, Henry II, in 1024, with an eye to end previously tense relations, the Holy Roman Emperor, Conrad II, was friendly with Canute. Conrad's son, Henry, to be, Henry III, was, at his request, bound in a betrothal with Canute's daughter, Chunihildis (Gunhild). Cnut's southern ally felt it appropriate to cede to him princedoms on the German border with Denmark, in, the Mark of Schleswig.

Pomerania was probably already a fief of Canute's, since Boleslaus I of Poland sent his army to help Canute conquer England. Many legends also relate the rulers of the Danish kingdom to the mythical Jomsvikings, whose stronghold, Jomsborg, is thought to have been made at the delta of the Oder river, on the Island of Wolin.

[edit] Relations with the Church

It is hard to conclude if Canute’s devotion to the Church came out of deep religious devotion or merely as a means to consolidate and increase his political power. Even though Canute was accepted as a Christian monarch after the conquest, the army he led to England was largely heathen, so he had to accept the tolerance of the pagan religion. His early actions made him uneasy with the Church, such as the execution of the powerful earls in England in 1016, as well as his open relationship with a concubine Aelgifu of Northampton, who he treated as his northern queen.

However, his treatment of the Church could not have been more sincere. Canute not only repaired all the churches and monasteries that were looted by his army, but he also constructed new ones. He became a patron of the monastic reform, which was popular among the ecclesiastical and secular population. The most generous contribution he is remembered for is the impressive gifts and relics that he bestowed upon the English Church.

Canute’s pilgrimage to Rome in 1027 was another sign of his dedicated devotion to the Christian faith. It is still debated whether he went to repent his sins, or to attend Emperor Conrad II’s coronation in order to improve relations between the two powers. While in Rome, Canute obtained the agreement from the Pope to reduce the fees paid by the English archbishops to receive their pallium. He also arranged with other Christian leaders that the English pilgrims should pay reduced or no toll tax on their way, and that they would be safeguarded on their way to Rome.

[edit] Succession

Canute died in 1035, at Shaftesbury in Dorset, and was buried in the Old Minster in Winchester. When the current Winchester Cathedral was built on the site of the Saxon minster, Canute's bones were moved to a mortuary chest. During the English Civil War of the 17th century, the bones were spilled out and are now scattered in various chests along with those of other English kings such as Egbert of Wessex and William Rufus. On his death, Canute was succeeded in Denmark by Harthacanute, reigning as Canute III. Harold took power in England, however, ruling until his death (1040), whereupon the two crowns were again briefly reunited under Harthacanute.

[edit] Marriages and issue

• 1 - Aelgifu of Northampton
  • Sweyn Knutsson reigned Norway ca. 1030-35 with his mother
  • Harold Harefoot who later became Harold I of England
• 2 - Emma of Normandy
  • Harthacanute, reigned as Canute III
  • Gunhilda of Denmark, possibly buried at Bosham, married to Henry III, son of Conrad II, both these, Holy Roman Emeprors.

[edit] Family-tree

Harald Bluetooth

Mieszko

Dubrawka

William

Sprota

Sweyn

Gunhilda

Gunnora

Richard

Aelgifu of Northampton

Canute

Emma of Normandy

Ethelred the Unready

Aelflaed, 1st wife

Richard

Judith

Sweyn Knutsson

Harold Harefoot

Gunhilda of Denmark

Alfred Aetheling

Edmund II

Ealdgyth

Robert

Herleva

Gytha Thorkelsdóttir+

Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Harthacanute

Edward

Agatha

William

Matilda

Sweyn

Harold

Tostig

Edith

Edward

Edgar Ætheling

Cristina

Gyrth, Gunnhilda, Aelfgifu, Leofwine & Wulfnoth

Malcolm

Margaret

Other children

Edith of Scotland

Henry

+Said to have been a great-granddaughter of Canute's grandfather Harald Bluetooth, but this was probably a fiction intended to give her a royal bloodline.

[edit] Popuar Culture

Canute is perhaps best remembered for the legend of how he commanded the waves to go back. According to the legend, he grew tired of flattery from his courtiers. When one such flatterer gushed that the king could even command the obedience of the sea, Canute proved him wrong by practical demonstration (at Southampton or Bosham; other sources say these events took place near his palace at Westminster), to demonstrate that even a king's powers have limits. Having demonstrably failed to command the waves he removed his crown, refusing to wear it again, claiming that there was no true king except Jesus.

Sanding the streets of Knutsford is gererally thought to have made its appearance in Cnut's reign. There is a peculiar custom of "sanding the streets" in the small British town of Knutsford. This custom is to decorate the streets with coloured sands in patterns and pictures, that continues to this day. Specifically it is held now to celebrate May Day.

Tradition has it that King Canute, while he forded the River Lily, threw sand from his shoes into the path of a wedding party. The custom can be traced to the late 1600s. Queen Victoria, in her journal of 1832 recorded: "we arrived at Knutsford, where we were most civilly received, the streets being sanded in shapes, which is peculiar to this town".

[edit] References

[edit] In literature

[edit] External links

• Canute the Great At Find A Grave
• Canute the Great
• Canute Or Cnut from the Online Encyclopedia
• Northvegr (Scanidinavian) - A History of the Vikings (Search)
• Vikingworld (Danish) - Canute the Great (Knud den Store)
• Time Team - Who was King Cnut?
• Monarchies of Britain: Danish Kings of England
• Images out of the British Library

[edit] See also

• Raven banner

• Wikitables

Preceded by Harald II	King of Denmark 1014–1035	Succeeded by Harthacanute
Preceded by Edmund Ironside	King of England 1016–1035	Succeeded by Harold Harefoot
Preceded by Olaf the Stout	King of Norway 1028–1035	Succeeded by Magnus the Good