Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Succession	King of Denmark
Reign	1018–1035
Successor	Harthacnut
Predecessor	Harald II of Denmark
Succession1	King of England
Reign1	1016–1035
Coronation1	6 January 1017 (London)
Successor1	Harold Harefoot
Predecessor1	Edmund Ironside
Succession2	King of Norway
Reign2	1028–1035
Successor2	Magnus Olafsson
Predecessor2	Olaf Haraldsson
Succession3	King of parts of Sweden
Reign3	1026–1030
Successor3	Anund Jacob
Predecessor3	Anund Jacob
House	House of Denmark
Birth date	c. 985 – c. 995
Birth place	Denmark
Death date	12 November 1035
Death place	England (Shaftesbury, Dorset)
Place of burial	Old Minster, Winchester. Bones now in Winchester Cathedral
Spouse	Ælfgifu of NorthamptonEmma of Normandy
Issue	Sweyn KnutssonHarold HarefootHarthacnutGunhilda of Denmark
Father	Sweyn Forkbeard
Mother	Świętosława / Sigrid the Haughty }}

Cnut the Great (Old Norse: ''Knūtr inn rīki''; c. 985 or 995 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden. Though after the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history, Norman F. Cantor has made the paradoxical statement that he was "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history".

Cnut was of Danish and Slavic descent. His father was Sweyn Forkbeard, King of Denmark (which gave Cnut the patronym Sweynsson). Cnut's mother was the daughter of the first duke of the Polans, Mieszko I; her name may have been Świętosława (see: Sigrid Storråda), but the Oxford DNB article on Cnut states that her name is unknown.

As a prince of Denmark, Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. His accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of England and Denmark together. Cnut held this power-base together by uniting Danes and Englishmen under cultural bonds of wealth and custom, rather than sheer brutality. After a decade of conflict with opponents in Scandinavia, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028. The Swedish city Sigtuna was held by Cnut. He had coins struck which called him king there, but there is no narrative record of his occupation.

The kingship of England of course lent the Danes an important link to the maritime zone between Great Britain and Ireland, where Cnut like his father before him had a strong interest and wielded much influence among the Gall-Ghaedhil.

Cnut's possession of England's archdioceses and the continental diocese of Denmark – with a claim laid upon it by the Holy Roman Empire's Hamburg-Bremen archdiocese – was a source of great leverage within the Church, gaining notable concessions from the Pope, such as one on the price of the pallium of his bishops. Cnut also gained concessions on the tolls his people had to pay on the way to Rome from other magnates of medieval Christendom, at the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor. After his 1026 victory against Norway and Sweden, and on his way to Rome for this coronation, Cnut, in a letter written for the benefit of his subjects, stated himself "king of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes".

Birth and kingship

Cnut was a son of the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard, and an heir to a line of Scandinavian rulers central to the unification of Denmark. Harthacnut was the semi-legendary founder of the Danish royal house who, according to Adam of Bremen, came to Denmark from ''Northmania''. Gorm the Old, Harthacnut's son, being the first in the official line (the 'Old' in his name being to this effect) and his son, Harald Bluetooth, the Danish king at the time of the Christianization of Denmark (his acceptance of Christianity being the first among all Scandinavian kings).

Cnut's mother's name is unknown, although a Slavic princess, daughter to Mieszko I of Poland (in accord with the Monk of St Omer's, ''Encomium Emmae'' Since in the Norse sagas the ''king of Vindland'' is always ''Burislav'', this is reconcilable with the assumption that her father was Mieszko (not his son Bolesław). Adam of Bremen in ''Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum'' is unique in equating Cnut's mother (for whom he also produces no name) with the former queen of Sweden, wife of Eric the Victorious and by this marriage mother of Olof Skötkonung. To complicate the matter, ''Heimskringla'' and other Sagas also have Sweyn marrying Eric's widow, but she is distinctly another person in these texts, by name of ''Sigrid the Haughty'', whom Sweyn only marries after ''Gunhild'', the Slavic princess who bore Cnut, has died. Different theories regarding the number and ancestry of Sweyn's wives (or wife) have been brought forward (see Sigrid the Haughty and Gunhild). But since Adam is the only source to state the identity of Cnut's with Olof Skötkonung's mother, this is often seen as an error of Adam, and it is often assumed that Sweyn had two wives, the first being Cnut's mother, and the second being the former queen of Sweden.

Cnut's brother Harald was the first born and crown prince.

Some hint of Cnut's childhood can be found in the ''Flateyjarbók'', a 13th-century source, stating at one point that Cnut was taught his soldiery by the chieftain Thorkell the Tall, brother to Sigurd, Jarl of mythical Jomsborg, and the legendary Joms, at their Viking stronghold on the Island of Wollin, off the coast of Pomerania. His date of birth, like his mother's name, is unknown. Contemporary works such as the ''Chronicon'' and the ''Encomium Emmae'', do not mention it. Even so, in a ''Knútsdrápa'' by the skald Óttarr svarti, there is a statement that Cnut was "of no great age" when he first went to war. It also mentions a battle identifiable with Forkbeard's invasion of England, and attack on the city of Norwich, in 1003/04, after the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danes by the English, in 1002. If it is the case that Cnut was part of this, his birthdate may be near 990, or even 980. If not, and the skald's poetic verse envisages another assault, with Forkbeard's conquest of England in 1013/14, it may even suggest a birth date nearer 1000. There is a passage of the Encomiast's (as the author of the ''Encomium Emmae'' is known) with a reference to the force Cnut led in his English conquest of 1015/16. Here (see below) it says all the Vikings were of "mature age" under Cnut "the king".

A description of Cnut can be found within the 13th-century ''Knýtlinga saga'':

Hardly anything is known for sure of Cnut's life until the year he was part of a Scandinavian force under his father, king Sweyn; with his invasion of England in summer 1013. It was the climax to a succession of Viking raids spread over a number of decades. With their landing in the Humber the kingdom fell to the Vikings quickly, and near the end of the year King Aethelred fled to Normandy, leaving Sweyn in possession of England. In the winter, Forkbeard was in the process of consolidating his kingship, with Cnut left in charge of the fleet, and the base of the army at Gainsborough.

On the death of Forkbeard after a few months as king, on Candlemas Sunday 3 February 1014, Harald succeeded him as King of Denmark, while Cnut was immediately elected king by the Vikings, and the people of the Danelaw. However, the English nobility took a different view, and the Witenagemot recalled Aethelred from Normandy. The restored king swiftly led an army against Cnut, who fled with his army to Denmark, along the way mutilating the hostages they had taken and abandoning them on the beach at Sandwich. Cnut went to Harald and supposedly made the suggestion they might have a joint kingship, although this found no favour with his brother. likely to have been a pledge made to Cnut and Harald when, in the winter, they "went amongst the Wends" to fetch their mother back to the Danish court. She had been sent away by their father after the death of the Swedish king Eric the Victorious in 995, and his marriage to Sigrid the Haughty, the Swedish queen mother. With this wedlock there was a strong alliance between the successor to the throne of Sweden, Olof Skötkonung, and the rulers of Denmark, his in-laws. Cnut was at the head of an array of Vikings from all over Scandinavia. The invasion force was to be in often close and grisly warfare with the English for the next fourteen months. Practically all of the battles were fought against Aethelred's son, Edmund Ironside.

