Canute II, or Canute the Great, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
also known as Cnut (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki, Norwegian: Knut den mektige, Swedish: Knut den
store, Danish: Knud den Store) (c. 995 – November 12, 1035) was a Viking king of
England, Denmark, Norway, some
of Sweden[1] (such as the
Sigtuna[2] Swedes), as
well as overlord of Pomerania, and the Mark of
Schleswig. He had treaties with the Holy Roman
Emperors, the German kings, Henry II and Conrad II, suzerain vassals of Rome's pontificate, and dealt with the papacy himself. His reign, almost two decades
long, was over a northern empire spread across Scandinavia and the British Isles and saw the Danish sovereignty at its
height.
Canute is legendary for his apparent attempt to "hold back the tide". Canute deliberately placed
his throne on the beach and used his evident inability to order the tide to roll back to display to his courtiers the limitations
of a king's power to command the seas.
Description of Canute
A description of Canute is of record in the thirteenth century Knýtlinga
saga:
Knut was exceptionally tall and strong, and the handsomest of men, all except for his nose, that was thin, high set, and
rather hooked. He had a fair complexion 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.
Birth and kingship
Canute was a son of the Danish king Swegen Forkbeard and the Slavic princess Sigrid (in accord with the Monk of St Omer's, Encomium
Emmae[5] and Thietmar of Merseburg's contemporary Chronicon[6]),
Saum-Aesa,[7]
daughter to Mieszko I of Poland, lent the Scandinavian name Gunnhilda by the
Danes.[8] Canute, was an heir to a line of Scandinavian
rulers central to the unification of Denmark [9], with
origins in the shadowy figure of Harthacnut, founder of the royal house, and the
father to Gorm the Old, its official progenitor.
The Flateyjarbók, a thirteenth century source states, that as a youth Canute was
brought up in the company of a chieftain known as Thorkel the Tall,[10] brother to Sigurd, Jarl of mythical Jomsborg, and the legendary Joms at their Viking stronghold, now thought to be a Slav fortress on the Island of
Wollin. He was surely born for a solidly military life.
Canute's date of birth is unknown. Contemporary works such as the Encomium
Emmae and the Chronicon, do not say anything for it. Still, in the
skald Ottar the Black's Knutsdrapa there is a statement
that Canute began his career unusually young. It also mentions a Viking attack on the city of Norwich, that may be one his father led there in 1004. If it is the case that
Canute fought in this battle, his birthdate may be near 990, or even 980. If not, and the skald's poetic verse envisages a later
assault, it may even suggest a birth date nearer 1000,[11] with his war years begun in his father's English conquest. His age at the time of his death, and
the moments of his life as king, are never otherwise of any especial note. The encomium of Emma
only states that Canute was a youthful man, not necessarily a young man, while Thietmar's chronicon pays his age no attention, which is maybe a silence worthy of a thousand words.
Cnut 'quatrefoil' type penny with the legend "CNUT REX ANGLORUM"
Hardly anything is known for sure of Canute's life, until the year he was part of a Scandinavian invasion under his father, the Danish king Swegen
Forkbeard, and his conquest of England, in summer 1013. It was the climax to a string of
Viking raids spread over a number of decades. The kingdom fell quickly.
During the winter months, Canute's father was under the process of consolidation, with Canute left in charge of the fleet, and
base of the army, at Gainsborough, a city of the Five Boroughs. The force was probably short of some Vikings, likelily sent home for winter once
their payments had been made. Upon Swegen Forkbeard's sudden death in February 1014, Canute was
held to be commander of the victorious campaigners, and the King of England.
At the Witan, England's nobility were loth to accept this. They voted to restore their
former king, an Anglo-Saxon of the Wessex royal house,
Ethelred the Unready, an exilee with his in-laws in Normandy. It was an act which obliged Canute to abandon England and set sail for Denmark, while the nobility of
England, possibly with Normans in their forces, had made their kingdom theirs once again. On the
beaches of Sandwich the Vikings mutilated their hostages,
taken from the English as pledges of allegiance given to Canute's father.
On the death of Sweyn Forkbeard his eldest son, Harald, became King of Denmark.
