CHAPTER I

KING CNUT
EMPEROR OF THE NORTH

For the English people, King Cnut's reign from 1017 to 1035 was much like the month of March, "in like a lion and out like a lamb." ¹ Crowned in the turmoil of war and conquest, Cnut quickly established an era of peace and prosperity. By 1019, England had become so secure that Cnut could leave the country to settle affairs in Denmark. It was a relief to the English people weary from thirty years of war that all of the fighting during his reign was on foreign soil. By the time of his death in 1035, Cnut was recognized as a fellow Christian monarch by the Holy Roman Emperor and other European kings and had negotiated with the Pope for the benefit of his subjects.

Very little is known about Cnut's life before 1013. He may have spent some time in Poland with his mother, Gunnhild, after his father, King Svein Forkbeard, divorced her to marry the Swedish Queen Sigrid. ² He may also have been the foster son of Thorkell the Tall of Jomsburg or wherever else that independent Viking leader made his headquarters. ³

Cnut was in charge of the Danish army at Gainsborough, north of Lincoln, when Svein died suddenly on February 3, 1013. The Danish army immediately proclaimed Cnut king, but the English Witan recalled King Æthelred from Normandy where he had gone into exile after his defeat in 1012. ⁴ Æthelred immediately led an army north, forcing Cnut to abandon England. On leaving, Cnut sailed south along the coast as far as Sandwich where the hostages he held were mutilated and released. He then sailed to Denmark.

Cnut was well received in Denmark by his older brother Harald, whom Svein had installed as king before he left for England. While he refused to share his Danish kingdom, Harald helped Cnut raise a large fleet to regain the crown of England. Various sources have numbered this fleet between two hundred and one thousand ships. ⁵ The lowest estimate came from the earliest source and is probably the most accurate. Even this estimate would indicate an invasion force of over ten thousand men. ⁶ Cnut was joined by his Norwegian brother-in-law, Earl Erik of Lade, whose long experience in warfare and government made him an ideal advisor for the ambitious, but inexperienced young prince. ⁷ Just before leaving, they were joined by Thorkell who had abandoned his alliance with Æthelred. ⁸

The invasion force landed on the south coast of Wessex in the summer of 1015. Most likely, the landing was made in the South because Cnut's earlier abandonment had alienated the people in the Danelaw. ⁹ Shortly after landing, the invasion force was joined by the English Ealdorman Eadric Streona with forty ships. ¹⁰ Within four months, Cnut controlled Wessex and his army was fighting north of the Thames. After Earl Uhtred of Northumbria surrendered and was executed by Cnut on the advice of Ealdorman Eadric, Erik of Lade became Cnut's Earl in the North. ¹¹

The image used to be here was linked to http://members.aol.com/bakken1/ showed Major English Subdivisions c. 1000

In April of 1016, Cnut brought his fleet into the Thames and besieged London. At this time, Æthelred died and his son, Edmund Ironside, was declared king by the English leaders and people in London. At about the same time, Cnut was accepted as king by other English bishops, abbots and nobles who came to him at Southampton. ¹²

Edmund broke out of London before the siege was closed. He collected an army that defeated the Danes in several skirmishes. At this point, the outlook for the Danes was bleak enough that Eadric Streona deserted Cnut and joined Edmund's army. In October, Edmund's army caught the Danes at Ashingdon in Essex. Early in this battle, Eadric and his forces fled from the Danes and the English were decisively defeated. Edmund survived and fled to Gloucestershire where he and Cnut met and negotiated a peace settlement. They agreed that Cnut's soldiers were to be paid and the country would be divided between them. Edmund was given Wessex while Cnut received all of the country north of the Thames. ¹³ The potential for renewed hostilities disappeared when Edmund died on November 30, 1016, and Cnut was accepted by all of the English as their king.

Cnut was still young when he became king of England, but he had either been well trained in statesmanship, or more likely, he listened to the advice of his more experienced counselors. ¹⁴ Thorkell the Tall held a particularly important position in the kingdom in the early years of Cnut's reign. He was listed first of the earls in charters that he witnessed and was the only earl addressed by name in Cnut's letter to the English people of 1019-1020. ¹⁵ Archbishop Wulfstan of York was another of his principal advisors.

The pacification of England began immediately after Cnut was declared king. The country was divided into four districts with military governors in each district. Eadric Streona was given his old Earldom of Mercia, Erik controlled Northumbria, Thorkell was put in charge of East Anglia and Cnut himself kept Wessex. During Cnut's first year as king, several important Anglo-Saxon nobles were executed including Eadric, whose elimination seems to have been popular with the English people as indicated by the comment in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "very rightly." ¹⁶ In addition to the executions, the young sons of Edmund Ironside were exiled, eventually finding a home in Hungary out of Cnut's reach. Cnut married Æthelred's widow, Emma of Normandy, probably to neutralize potential Norman support of Æthelred's sons, Alfred and Edward, who were in exile there. Cnut agreed that any of his children by Emma would have precedence over his other children and over Emma's sons by Æthelred. ¹⁷

With his kingdom free from danger of attack from Normandy, Cnut felt secure enough to send most of his army home in 1018. The fleet was paid off with a huge Danegeld of 72,000 pounds of silver collected from throughout the country and an additional 10,500 pounds from London. ¹⁸ Cnut retained forty ships for his personal body guard and to serve as the nucleus of a defense force. ¹⁹ In the same year, at a national assembly at Oxford, both the Danes and English in the kingdom agreed to accept the laws of King Edgar as the foundation of their legal relationships. The laws that developed out of this agreement were later drafted into a legal code by Archbishop Wulfstan. At this point, Cnut's reign as an English king effectively began. ²⁰