Landing in Wessex

According to the Peterborough manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, early in September 1015 "[Cnut] came into Sandwich, and straightway sailed round Kent to Wessex, until he came to the mouth of the Frome, and harried in Dorset and Wiltshire and Somerset", beginning a campaign of an intensity not seen since the days of Alfred the Great. A passage from Emma's Encomium provides a picture of Cnut's fleet:

Wessex, long ruled by the dynasty of Alfred and Aethelred, submitted to Cnut late in 1015, as it had to his father two years earlier. At this point Eadric Streona, the Ealdorman of Mercia, deserted Aethelred together with 40 ships and their crews and joined forces with Cnut. Another defector was Thorkell the Tall, a Jomsviking chief who had fought against the Viking invasion of Sweyn Forkbeard, with a pledge of allegiance to the English in 1012 – some explanation for this shift of allegiance may be found in a stanza of the ''Jómsvíkinga saga'' which mentions two attacks against Jomsborg's mercenaries while they were in England, with a man known as Henninge among their casualties, a brother of Thorkell's. If the ''Flateyjarbók'' is correct in its statement this man was Cnut's childhood mentor, it explains his acceptance of his allegiance – with Jomvikings ultimately in the service of Jomsborg. The 40 ships Eadric came with, often thought to be of the Danelaw

Advance into the North

Early in 1016, the Vikings crossed the Thames and harried Warwickshire, while Aethelred's eldest son Edmund Ironside's attempts at opposition seem to have come to nothing – the chronicler says the English army disbanded because the king and the citizenry of London were not present. Cnut's mid-winter assault devastated its way northwards across eastern Mercia. Another summons of the army brought the Englishmen together, and they were met this time by the king although 'it came to nothing as so often before', and Aethelred returned to London with fears of betrayal. Edmund then went north to join Uhtred the Earl of Northumbria and together harried Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire in western Mercia, possibly targeting the estates of Eadric Streona. Cnut's occupation of Northumbria meant Uhtred returned home to submit himself to Cnut who seems to have sent a Northumbrian rival, Thurbrand the Hold, to massacre Uhtred and his retinue. Eiríkr Hákonarson, most likely with another force of Scandinavians, came to support Cnut at this point, and the veteran Norwegian jarl was put in charge of Northumbria.

In London, still unsubdued behind its famous walls, Edmund was elected king after the death of Aethelred on 23 April 1016.

Siege of London

Cnut returned southward and the Danish army evidently divided, some dealing with Edmund – who had broken out of London before Cnut's encirclement of the city was complete and gone to gather an army in Wessex, the traditional heartland of the English monarchy – some besieging London – with the construction of dikes on the northern and southern flanks and a channel dug across the banks of the Thames to the south of the city for the longships to cut off communications up-river.

There was a battle fought at Penselwood, in Somerset – with a hill in Selwood Forest as the likely location – and a subsequent battle at Sherston, in Wiltshire, which was fought over two days but left neither side victorious.

Edmund was able to temporarily relieve London, driving the enemy away and defeating them after crossing the Thames at Brentford. Suffering heavy losses he withdrew to Wessex to gather fresh troops, and the Danes again brought London under siege, but after another unsuccessful assault themselves withdrew into Kent under attack by the English, with a battle fought at Otford. At this point Eadric Streona went over to Edmund, and Cnut set sail northwards across the sea to Essex, and from the landing of the ships up the River Orwell went to ravage Mercia.

Completion of the Danish conquest

On 18 October 1016, as the Danes retired towards their ships they were engaged by Edmund's army, leading to the Battle of Assandun, the site of which may have been either Ashingdon, in south-east, or Ashdon, in north-west Essex. In the ensuing struggle, Eadric Streona, whose return to the English side had perhaps only been a ruse, withdrew his forces from the fray, bringing about a decisive English defeat. Edmund fled westwards and Cnut went after him into Gloucestershire, with another battle probably fought near the Forest of Dean – for Edmund had an alliance with some of the Welsh.

Through intermediaries Cnut and Edmund agreed to come to a negotiated settlement, and on an island near Deerhurst they made peace, dividing the kingdom between them. All of England north of the Thames was to be the domain of the Danish prince, while all to the south was kept by the English king, along with London. Edmund died on 30 November, within weeks of the agreement. The circumstances of his death are unknown. In accord with his treaty with Ironside, Cnut was left as king of all England. His coronation was in London, at Christmas, with recognition by the nobility in January the next year at Oxford.

King of England

Cnut was to rule England for almost twenty years. The protection he lent against Viking raiders – with many of them under his command – restored the prosperity that had been increasingly impaired since the resumption of Viking attacks in the 980s. The resources he commanded in England helped him to establish control of the majority of Scandinavia too.

The government of England

In July 1017, Cnut wed Emma of Normandy, the widow of Aethelred, and daughter of Richard the Fearless, the first Duke of Normandy. With Edmund dead, Cnut was quick to eliminate any prospective challenge from the survivors of the legitimate dynasty. The first year of his reign was marked by the executions of a number of English noblemen whom he considered suspect. Aethelred's son Eadwig fled from England but was killed on Cnut's orders. Edmund Ironside's sons Edward and Edmund likewise fled abroad, Edward eventually to Hungary. Emma's sons by Aethelred, Edward the Confessor and Alfred Atheling went into exile among their relatives in Normandy. Cnut put forward Harthacnut, his son by Emma, to be his heir; Svein Knutsson and Harold Harefoot, his two sons from his marriage to Ælfgifu of Northampton, his handfast wife, were kept on the sidelines.

In 1018, having collected a Danegeld amounting to the colossal sum of £72,000 levied nationwide, with an additional £10,500 extracted from London, Cnut paid off his army and sent most of them home. He retained 40 ships and their crews as a standing force in England. An annual tax called heregeld (army payment) was collected through the same system Aethelred had instituted in 1012 to reward Scandinavians in his service

Cnut extended the existing trend for multiple shires to be grouped together under a single ealdorman, dividing the country into four large administrative units whose geographical extent was based on the largest and most durable of the separate kingdoms which had preceded the unification of England. The officials responsible for these provinces were designated earls, a title of Scandinavian origin already in localised use in England which now everywhere replaced that of ealdorman. Wessex was initially kept under Cnut's personal control, while Northumbria went to Erik of Hlathir, East Anglia to Thorkell the Tall, and Mercia remained in the hands of Eadric Streona.

This initial distribution of power was short-lived. The chronically treacherous Eadric was executed within a year of Cnut's accession. In 1021 Thorkel the Tall also fell from favour and was outlawed. Following the death of Erik in the 1020s, he was succeeded as Earl of Northumbria by Siward, a lord of unknown origin. Bernicia, the northern part of Northumbria, was theoretically part of Erik and Siward's earldom but throughout Cnut's reign it effectively remained under the control of the English dynasty based at Bamburgh who had dominated the area at least since the early tenth century. They served as junior Earls of Bernicia under the titular authority of the Earl of Northumbria. By the 1030s Cnut's direct administration of Wessex had come to an end, with the establishment of an earldom under Godwin, an Englishman from a powerful Sussex family. In general, after an attempt to govern through his Scandinavian followers in the first few years of his reign, Cnut reverted to reliance on the leading families of the existing English aristocracy.

Affairs to the East

At the Battle of Nesjar, in 1016, Olaf Haraldsson won the kingdom of Norway from the Danes. It was at some time after Eirkr left for England, and on the death of Svein while retreating to Sweden, maybe intent on returning to Norway with reinforcements, Erikr's son Hakon went to join his father and support Cnut in England too.