Canute supposedly made the suggestion that they might have a joint rule, although this found no ground with his brother. Harald
is thought to have made an offer for Canute to command the Vikings for a second invasion of England, on the condition he
abandoned his claim on the Danish kingdom. Canute apparently accepted this role.
Conquest of England
Canute's fleet set sail for England in the summer of 1015 with a Danish army of 10,000
men,[12] along with support from the allies of Denmark.
Boleslaw the Brave, the Duke of
Poland and relative to the Danish royals, lent some token Slav troops,[13] likely to have been a pledge made to Canute and Harald when
they went to fetch their mother back to the Danish court in the winter of 1014. Sweden's king,
Olof Skötkonung, was a strong ally. He was the son of Sigrid the Haughty, by her first husband the Swedish king Eric
the Victorious, as well as a relation to the royals of Denmark, by her second husband, the Danish king Swegen Forkbeard, and the brother of his daughters. Eiríkr
Hákonarson, Canute and Harald's brother-in-law, and Trondejarl, the
Earl of Lade, was ruler of Norway,
under Swegen, and the sons of Forkbeard, (ref. the liege and lord
alliance). He was to join Canute once the invasion had been made underway.
Thorkell the High, who actually fought against the Viking invasion under Canute's
father with a pledge of allegiance to the English, in 1012, as a Joms chief,[14] was with the fleet, and the Joms too. Some explanation for this
particular Jomsviking's, as well as Jomsborg's, shift of allegiance, may be found in a stanza of
the Jómsvíkinga saga with a statement that two attacks were launched against the
Viking mercenaries while they were in England. Also, as if to add insult to injury, amongst their dead soldiers was a chieftain
of the Jomvikings known as Henninge, who was a brother to Thorkell the Tall.[15] If it is true that Canute's childhood mentor was indeed this man, here may be the reason for his
acceptance of his support, after an opposition against his father's previous expedition. Canute and the Jomsviking, ultimately in the service of Jomsborg, were in a very difficult
relationship with each other.
Eadric Streona, a nobleman risen far under Ethelred the Unready, his king, to be the
wealthy Earl of Mercia, maybe even the richest of the English nobility, also thought it
prudent to join in with Canute, and the Vikings, with forty ships in tow, although these were probably of the Danelaw anyway.[16] England's king was
under pressure, and the distresses which were a fact of his reign, as a man risen to sovereignty through assassination, were
apparently too much for many to put up with. In spite of his faults, the Mercian Earl was a useful ally, pivotal to any successes
either side might hope for, and he probably knew it. It was though a dangerous game to play in an era with such merciless
standards.
Canute was therefore at the head of an epic array of Vikings, from all over
Scandinavia. Altogether, the invasion force was to be in often close and grisly warfare with
the English for the next fourteen months. Most of the battles were fought against Ethelred
the Unready's son, Edmund Ironside.
Canute, as shown on the coin (see main image) with the inscription
CNUT REX DÆANOR (
Canute, King of Danes)
In September 1015, Canute was seen off the shore of Sandwich. The fleet went around the coast about Kent, and the south of England, past Cornwall,
until it came upon the mouth of the Frome. There the army disembarked and the
occupation of Wessex was begun.[17] Canute had the advantages of surprise and speed, and made a base of the English heartland, with the
kingdom in disarray.
A passage from the Encomium Emmae paints a picture of the scene which was to
confront the English, when Canute and his Vikings, within 200 longships had made their 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, silver also flashed… 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 vigorous with the strength of complete manhood, fit for all manner of battle, and so swift of
foot that they despised the speed of cavalry.
Until mid-winter the Vikings stood their ground, with the English king held up in London. Canute's invaders then went across
the Thames, with no pause in bleak weather, through the Mercian lands, northwards, to confront
Uhtred, the Earl of Northumbria, and
Edmund Ironside, commander of England's army. Canute found these lands without their main garrisons, as Uhtred was away with
Ironside in Mercia, to countermand the properties of Eadric Streona. Northumbria fell, and
when Uhtred returned to sue for peace, Canute executed the Earl for breaking oaths pledged to Sweyn Forkbeard two years earlier.