Cnut's brother Harald was possibly at Cnut's coronation, in 1016, with his return to Denmark, as its king, with part of the fleet, at some point thereafter. It is only certain, though, there was an entry of his name, alongside Cnut's, in confraternity with Christ Church, Canterbury, in 1018. This, though, is not conclusive, for the entry may have been made in Harald's absence, by the hand of Cnut himself even, which means, while it is usually thought that Harald died in 1018, it is unsure if he was even alive to do this. Entry of his brother's name in the Canterbury codex may have been Cnut's attempt to make his vengeance for Harald's murder good with the Church. Of course, this was maybe just a gesture for a soul to be under God's protection. There is evidence Cnut was in battle with ''pirates'' in 1018, with his destruction of the crews of thirty ships, although it is unknown if this was off the English or Danish shores. He himself mentions troubles in his 1019 letter (to England, from Denmark), written as the King of England and Denmark. These events can be seen, with plausibility, to be in connection with the death of Harald. Cnut says he dealt with dissenters to ensure Denmark was free to assist England:

Statesmanship

Cnut was generally remembered as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributable to his good treatment of the Church, keeper of the historic record. The medieval Church was drawn to success, and put itself at the back of any strong and efficient sovereign, if the circumstances were right for it. Accordingly, we hear of him, even today, as a religious man (see below), despite the fact that he was in an arguably sinful relationship, with two wives, and the harsh treatment he dealt his fellow Christian opponents. Under his reign, Cnut brought together the English and Danish kingdoms, and the people saw a golden age of dominance across Scandinavia, as well as within the British Isles. His campaigns abroad meant the tables of Viking supremacy were stacked in favour of the English, turning the prows of the longships towards Scandinavia. He reinstated the Laws of King Edgar to allow for the constitution of a Danelaw, and the activity of Scandinavians at large. He also reinstituted the extant laws with a series of proclamations to assuage common grievances brought to his attention. Two significant ones were: On Inheritance in case of Intestacy, and, On Heriots and Reliefs. He strengthened the currency, initiating a series of coins of equal weight to those being used in Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia. This meant the markets grew, and the economy of England was able to spread itself, as well as widen the scope of goods to be bought and sold.

King of Denmark

In 1018, Harald II died and Cnut went to Denmark to affirm his succession to the Danish crown as Cnut II. In the 1019 letter (see above) he states his intentions to avert attacks against England. It seems there were Danes in opposition to him, and an attack he carried out on the Wends of Pomerania may have had something to do with this. In this expedition at least one of Cnut's English men, Godwin, apparently won the king's trust after a night-time raid he personally led against a Wendish encampment.

His hold on the Danish throne presumably stable, Cnut was back in England in 1020. Ulf Jarl, the husband of his sister Estrid Svendsdatter, was his appointee as regent of Denmark, with the entrustment of his young son by Queen Emma, Harthacnut, whom he had made the crown prince of his kingdom.

Thorkell the Tall's banishment in 1021 may be seen in relation to the attack on the Wends for the death of Olof Skötkonung in 1022, and the succession to the Swedish throne of his son, Anund Jacob, bringing Sweden into alliance with Norway. Thus, there was cause for a demonstration of Danish strength in the Baltic. Jomsborg, the legendary stronghold of the Jomsvikings, thought to be on an island off the coast of Pomerania, was probably the target of Cnut's expedition. After this clear display of Cnut's intentions to dominate Scandinavian affairs, it seems Thorkell was wont to reconcile himself with Cnut in 1023.

When Olaf Haraldsson and Anund Jakob took advantage of Cnut's commitment to England and began to launch attacks against Denmark, Ulf gave the freemen cause to accept Harthacnut, still a child, as king. This was a ruse on Ulf's part since the role he had as the caretaker of Harthacnut consequently gave him the reign of the kingdom. Upon news of these events Cnut set sail for Denmark, to restore himself and deal with Ulf, who then got back in line. In a battle known as the Battle of the Helgeå, Cnut and his men fought the Norwegians and Swedes at the mouth of the river Helgea. 1026 is the likely date for the battle, and the apparent victory left Cnut as the dominant leader in Scandinavia. Ulf the usurper's realignment and participation in the battle did not, in the end, earn him Cnut's forgiveness. Some sources state, at a banquet in Roskilde, the brothers-in-law were playing chess when an argument arose between them, and the next day, Christmas of 1026, one of Cnut's housecarls, with his blessing, killed the jarl, in Trinity Church, the predecessor to Roskilde Cathedral.

Journey to Rome

His enemies in Scandinavia subdued, and apparently at his leisure, Cnut was able to accept an invitation to witness the accession of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. He left his affairs in the north, and went from Denmark to the coronation of the King of the Romans, at Easter 1027, in Rome – a pilgrimage of considerable prestige for rulers of Europe in the Middle-Ages, to the heart of Christendom.

On the return journey his letter of 1027, like his letter of 1019, was written to inform his subjects in England of his intentions from abroad. It is in this letter he proclaims himself ''‘king of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes’''. and for a resolution to the competition of the archdioceses of Canterbury, and Hamburg-Bremen, for superiority over the Danish dioceses. He also sought to improve the conditions for pilgrims, as well as merchants, on the road to Rome. In his own words:

"Robert" in Cnut's text is probably a clerical error for Rudolph, the last ruler of an independent Kingdom of Burgundy. Hence, the solemn word of the Pope, the Emperor, and Rudolph, was given with the witness of four archbishops, twenty bishops, and 'innumerable multitudes of dukes and nobles'. This suggests it was before the ceremonies were at an end. and stood shoulder to shoulder with him on the same pedestal. Cnut and the emperor, in accord with various sources, Centuries of conflict in this area between the Danes and the Germans was the cause for the construction of the Danevirke, from Schleswig, on the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic Sea, to the North Sea.

His visit to Rome was a triumph. In the verse of ''Knútsdrápa'', Sigvatr Þórðarson praises Cnut, his king, as being "dear to the Emperor, close to Peter". In the days of Christendom, a king seen to be in favour with God could expect to be ruler over a happy kingdom. and afterwards sail to England.

King of Norway and part of Sweden

In the 1027 letter, Cnut considers himself ''King of all England and Denmark, and the Norwegians, and of some of the Swedes'' – victory over Swedes suggests Helgea to be the river in Uppland and not the one in eastern Scania, while Sweden's king appears to have been made a renegade. He also stated his intention of proceeding to Denmark, for the securing of a peace between the kingdoms of Scandinavia, which fits John of Worcester's writing that in 1027 Cnut heard some Norwegians were discontented and sent them sums of gold and silver to gain their support in his claim on the throne.

In 1028, after his return from Rome, through Denmark, Cnut set off from England with a fleet of fifty ships, to Norway, and the city of Trondheim. Olaf Haraldsson stood down, unable to put up any fight, as his nobles were against him for a tendency to flay their wives for sorcery. Cnut was crowned king, now of England and Denmark, and Norway (he was not King of Sweden, only some of the Swedes). Hakon was possibly the Earl of Northumbria after Erik too.

Hakon, a member of a family with a long tradition of hostility towards the independent Norwegian kings, and a relative of Cnut's, was already in lordship over the Isles, with the earldom of Worcester, possibly from 1016–17. The sea-lanes through the Irish Sea and Hebrides, led to Orkney and Norway, and were central to Cnut's ambitions for dominance of Scandinavia, as well as the British Isles. Hakon was meant to be Cnut's lieutenant of this strategic chain. And the final component was his installation as the king's deputy in Norway, after the expulsion of Olaf Haraldsson in 1028. Hakon, though, died in a shipwreck in the Pentland Firth, between the Orkneys and the Scottish mainland, either late 1029 or early 1030.

Upon the death of Hakon, Olaf Haraldsson was to return to Norway, with Swedes in his army. He, though, was to meet his death at the hands of his own people, at the Battle of Stiklestad, in 1030. Cnut's subsequent attempt to rule Norway without the key support of the Trondejarls, through Ælfgifu of Northampton, and his eldest son by her, Sweyn Knutsson, was not a success. It is known as ''Aelfgifu's Time'' in Norway, with heavy taxation, a rebellion, and the restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under Saint Olaf's illegitimate son Magnus the Good.

Influence in the western sea-ways

At the Battle of Clontarf on 23 April 1014—even as Cnut was preparing his re-invasion of England—there was an epic array of armies laid out on the fields before the walls of Dublin. Máel Mórda, king of Leinster, and Sigtrygg Silkbeard, ruler of the Norse-Gaelic kingdom of Dublin, had sent out emissaries to all the Viking kingdoms to request assistance in their rebellion against Brian Bóruma, the high king of Ireland. Sigurd the Stout, the Earl of Orkney, was offered command of all the Norse forces. Likewise, the High King had sought assistance from the Albannaich, who were led by Domhnall Mac Eiminn Mac Cainnich, Mormaer of Ce (Marr & Buchan).

The Leinster-Norse alliance was defeated, with both commanders, Sigurd and Máel Mórda, being killed. However, Brian, his son, his grandson, and the Mormaer Domhnall were slain too. Sigtrygg's alliance was broken, although he was left alive, and the high-kingship of Ireland went back to the Uí Néill, again under Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill. A strong piece of evidence for Dublin's involvement with Cnut is that its king, Sitric Silkbeard, struck coinage of Cnut's quatrefoil type—in issue c. 1017–25 – sporadically replacing the legend with one bearing his own name and styling him as ruler either 'of Dublin' or 'among the Irish'. Another is the entry of one ''Sihtric dux'' in three of Cnut's charters.

In one of his verses, Cnut's court poet Sigvatr Þórðarson recounts that famous princes brought their heads to Cnut and bought peace. This verse mentions Olaf Haraldsson in the past tense, with his death at the Battle of Stiklestad, in 1030. It was therefore at some point after this, and the consolidation of Norway, Cnut went to Scotland, with an army, and the navy in the Irish Sea, in 1031, to receive, without bloodshed, the submission of three Scottish kings: Maelcolm, Maelbeth, and Iehmarc. One of these kings, Iehmarc, may be one Echmarcach mac Ragnaill, an Uí Ímair chieftain, and the ruler of a sea-kingdom of the Irish Sea, – use of ''Irish'' here being likely to mean the Gall Ghaedil kingdoms, rather than the Gaelic kingdoms too, while it "brings to mind Sweyn Forkbeard's putative activities in the Irish Sea and Adam of Bremen's story of his stay with a ''rex Scothorum'' (? king of the Irish) [&] can also be linked to... Iehmarc, who submitted in 1031 [&] could be relevant to Cnut's relations with the Irish". – although the Christianization of Scandinavia was not at all complete in his day. His ruthless treatment of the overthrown dynasty, as well as his open relationship with a concubine—Ælfgifu of Northampton, his handfast wife, whom he kept as his northern queen when he wed Emma of Normandy, confusingly also Ælfgifu in Old English, who was kept in the south, with an estate in Exeter— was a bone of contention, to say the least. It was important for him to reconcile himself with his churchmen, and he made considerable efforts to do so. In this effort Cnut repaired all the English churches and monasteries that were victims of the Viking love for plunder, and refilled their coffers. He also built new churches and was an earnest patron of monastic communities. His homeland of Denmark was a Christian nation on the rise, and the desire to enhance the religion still fresh. As an example, the first stone church recorded to have been built in Scandinavia, was in Roskilde c. 1027, and its patron was Cnut's sister Estrid.

It is hard to conclude if Cnut's attitude towards the Church came out of deep religious devotion, or merely as a means to reinforce his regime's hold on the people. There is evidence of a respect for the Viking religion in his praise poetry, which he was happy enough for his ''skalds'' to embellish in Norse mythology, while other Viking leaders were insistent on the rigid observation of the Christian line, like St Olaf. We see too the desire for a respectable Christian nationhood within Europe. In 1018, some sources suggest he was at Canterbury on the return of its Archbishop Lyfing from Rome, to receive letters of exhortation from the Pope. If this chronology is correct, he probably went from Canturbury to the Witan at Oxford, with Archbishop Wulfstan of York in attendance to record the event.

Cnut's ecumenical gifts were widespread, and often exuberant. Commonly land was given, exemption from taxes, as well as relics. Christ Church, was probably given rights at the important port of Sandwich, as well as tax exemption, with confirmation in the placement of their charters on the altar. which was at the displeasure of the people of London. Another see in the king's favour was Winchester, second only to the Canturbury see in terms of its wealth. New Minster's ''Liber Vitae'' records Cnut as a benefactor of the monastery, was given to it. Old Minster was the recipient of a shrine for the relics of St Birinus, and the probable confirmation of its privileges. Cnut's generosity towards his subjects, a thing his skalds called ''destroying treasure'', was of course popular with the English. Still, it is important to remember, not all Englishmen were in his favour, and the burden of taxation was widely felt. His attitude towards London's see was clearly not benign. The monasteries at Ely and Glastonbury were not it seems on good terms either. Other gifts were also given to his neighbours. Among these were a gift to Chartres, of which its bishop wrote; "When we saw the gift that you sent us, we were amazed at your knowledge as well as your faith ... since you, whom we had heard to be a pagan prince, we now know to be not only a Christian, but also a most generous donor to God's churches and servants". and a book written in gold, among other gifts, to William the Great of Aquitaine. Of some consequnce, its recipient was an avid artisan, scholar, and devout Christian, and the Abbey of Saint-Martial was a great library and scriptorium, second only to the one at Cluny. It is probable Cnut's gifts were well beyond anything we can now prove. While in Rome, Cnut got an agreement from the Pope to reduce the fees paid by the English archbishops to receive their pallium. He also arranged for the travelers of his realm that they should pay reduced or no tolls, and that they should be safeguarded on their way to and from Rome. Some evidence exists for a second journey in 1030.

Death and succession

Cnut died in 1035, at the Abbey in Shaftesbury, Dorset. His burial was in Winchester, the English capital of the time, and stronghold of the royal house of Wessex, whom the Danes had overthrown more or less two decades before.

In Denmark he was succeeded by Harthacnut, reigning as Cnut III, although with a war in Scandinavia against Magnus I of Norway, Harthacnut was "forsaken (by the English) because he was too long in Denmark", and his mother Queen Emma, previously resident at Winchester with some of her son's housecarls, was made to flee to Bruges, in Flanders; under pressure from supporters of Cnut's other son – after Svein – by Ælfgifu of Northampton. Harold Harefoot – regent in England 1035–37 – succeeded to claim the throne, in 1037, reigning until his death in 1040. Eventual peace in Scandinavia left Harthacnut free to claim the throne himself, in 1040, and regain his mother her place. He brought the crowns of Denmark and England together again, until his death, in 1042. Denmark fell into a period of disorder with the power struggle between the pretender to the throne Sweyn Estridsson, son of Ulf, and the Norwegian king, until Magnus' death in 1047 and restoration of the Danish sovereignty. And the inheritance of England was briefly to return to its Anglo-Saxon lineage.

The house of Wessex was to reign again in Edward the Confessor, whom Harthacnut had brought out of exile in Normandy and made a treaty with. Like in his treaty with Magnus, it was decreed the throne was to go to Edward if Harthacnut died with no legitimate male heir. In 1042, Harthacnut died, and Edward was king. His reign meant Norman influence at Court was on the rise thereafter, and the ambitions of its dukes finally found fruition in 1066, with William the Conqueror's invasion of England, and crowning, fifty years after Cnut was crowned in 1016.