Canute brought over Eiríkr Hákonarson and strategically put the Norwegian in control
of Northumbria,[20] while he strengthened his army with
the reserves.
In April 1016, Canute went southward with his army through the western shires to gain as much support from the English as possible, already confident in the eastern Danelaw. The Viking fleet set sail for the Thames to lay London under siege. Edmund Ironside was effectively swept
before this onslaught, which left London as his last stronghold. Ethelred the
Unready died on April 23, coincidentally, leaving the now beleagured prince as king. Over the next couple of months the
attackers made their camps on the city's fringes, and dug a canal through which to pull their ships and cut off the supply lines
up river. Encirclement was made complete by the construction of dikes on the city's northern and southern sides. Also forays on
the walls were frequent.
In the summer, Edmund Ironside broke out of London to raise an army in Wessex, and the Vikings broke off a portion of their
siege in pursuit. The English rallied at Penselwood; with a hill in Selwood Forest as the likely location of their stand. The battle that was fought there did not leave any
clear victor. A subsequent battle at Sherston in Wiltshire was fought over two days and again left neither side victorious.
Edmund Ironside did eventually end the siege of London. With the Scandinavians in disarray, Canute brought the forces back
together in Wessex and the besiegers again focused their attentions on the city of London.
However, the English resistance was such that the invaders had to make their way north into Mercia to search for essential supplies.
At this point Eadric Streona thought it wise to ally himself with the English again. Vikings were subsequently put under
attack in Mercia, and the army of Edmund Ironside forced the besiegers of London back to their ships on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. The fleet went
north and the invasion force reassembled in Essex. Here in October at Assandun, on the hill of ash
trees, the two armies came together for one final confrontation. Canute won the Battle of
Ashingdon decisively, partly because the Earl of Mercia betrayed his countrymen when he and his men retreated in the heat
of battle.
Edmund Ironside, probably wounded, was caught near Wales and the Forest of Dean, where there was likely to have been a final struggle made in an attempt by the English to
protect their king. Canute was ultimately able to force peace talks.
Canute and Ironside met on an island in the Severn. Edmund accepted defeat, signing a
treaty with the Viking king in which all of England, except for Wessex was to be controlled by the Scandinavians. Its key clause
was that when one of the two kings should die, the other king would be the one and only king of England, his sons being the
heirs. It was a move of astute political sense, as well as mercy, on the part of Canute. After Edmund's death, on November 30,
1016, possibly at the hands of the traitor Eadric Streona's men, or more probably as a result of
his wounds, Canute ruled the whole kingdom. His coronation was at Christmas, with recognition by the nobility in January
1017.
It was at the coronation that the untrustworthy Eadric Streona was decapitated, his head being mounted on a pole. This
execution was by the hand of Erikr, Earl of Northumbria. It is uncertain whether
Canute chose to execute Eadric to dissociate himself from the dishonour of the former king's murder, or simply for disloyalty. It
was not possible for the Crown to be seen to tolerate treachery. Canute was to be one of England's most successful kings,
ultimately achieving a wide unity across Scandinavia and the North Atlantic.
King of England
In July 1017, Canute married Emma of Normandy, daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy. This was a move
to associate his line with the overthrown English dynasty, as well as to protect himself against his enemies in Normandy, where Ethelred's sons Edward the Confessor and
Alfred Atheling were in exile. Emma, Ethelred's widow, held the keys to a secure English
court in several ways. Canute proclaimed their son Harthacanute as his heir, while his
first sons in a marriage with Aelgifu of Northampton, his handfast wife, were
left on the sidelines. He sent Harthacnut to Denmark while he was still a boy, and the heir to the throne was brought up, as
Canute was himself, a soldier of the Vikings.
Also in 1017, Canute officially decreed the dividing of England into its four great earldoms: Wessex, his personal fief, Mercia, to be given to Leofric after its previous
Earl's death, Northumbria, for Eric, and East Anglia,
for Thorkel. This became the basis for the system of feudal baronies which underlay English sovereignty for centuries.
The very last Danegeld ever paid, a sum of £82,500, went to Canute in 1018, a significant
proportion of which was levied from the citizenry of London alone. He felt secure enough to send the invasion fleet back to
Denmark with £72,000 that same year.