Had the sons of Cnut not died within a decade of him, and his (only known) daughter Cunigund – set to marry Conrad II's son Henry III eight months after his death – not died in Italy before she became empress, Cnut's reign may well have been the foundation for a complete political union between England and Scandinavia.

Bones at Winchester

The new regime of Normandy was keen to signal its arrival with an ambitious programme of grandiose cathedrals and castles throughout the High Middle Ages. Winchester Cathedral was built on the old Anglo-Saxon site (Old Minster) and the previous burials were set in mortuary chests there. Then, during the English Civil War, in the 17th century, plundering Roundhead soldiers scattered the bones on the floor, and the bones of Cnut were spread amongst the various other chests of rulers: notably William Rufus.

Marriages and issue

1 – Ælfgifu of Northampton

*Sweyn Knutsson, King of Norway

*Harold Harefoot, King of England

2 – Emma of Normandy

*Harthacnut, King of Denmark and England

*Gunhilda of Denmark, wed Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor.

Family tree

Ruler of the waves

Henry of Huntingdon, the 12th-century chronicler, tells how Cnut set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes. Yet "continuing to rise as usual [the tide] dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. Then the king leapt backwards, saying: "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings, for there is none worthy of the name, but He whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws." He then hung his gold crown on a crucifix, and never wore it again "to the honour of God the almighty King". This incident is usually misrepresented by popular commentators and politicians as an example of Cnut's arrogance.

This story may be apocryphal. While the contemporary ''Encomium Emmae'' has no mention of it, it would seem that so pious a dedication might have been recorded there, since the same source gives an "eye-witness account of his lavish gifts to the monasteries and poor of St Omer when on the way to Rome, and of the tears and breast-beating which accompanied them". Goscelin, writing later in the 11th century, instead has Cnut place his crown on a crucifix at Winchester one Easter, with no mention of the sea, and "with the explanation that the king of kings was more worthy of it than he". behind this story, and Henry of Huntingdon cites it as an example of the king's "nobleness and greatness of mind."

The encounter with the waves is said to have taken place at Bosham in West Sussex, or Southampton in Hampshire.

According to the House of Commons Information Office (The Palace of Westminster Factsheet G11, General Series Revised March 2008), Cnut set up a Royal palace during his reign on Thorney Island (later to become known as Westminster) as the area was sufficiently far away from the busy settlement to the east known as London. It is believed that, on this site, Cnut tried to command the tide of the river to prove to his courtiers that they were fools to think that he could command the waves.

Cnut's ''skalds''

The Old Norse catalogue of skalds known as ''Skáldatal'' lists eight skalds who were active at Cnut's court. Four of them, namely Sigvatr Þórðarson, Óttarr svarti, Þórarinn loftunga and Hallvarðr háreksblesi, composed verses in honour of Cnut which have survived in some form, while no such thing is apparent from the four other skalds Bersi Torfuson, Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld (known from other works), Steinn Skaptason and Óðarkeptr (unknown). The principal works for Cnut are the three ''Knútsdrápur'' by Sigvatr Þórðarson, Óttarr svarti and Hallvarðr háreksblesi, and the ''Höfuðlausn'' and ''Tøgdrápa'' by Þórarinn loftunga. Cnut also features in two other contemporary skaldic poems, namely Þórðr Kolbeinsson's ''Eiríksdrápa'' and the anonymous ''Liðsmannaflokkr''.

Cnut's skalds emphasize the parallelism between Cnut's rule of his earthly kingdom and God's rule of Heaven. This is particularly apparent in their refrains. Thus the refrain of Þórarinn's ''Höfuðlausn'' translates to "Cnut protects the land as the guardian of Byzantium [God] [does] Heaven" and the refrain of Hallvarðr's ''Knútsdrápa'' translates to "Cnut protects the land as the Lord of all [does] the splendid hall of the mountains [Heaven]". Despite the Christian message, the poets also make use of traditional pagan references and this is particularly true of Hallvarðr. As an example, one of his half-stanzas translates to "The Freyr of the noise of weapons [warrior] has also cast under him Norway; the battle-server [warrior] diminishes the hunger of the valcyrie's hawks [ravens]." The skald here refers to Cnut as "Freyr of battle", a kenning using the name of the pagan god Freyr. References of this sort were avoided by poets composing for the contemporary kings of Norway but Cnut seems to have had a more relaxed attitude towards pagan literary allusions.

See also

North Sea Empire

Viking Age

Raven banner

Notes

References

Thietmar (1962) ''Chronik: Chronicon''; Neu übertragen und erläutert von Werner Trillmich. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft

Bibliography

External links

Canute the Great

Canute (Knud) The Great – From Viking warrior to English king

Vikingworld (Danish) – Canute the Great (Knud den Store)

Time Team – Who was King Cnut?

Northvegr (Scandinavian) – A History of the Vikings (Search)

Images from the British Library's collections

Category:995 births Category:1035 deaths Category:Anglo-Norse monarchs Category:Burials at Winchester Cathedral Category:Danish people of Polish descent Category:English people of Polish descent Category:Danish monarchs *117 Category:Norwegian monarchs Category:Viking Age monarchs Category:Roman Catholic monarchs

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This is a list of people whose names in English are commonly appended with the phrase "''the Great''", or who were called that or an equivalent phrase in their own language. Other languages have their own suffixes such as ''e Bozorg'' and ''e azam'' in Persian and Urdu respectively.

In Persia, the title "the Great" at first seems to be a colloquial version of the Old Persian title "Great King". This title was first used by the conqueror Cyrus II of Persia.

The Persian title was inherited by Alexander III of Macedon (336–323 BC) when he conquered the Persian Empire, and the epithet "Great" eventually became personally associated with him. The first reference (in a comedy by Plautus) assumes that everyone knew who "Alexander the Great" was; however, there is no earlier evidence that Alexander III of Macedon was called "''the Great''".

The early Seleucid kings, who succeeded Alexander in Persia, used "Great King" in local documents, but the title was most notably used for Antiochus the Great (223–187 BC).

Later rulers and commanders began to use the epithet "the Great" as a personal name, like the Roman general Pompey. Others received the surname retrospectively, like the Carthaginian Hanno and the Indian emperor Ashoka the Great. Once the surname gained currency, it was also used as an honorific surname for people without political careers, like the philosopher Albert the Great.

As there are no objective criteria for "greatness", the persistence of later generations in using the designation greatly varies. For example, Louis XIV of France was often referred to as "The Great" in his lifetime but is rarely called such nowadays, while Frederick II of Prussia is still called "The Great". A later Hohenzollern - Wilhelm I - was often called "The Great" in the time of his grandson Wilhelm II, but rarely later.

Rulers

Abbas I of Persia (1571–1629), Shah of Iran

Akbar (1542–1605), ruler of the Mughal Empire of South Asia, mainly India

Alain I of Albret (1440–1522), French aristocrat

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), King of Macedonia, Persia, Greece, Egypt, and all of Mesopotamia

Alexander I of Georgia (1386–1446), King of Georgia

Alfonso III of León (c. 848-910), King of León, Galicia and Asturias

Alfred the Great (848/849-899), King of Wessex

Antiochus III the Great (c. 241–187 BC), ruler of the Seleucid Empire

Ashoka the Great (c. 304–232 BC), Indian emperor of the Maurya dynasty

Ashot I of Iberia “the Great”(died 826/830), presiding prince of Iberia (modern Georgia),

Askia Mohammad I (c. 1442–1538), ruler of the Songhai Empire

Bhumibol Adulyadej (born 1927), King of Thailand

Bolesław I Chrobry (967-1025), sometimes called "the Great", first King of Poland

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the following section)

Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (1736–1809), founder and ruler of the Rattanakosin Kingdom (in what is now Thailand)

Cnut the Great (c. 985 or 995-1035), King of Denmark, England, Norway and parts of Sweden

Casimir III the Great (1310–1370), King of Poland

Catherine the Great (1729–1796), Empress of Russia

Chandragupta II (reigned 375-413/415), also known as Vikramaditya, ruler of the Gupta empire in India

Charlemagne (died 814), King of the Franks and Emperor of the Romans

Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), King of Siam (now Thailand)

Chlothar II (584-629), King of Neustria and King of the Franks

Conrad, Margrave of Meissen (c. 1097-1157), Margrave of Meissen

Constantine I (c. 272-337), Roman emperor

Cyaxares the Great (c. 625-585 BC), third king of Media

Cyrus the Great (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC), founder and ruler of the Persian or Achaemenid Empire

Darius the Great (550 – 486 BC), third ruler of the Persian Empire

Devapala (died 850), ruler of the Pala Empire in the Indian subcontinent

Dionysius I, Greek tyrant of Syracuse

Ferdinand I of León and Castile (c. 1015–1065), King of León and Count of Castile

Frederick the Great (1712–1786), King of Prussia

Genghis Khan (1162?-1227), founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire

Gero (c. 900–965), ruler of Marca Geronis, a very large march in Europe

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594–1632), King of Sweden, founder of the Swedish Empire, and noted military leader

Gwanggaeto the Great, King of Goguryeo, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea

Hanno the Great, the name of three leaders of Carthage, in the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd centuries BC

Henry I, Duke of Burgundy (946–1002)

Henry IV of France (1553–1610), King of France and King of Navarre

Herod the Great (73/74 BC-4 BC), King of Judea

Hugh the Great (898-956), Duke of the Franks and Count of Paris

Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France

Hugh I, Count of Vermandois (1057–1101)

Humphrey I de Bohun (died c. 1123), Anglo-Norman aristocrat

Ivan III of Russia (1440–1505), Tsar of Russia

John I of Portugal (1358–1433), King of Portugal and the Algarve

John II of Aragon (1398–1479), King of Aragon and, through his wife, King of Navarre

Justinian I (483-565), Byzantine Emperor

Kamehameha I (c. 1758-1819), first King of Hawai'i

Kanishka (died c. 127), ruler of the Kushan Empire in Central Asia and parts of India

Kvirike III of Kakheti (1010–1029), King of Kakheti in eastern Georgia

Kublai Khan (1215–1294), Mongol ruler in the 13th century and Emperor of China; founder of the Yuan Dynasty

Llywelyn the Great (c. 1172–1240), Prince of Gwynedd and de facto ruler of most of Wales

Louis I of Hungary (1326–1382), King of Hungary, Croatia and Poland

Mangrai the Great (1238–1317), Lanna, northern Thailand

Emperor Meiji (1852–1912), Emperor of Japan

Mircea I of Wallachia (1355–1418)

Mithridates II of Parthia (died 88 BC), ruler of the Parthian Empire (in present day Iran)

Mithridates VI of Pontus (134 BC–63 BC), ruler of Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom

Mstislav I of Kiev (1076–1132), Grand Prince of Kievan Rus

Narai (1633–1688), King of Ayutthaya (in what is now modern Thailand)

Naresuan (1555–1605), King of Ayutthaya

Odo the Great (died c. 735), Duke of Aquitaine

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (912-973)

K'inich Janaab' Pakal (603-683), ruler of the Mayan city-state of Palenque

Parakramabahu I of Polonnaruwa (1123–1186), King of Sri Lanka

Peter Krešimir IV of Croatia (died 1075), King of Croatia

Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia

Peter III of Aragon (1239–1285), King of Aragon and King of Sicily

Pompey (106 BC-48 BC), military and political leader of the late Roman Republic, rival of Julius Caesar

Radama I (1793–1828), first king of greater Madagascar

Raja Raja Chola I (c. 947-1014), Indian emperor of the Cholas.

Rajendra Chola I (reigned 1014–1044), Tamil King of India

Ramesses II (reigned 1279 BC – 1213 BC), considered the greatest pharaoh of Ancient Egypt

Ram Khamhaeng (around 1237 to 1247-1298), King of Sukhothai (in present day Thailand)

Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona (1082–1131), also Count of Provence and various other counties

Rhodri the Great (c. 820–878), King of Gwynedd (in present day Wales)

Roman the Great (after 1160-1205), Grand Prince of Kiev

Saladin (c. 1138-1193), Kurdish Sultan of Egypt and Syria, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and victor over the Crusaders

Samudragupta (c. 335–375), ruler of the Gupta empire in the Indian subcontinent

Sancho III of Navarre (c. 992-1035), King of Kingdom of Navarre

Sargon of Akkad (died c. 2215 BC), ruler of the Akkadian Empire

Sejong the Great (1397–1450), Korean king

Shapur II (309-379), king of the Sassanid Empire, Persia

Simeon I of Bulgaria (864/865-927), ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire

Stephen III of Moldavia (1433–1504), Prince of Moldavia (Romania)

Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia (c. 1308-1355), King of Serbia and Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks

Taksin (1734–1782), King of the Thonburi Kingdom (Thailand)

Timur (1336–1405), better known as Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Dynasty

Theobald II, Count of Champagne (1090–1151), Count of Blois and of Chartres as Theobald IV, Count of Champagne and of Brie

Theodoric the Great (454-526), King of the Ostrogoths, regent of the Visigoths and a viceroy of the Byzantine Empire

Theodosius I (347-395), Roman emperor

Tigranes the Great (140-55 BC), Emperor of Armenia

Tiridates III of Armenia (285-339), King of Armenia

Umar (c. 586 to 590–644), second caliph of the Muslim Empire

Valdemar I of Denmark (1131–1182), King of Denmark

Valentinian I (364-375), Roman Emperor

Vladimir I of Kiev (c. 958-1015), ruler of Kievan Rus

Vytautas (c. 1350-1430), archduke of the Lithuanian Grand Duchy

William I, Count of Burgundy (1020–1087), Count of Burgandy and Mâcon

William V, Duke of Aquitaine (969-1030), also Count of Poitou

Xerxes I (519-465 BC), King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire (Persia)

Yu the Great (c. 2200-2100 BC), legendary ruler in ancient China

Religious figures

Abraham the Great of Kashkar (ca. 492-586), monk and saint of the Assyrian Church of the East

Abraham Kidunaia (died c. 366, hermit, priest, and Christian saint of Mesopotamia

Albertus Magnus (1193/1206–1280), medieval German philosopher and theologian

Anthony the Great (c. 251–356), early Christian saint of Egypt

Babai the Great (c. 551–628), Assyrian church leader

Basil of Caesarea (330-379), Greek bishop and theologian

Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne and Duke of Lotharingia (also listed in the previous section)

Euthymius the Great (377-473), abbot and Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox saint

Gertrude the Great (1256-c. 1302), German Benedictine, mystic, theologian and Roman Catholic saint

Pope Gregory I (c. 540-604)

Hiyya the Great, 3rd-century rabbi, Palestine

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005)

Pope Leo I (c. 391 or 400-461)

Macarius of Egypt (c. 300-391), Egyptian hermit

Pope Nicholas I (c. 800-867)

Photius I of Constantinople (c. 810–c. 893), Eastern Orthodox saint and Patriarch of Constantinople