Canute's brother Harald was possibly in England for Canute's coronation, if not for the conquest, and he may have gone back to
Denmark, as king, at some point thereafter. It is only certain, though, that his name was entered into a confraternity with
Christ Church, Canterbury,[21] in 1018. This though, is not conclusive, as the entry may have been made for
him, by the hand of Canute himself even, which means it is unsure if he was dead or alive at the time. It is usually thought that
Harald died sometime in 1018.
Canute mentions the suppression of troubles in his 1019 Letter, written as the King of England and Denmark, which can be seen,
with some plausibility, in connection to the death of Harald. If it had been a rebellion, which Canute says in his letter he put
down to ensure that Denmark was free to assist England,[22] then his brother's hold on the throne was tenuous, although there is no reason to think there was
not a smooth enough succession, by the standards of the time at least. Harald's name in the Canterbury codex may even have been
Canute's attempt to make his vengeance for a murder good with the Church, or just to ensure his brothers seat in heaven.
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 as uncharacteristic of his rule. He reinstated the laws passed under King
Edgar which allowed for the existence of a Danelaw,
and the activity of Scandinavians at large. He also reformed the extant laws with a series of proclamations to assuage common
grievances brought to his attention. Two significant ones were: 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 greatly improved the market and the English economy, which was unstable
following years of disorder.
Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributed to his
good treatment of the Church, which controlled the historic record. He nevertheless brought England more than two decades of
peace and prosperity. The mediaeval church loved order, supporting good and efficient sovereignty 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.
King of Denmark
Upon Sweyn Forkbeard's death, Canute's brother Harald was King of Denmark. Canute 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 Canute the command of the Danes in any
attempt he had a mind to make on the English throne. Harald probably saw it was out of his hands anyway. It was a vendetta that
held his brother, Canute, and the Vikings driven away in spite of their conquest with Forkbeard. They were bound to fight again,
on the basis of vengeance for betrayal.
It is possible Harald was at the siege of London, and the King of Denmark was content with Canute in control of the army. His
name was to enter the fraternity of Christ Church, Canterbury, at some point, in 1018, although it is unsure if it was before or after he went home to Denmark
with the invasion fleet of his Danes.
In 1018, Harold II died and Canute succeeded him. In 1019, he was to return to
Denmark to over-winter, and affirm his succession to the Danish crown. 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 presumably 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 began to launch attacks against Denmark, Ulf gave
the discontent freemen cause to elect Harthacanute, still a child, as king. This was a ruse of Ulf's, since the role he had as
the caretaker of Harthacanute subsequently made him the ruler of the Danish kingdom. When news of these events came to Canute, in
1026, he gathered his forces, and, with Ulf Jarl's help, he defeated the Swedes and Norwegians, at the Battle of Helgeå. This service, did not, though, allow the usurper the forgiveness of Canute for
his coup. At a banquet in Roskilde, the brothers-in-law were sat at a game of chess and an argument arose between them, and the next day, Christmas of 1026, one of Canute's housecarls, with his blessing, killed Ulf Jarl, in the Church of Trinity.
Contradictory evidences of Ulf's death gather doubt to these circumstances though. Evidence for the years of Canutes reign in
Denmark is generally scanty.
King of Norway and the Swedes of Sigtuna
Canute the Great's domains, a northern empire of a Viking king
Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson was ruler of Norway under Canute's father, Forkbeard, and
Norwegians under Erik had assisted in the invasion of England in 1015-16. Canute showed his appreciation, awarding Eiríkr the
office to the Earldom of Northumbria. Sveinn, Eiríkr's brother, was left in control of Norway, but he was beaten at the Battle of Nesjar, in 1015 or 1016, and Eiríkr's son, Håkon,
fled to his father. Olaf Haraldsson, of the line of Fairhair, then became King of
Norway, and the Danes lost their control.