William of Maleval (died 1157), founder of the Catholic congregation of Williamites

Other

Beli Mawr, a figure in medieval Welsh literature and genealogies

Emmy the Great, folk singer

Matteo Rosso the Great, Roman politician and father of Pope Nicholas III

Prokop the Great, Hussite general in Bohemia

See also

Epithet

List of monarchs by nickname

List of nicknames of European Royalty and Nobility: G-I

James, son of Zebedee, also known as James the Greater, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus

Ajax (mythology), called Ajax the Greater

Notes

Category:Monarchs Great, List of people known as The Category:Greatest Nationals Category:Epithets

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
type	monarch
Name	Edmund Ironside
succession	King of England
Reign	23 April 1016 – 30 November 1016
Predecessor	Æthelred the Unready
Successor	Cnut the Great
house	House of Wessex
Birth date	989
Birth place	Wessex, England
Death date	November 30, 1016 (aged 27)
Death place	Oxford or London, England
Place of burial	Glastonbury Abbey
Spouse	Ealdgyth
Issue	Edward the ExileEdmund
Father	Æthelred the Unready
Mother	Ælfgifu of York }}

Edmund Ironside or Edmund II () (c. 988/993 – 30 November 1016) was king of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. His cognomen "Ironside" is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great. He fought five battles against the Danes, ending in defeat against Cnut on 18 October at the Battle of Assandun, after which they agreed to divide the kingdom, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the rest of the country. Edmund died shortly afterwards on 30 November, and Cnut became the king of all England.

Family

Edmund was a signatory to charters from 993. He was the third of the six sons of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu, who was probably the daughter of Earl Thored of Northumbria. His elder brothers were Æthelstan and Egbert (died c. 1005), and younger ones, Eadred, Eadwig and Edgar. His mother died around 1000, after which his father remarried, this time to Emma of Normandy, who had two sons, Edward the Confessor and Alfred.

Early life

Æthelstan probably did not approve of the increasing influence of ealdorman Eadric Streona from 1007, and he seems to have formed a friendship with Sigeferth and Morcar, two of the leading thegns of the Five Boroughs of the East Midlands. Æthelstan and Edmund were close, and they probably felt threatened by Emma's ambitions for her sons. The Life of Edward the Confessor, written fifty years later, claimed that when Emma was pregnant with him, all Englishmen promised that if the child was a boy they would accept him as king.

When Sweyn Forkbeard seized the throne at the end of 1013 and Æthelred fled to France, the brothers do not appear to have followed him, but stayed in England. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and left his brother estates and a sword which had belonged to king Offa of Mercia. His will also reflected the close relationship between the brothers and the nobility of the east midlands.

Struggle for power

Sweyn died in February 1014, and the Five Boroughs accepted his son Cnut, who married a kinswoman of Sigeferth and Morcar, as king. However, Æthelred returned to England and launched a surprise attack which defeated the Vikings and forced Cnut to flee England. In 1015 Sigeferth and Morcar came to an assembly in Oxford, probably hoping for a royal pardon, but they were murdered by Eadric Streona. King Æthelred then ordered that Sigeferth's widow, Ealdgyth, be seized and brought to Malmesbury Abbey, but Edmund seized and married her in defiance of his father, probably to consolidate his power base in the east midlands. He then received the submission of the people of the Five Boroughs. At the same time, Cnut launched a new invasion of England. In late 1015 Edmund raised an army, possibly assisted by his wife's and mother's links with the midlands and the north, but the Mercians under Eadric Streona joined the West Saxons in submitting to Cnut. In early 1016 the army assembled by Edmund dispersed when Æthelred did not appear to lead it, probably due to illness. Edmund then raised a new army and in conjunction with Earl Uhtred of Northumbria ravaged Eadric Streona's Mercian territories, but when Cnut occupied Northumbria Uhtred submitted to him, only to be killed by Cnut. Edmund went to London.

King of England

Æthelred died on 23 April 1016, and the citizens and councillors in London chose Edmund as king and probably crowned him. He then mounted a last-ditch effort to revive the defence of England. While the Danes laid siege to London, Edmund headed for Wessex, where the people submitted to him and he gathered an army. He fought inconclusive battles against the Danes and their English supporters at Penselwood in Somerset and Sherston in Wiltshire. He then raised the siege of London and defeated the Danes near Brentford. They renewed the siege while Edmund went to Wessex to raise further troops, returning to again relieve London, defeat the Danes at Otford, and pursue Cnut into Kent. Eadric Streona now went over to Edmund, but at the decisive Battle of Assandun on 18 October, Eadric and his men fled and Cnut decisively defeated Edmund. There may have been one further battle in the Forest of Dean, after which the two kings negotiated a peace dividing the country between them. Edmund received Wessex while Cnut took Mercia and probably Northumbria.

Death

Shortly afterwards, on 30 November 1016, King Edmund died, probably in London. Cnut was now able to seize control as king of England. Edmund was buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset. His burial site is now lost. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, any remains of a monument or crypt were destroyed. The location of his body is unknown.

Heirs

Edmund had two children by Ealdgyth, Edward the Exile and Edmund. According to John of Worcester, Cnut sent them to the king of Sweden to be murdered, but the king instead sent them to Hungary, where Edmund died but Edward prospered. He returned to England in 1057 only to die within days of his arrival.

Reputation

In the view of M. K. Lawson, the intensity of Edmund's struggle against the Danes in 1016 is only matched by Alfred the Great's in 871, and contrasts with Æthelred's failure. Edmund's success in raising one army after another suggests that there was little wrong with the organs of government under competent leadership. He was "probably a highly determined, skilled and indeed inspiring leader of men". Cnut visited his tomb on the anniversary of his death and laid a cloak decorated with peacocks on it to assist in his salvation, peacocks symbolising resurrection.

Shakespearean play?

''Edmund Ironside'' is the name of an anonymous play in the ''Shakespeare Apocrypha'', which has been attributed to Shakespeare on stylistic grounds. Plays in the Shakespeare Apocrypha are not generally accepted as Shakespearean.

In popular culture

Edmund is played by John Horn in the 1970 television movie ''The Ceremony of Innocence''. He is one of the main characters in Justin Hill's novel Shieldwall (2011), first in the Conquest Trilogy.

Edmund Ironside is a major character in Justin Hill's historical novel, ''Shieldwall'', pub. 2011.

See also

House of Wessex family tree

Sources

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Clemoes, Peter. ''The Anglo-Saxons: Studies Presented to Bruce Dickins'', 1959

The History Channel - England history to 1485

References

Category:Anglo-Saxon monarchs *115 Category:10th-century births Category:1016 deaths Category:Burials at Glastonbury Abbey Category:11th-century English people

af:Edmund Ironside be-x-old:Эдмунд Жалезнабокі bs:Edmund Željeznoboki bg:Едмънд II cs:Edmund II. da:Edmund Jernside de:Edmund II. (England) et:Edmund II el:Έντμουντ ο Σιδηρόπλευρος es:Edmundo II de Inglaterra eo:Edmundo Ironside fa:ادموند دوم انگلستان fr:Edmond II d'Angleterre hr:Edmund II. Željeznoboki id:Edmund Ironside is:Játmundur járnsíða it:Edmondo II d'Inghilterra he:אדמונד השני, מלך אנגליה ka:ედმუნდ რკინისმხარა la:Edmundus II (rex Anglorum) hu:II. Edmund angol király mr:एडमंड दुसरा, इंग्लंड nl:Edmund II van Engeland ja:エドマンド2世 (イングランド王) no:Edmund II av England nn:Edmund II av England pl:Edmund II pt:Edmundo II de Inglaterra ru:Эдмунд Железнобокий simple:Edmund II of England sk:Edmund II. fi:Edmund Rautakylki sv:Edmund II av England th:สมเด็จพระเจ้าเอ็ดมันด์ที่ 2 แห่งอังกฤษ uk:Едмунд II Залізобокий zh:愛德蒙·伊倫塞德

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
consort	yes
imgw	200px
succession	Queen consort of England
reign	1002–16 (1st time)1017–35 (2nd time)
succession1	Queen consort of Denmark
reign1	1017–35
succession2	Queen consort of Norway
reign2	1028–35
spouse	Æthelred the UnreadyCnut the Great
issue	Edward the ConfessorGoda, Countess of the VéxinAlfred ÆthelingHarthacnutGunhilda, Queen of the Romans
house	House of Normandy
father	Richard the Fearless
mother	Gunnora
birth date
birth place	Normandy
death date	6 March 1052 (aged 66-67)
death place	Winchester, Hampshire
religion	Roman Catholicism
signature	}}

Emma ( – 6 March 1052 in Winchester, Hampshire), was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England (1002–16); and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark (1017–35). Two of her sons, one by each husband, and two stepsons, also by each husband, became kings of England, as did her great-nephew, William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy.

Life

Reign of Æthelred

In 1000–1 Normandy gave shelter to a Viking army threatening England, and Æthelred may have attempted an invasion of Normandy in response, but in 1002 he changed tack and arranged to marry Emma, the sister of Richard II, Duke of Normandy, as his second wife. She was given an English name, Ælfgifu, which was used instead of her Norman name on formal occasions or on charters. She had two sons, Edward (the future Edward the Confessor) and Alfred, and a daughter, Goda. She was accorded a more prominent place in charters than his first wife. She received properties that had belonged to Queen Ælfthryth in Winchester and Rutland, and also controlled the city of Exeter, parts of Devonshire, Suffolk and Oxfordshire.

In 1013 Æthelred sent Emma and her children to her brother in Normandy to escape Sweyn's invasion, and soon followed himself, but they were able to return when Sweyn died in February 1014. Æthelred's eldest son, Æthelstan had long been recognised as heir apparent, and charter evidence shows that Edward ranked behind all Æthelred's sons by his first marriage, but Æthelstan died in June 1014, and Emma now tried to get her own son, the ten year old Edward, recognised as heir. She was an ally of her husband's most trusted adviser, the deeply distrusted Eadric Streona, ealdorman of Mercia, and he took her side, but she was opposed by Æthelred's oldest surviving son, Edmund Ironside, and his allies, who naturally regarded him as the heir.

Edmund revolted against his father, and in 1015 Sweyn's son Cnut invaded. Æthelred was able to hold out against Cnut in London, but in April 1016 Æthelred died, as did Edmund in November. Queen Emma still held out against Cnut in London, but it was finally agreed that her sons should go to live in Normandy and she would marry Cnut. The marriage probably saved her sons, as Cnut tried to rid himself of rival claimants, but spared their lives.

Reign of Cnut

Harthacnut was intended to rule England, along with most of Scandinavia, which, if he had succeeded, could have made a very different history. During the first years of Cnut's reign, Emma was rarely called upon to act as witness to his acts. This changed around 1020, when she became more active in affairs. Like Queen Ælfthryth, she acted as patroness of the clergy and abbot Ælfsige of Peterborough was one of her closest advisors. She also befriended clergy from the continent, which added to the prestige of both herself and her husband as a christian king.

It is thought though, due not least to the extolling of her in the ''Encomium Emmae Reginae'', that in addition to political machinations, Cnut grew fond of Emma. In this, an affectionate marriage and the ability to keep the threat from over the channel at bay, was seen as a happy coincidence. Unfortunately, events did not go as well as they might have.

Reigns of Harold I, Harthacnut and Edward the Confessor

After Cnut's death, Edward and Alfred returned to England from their exile in 1036, to see their mother, and were put under their half-brother, Harthacnut's, protection. This was seen as a move against Harold Harefoot, Cnut's son by Ælfgifu of Northampton, who put himself forward as Harold I with the support of many of the English nobility. In contempt of Harthacnut, and at war with his enemies in Scandinavia, Alfred was captured, blinded, and shortly after, died from his wounds. Edward escaped to Normandy and Emma herself soon left for Bruges and the court of the Count of Flanders. It was at this court that the ''Encomium Emmae'' (see above) was written.

Harthacnut prepared an invasion force after he had made his Danish Lands secure in 1040 and picked Emma up from Flanders before setting out to England. The death of Harold I in 1040 made his accession easier. Emma then held Wessex as regent for her son Edward, until he was officially made welcome in England the next year. Harthacnut told the Norman court that Edward should be made king if he himself had no sons. Edward was subsequently King of England on the death of Harthacnut, who, like Harold I, met his end in the throes of a fit. Emma was also to return to England, yet was cast aside, as she supported Magnus the Noble, not Edward, her son. It is supposed that she had no love for her children from her first marriage.

Psychological speculation

Emma of Normandy might well have seen herself as coming second to the first wife, in both of her marriages (Æthelred's first wife Ælfflaed possibly died in childbirth or from complications during labour). With her marriage to Cnut, set in the shade of his first wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, she, at the time was known as Ælfgifu of Normandy. Her second marriage, then, in some way left her as a second Ælfgifu, which she was clearly inclined to abandon, preferring Emma. Despite her being a second wife, her noble marriages created a strong connection between England and Normandy, which was to find its culmination under her great-nephew William the Conqueror in 1066.

Emma's progeny

Emma's issue with Æthelred the Unready were:

Edward the Confessor

Goda of England

Alfred Ætheling

Her issue with Cnut the Great were

Harthacnut

Gunhilda of Denmark

Family tree

In popular culture

Emma was played by Elizabeth Hubbard in the 1970 television movie ''The Ceremony of Innocence''.

She is also the protagonist of Helen Hollick's 2010 novel, "The Forever Queen."

References

Bibliography

;History See also Encomium Emmae (for the ''Encomium Emmae Reginae'' or ''Gesta Cnutonis Regis'' in honour of Queen Emma)

Monk of St Omer (1949) ''Encomium Emmae Reginae''; ed. Alistair Campbell. (Camden 3rd series; no. 72.) London: Royal Historical Society (Reissued by Cambridge U. P. 1998 with suppl. introd. by Simon Keynes ISBN 0521626552)

O'Brien, Harriet (2005) ''Queen Emma and the Vikings''. Bloomsbury U.S.A.

Stafford, Pauline (2001) ''Queen Emma and Queen Edith: queenship and women's power in eleventh-century England''. Oxford: Blackwell.

Strachan, Isabella (2005) ''Emma: the twice-crowned Queen of England in the Viking Age''. London: Peter Owen

;Fiction

Gordon, Noah (1986) ''The Physician''. Basingstoke: Macmillan ISBN 067147748X (Novel set in the early 11th century.)

Hollick, Helen (2004) ''The Hollow Crown''. (August 2004) William Heinemann, Random House. ISBN 0-434-00491-X; Arrow paperback ISBN 0-09-927234-2. This is a historical novel about Queen Emma of Normandy, intended to explain why she was so indifferent to the children of her first marriage.

Category:980s births Category:1052 deaths Category:Anglo-Saxon royal consorts Category:Normans Category:English royal consorts Category:Danish royal consorts Category:Norwegian royal consorts Category:Female regents Category:Women of medieval England Category:Burials at Winchester Cathedral Category:Viking Age women Category:11th-century English people Category:10th-century women Category:11th-century women

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