Thorkell the Tall, said to be a chieftain of the Jomsvikings, was a former associate of the new King Olav of Norway, and the difficulties Canute found in
Denmark, as well as with Thurkel, were perhaps related to Norwegian pressure on the Danish lands. Jomsborg, the legendary stronghold of the Jomvikings, was possibly on the south coast of the Baltic Sea, and this may account for the attack on the Wends of Pomerania, if the Joms were on the side of
Olaf, as Jomsbourg would then have been at the heart of this territory. King Olof
Skötkonung of Sweden was an ally of Canute'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 threatened by the
Swedes too.
In a battle known as the Holy River, Canute and his navy attacked the Swedes and
Norwegians led by the allied kings Olaf Haraldsson and Anund Olafsson in the mouth of the river Helgea. 1026 is the likely date,
and the apparent victory left Canute in control of Scandinavia, confident enough with his dominance to make the journey to
Rome for the coronation of Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor on March
26, 1027. His letter in 1027 indicates that he considered himself ruler of Sweden (victory
over Sweden suggests Helgea to be a river near Sigtuna, while some Swedes appeared to have been
made renegades, with a hold on the parts of Sweden too remote to threaten Canute, which left the former king alive) and Norway
(its former king still alive). He also stated 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
flay their wives for sorcery [citation needed]. Canute was crowned king, his office now “King of all England and Denmark,
and the Norwegians, and some of the Swedes”. He entrusted the Earldom of Lade to the
former line of earls, in Håkon Eiriksson, with Earl Eiríkr Hákonarson probably dead at this date, although Håkon 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.
Canute's attempt to rule Norway through Aelgifu of Northampton and his second
son by her, Sweyn, would end with his death, when a rebellion resulted in the
restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under Olaf's son Magnus the Good.
Other continental domains
On the death in 1024 of the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II, his son
Conrad II sought friendship with Canute, with an eye to ending previously
tense relations. Conrad's son, the future Henry III, was, at his request,
betrothed to Canute's daughter, Chunihildis (Gunhild). Canute's southern ally felt
it appropriate to cede to him principalities on the German border with Denmark, in the Mark of Schleswig.
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.
Relations with the Church
The Angels crown Canute the Great, while he and Emma of Normandy donate the Winchester Cross to the Church
Even though Canute was seen as a Christian monarch after the conquest, his followers were mainly heathens, so he had to make
the tolerance of the pagan religion a priority. His early actions had 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, his handfast wife, whom he treated as his northern queen when he wed
Emma of Normandy, with her more or less kept in the south, with a house in
Exeter.
It is hard to conclude if Canute’s devotion to the Church came out of deep religious devotion, or merely as a means to
proliferate his regime's hold on the people. It was probably a bit of a mix, with a respect for the Viking religion, especially
in his personal life, as well as the desire for a respectable nationhood. Canute surely saw he was in a potentially useful state
of affars, as far as the Church could be held, with its status as the keeper of the people's health, and the state's general
welfare, at least theoretically.
His treatment of the Church could not have been kinder. 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 dedication 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. Some evidence exists for
a second pilgrimage. This one surely could be seen as an act of devotion, as well as cause for payment of respects to the Pope,
after their previous discussions.
Succession
A thirteenth century portrait of Canute the Great. It shows him as a king of Christendom, rather than as the Viking he was. The
facts of his life, at the end of an era, forgotten by the Europe of feudalism.
Canute died in 1035 in the monastery at Shaftesbury, Dorset. He was buried in the Old Minster in Winchester. After the Norman Conquest the new regime were
keen to signal their arrival by an ambitious programme of grandiose cathedrals in England. Winchester Cathedral was built on the old Saxon site. Canute's
bones, along with Emma of Normandy's and Harthacanute's, were set in a mortuary chest. During the English Civil War in the 17th century, the bones were 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 Harefoot laid claim on the throne in England until his death in 1040. Harthacanute was to reunite the two crowns of
Denmark and England until his death in 1042. Canute's line ended with his eldest son Swegen's death after the rebellion of the
Norwegians. The old English monarchy of Wessex was to reign once more through Edward the
Confessor, whom Harthacanute brought back out of exile in Normandy. He gave Edward the right of succession if he died with
no sons. When Edward became King the Normans became more influential at Court: pure Viking and Anglo-Saxon influence in England
declined, although it must be remembered that the Normans themselves were of Viking descent.
Marriages and issue
Family-tree