Cnut was a Christian when he became king. He cooperated fully with the English church in the governance of the kingdom. The Church in turn granted him a legitimacy that would otherwise have been hard to win. This relationship enabled him to gain the respect of the Pope and the Emperor when he went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1027 where he also attended the Emperor Conrad's coronation. Afterwards, Cnut sent a letter back to England reporting that he had negotiated a reduction in the "gift" that was expected from English archbishops when they came to Rome to receive their pallium from the Pope and also arranged a reduction in the fees and tolls paid by English pilgrims and merchants on the road to Rome. ²¹

When Cnut's brother Harald died in 1019, England was secure enough that he could go to Denmark to assure his succession leaving Thorkell in England as regent. Thorkell's ambitions apparently got the better of him because he was outlawed soon after Cnut returned. They were reconciled on Cnut's next trip to Denmark in 1023 when Thorkell was made regent there, but he died soon after and Earl Ulf, who was married to Cnut's sister Estrith, was made regent for Cnut and Emma's son Hardacnut.

In 1026 Cnut was in Denmark again to face a threat from an alliance between King Onund-Jakob of Sweden and King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway. In a battle at Holy River in Southern Sweden, Cnut's fleet was driven off, but he retained command of the sea which forced Olaf to abandon his ships and return to Norway overland. ²² On his return to Denmark, Cnut dealt with Ulf whom he may have suspected of conspiring with the enemy. Ulf was murdered in the sanctuary of Rothskilde church at Cnut's command. For this crime, Cnut placated the church with lavish gifts. ²³ Since he went on his pilgrimage to Rome directly from Denmark, it may have been undertaken partly in penance for this act against the church sanctuary.

While Cnut was in Rome, his emissaries were busy bribing the independent Norwegian nobility. ²⁴ He returned to Norway in 1028 with a large fleet and his overlordship was accepted without opposition. ²⁵ King Olaf could not raise an army to oppose Cnut and was forced into exile in Russia. At an assembly at Trondheim in Norway, Cnut established Hardacnut as king of Denmark and set Earl Häkon Eriksson to govern Norway. ²⁶ By this time, Cnut had earned the title he used in his letter of 1027 to the English people, "King of the all England and of Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden." ²⁷

The situation in Norway changed in the summer of 1029 when Häkon drowned. To replace him, Cnut sent his consort Ælfgifu of Northampton as regent with their son Svein whom he designated king of Norway. This appointment was not well received by the Norwegians. Hearing this, Olaf Haraldsson attempted to return from exile. A Norwegian army met and defeated him at Sticklestad, resulting in Olaf's death and eventual sainthood. The Norwegians soon ejected Ælfgifu and Svein and asked Olaf's son Magnus to return as their king. This ended Cnut's influence in Norway.

Cnut's relations with Germany were excellent. The Emperor Conrad's son, Henry, was betrothed to Cnut's daughter Gunnhild and Conrad ceded Schleswig and territory north of the River Eider to Denmark as a token of their friendship. ²⁸ In exchange, Cnut maintained neutrality during Conrad's campaigns against Poland in 1032.

Relations with Normandy were friendly until the death of Duke Richard II in 1026. Cnut attempted to maintain a cordial relationship with Duke Robert by offering his sister Estrith in marriage, but she was rejected. Robert then began to press Cnut to recognize the rights of Alfred and Edward who were still exiles in his court. ²⁹ Cnut's refusal led to broken relations. There are hints in charters that Robert may have collected an invasion fleet in 1033, but he used it against the Bretons which may have been his intent all along. ³⁰

In addition to a prosperous trade relationship within his empire, a study of Cnut's coinage shows that there were significant improvements in this important technology in Scandinavia during his reign. The English monetary system was well organized prior to Cnut's reign. The coin types were of high quality with very consistent weight. ³¹ At the beginning of Cnut's reign, Scandinavians exchanged silver by weight, treating hack silver and coins alike in their transactions. Toward the end of his reign, Cnut's northern coins were equal in quality to those produced in England.

Little is known of the last years of Cnut's reign. A few charters survive that show he was at Glastonbury in 1032 and Sherborne in 1035. ³² The few entries for these years in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle indicate a time of peace and prosperity. ³³

Cnut died at Shaftesbury on November 12, 1035, and was buried at Old Minster in Winchester. He was less than forty years old when he died. The death of his sons, Harald and Hardacnut, within seven years brought an end to the empire Cnut had formed. Before his own death in 1042, Hardacnut made his half-brother, Æthelred's son Edward, his heir. This returned the West Saxon dynasty to power. If Cnut had lived longer, his legacy might have been more significant. As it was, he gave England almost thirty years of peace and freedom from foreign invasion. ³⁴ Stenton provided a fitting summary of Cnut's reign, "It was so successful that contemporaries found little to say about it." ³⁵ A large part of that success was due to Cnut's close and friendly relationship with the English church. Cnut had proven that he had the power to dominate England militarily. He then demonstrated that he was pious as well as powerful. This contributed to the peaceful nature of his reign in England.

NOTES

1. The English spelling of Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon names varies from one source to another. The spelling of names in this thesis was chosen in an attempt to retain the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon character of the names while still keeping them recognizable. The Old English "Æ" has been retained in many of the names as they appear in Benjamin Thorpe, trans., Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, According to the Several Original Authorities, Rolls Series no. 23, (London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1861; reprint, Weisbaden: Kraus Reprint, 1964), passim. RETURN

2. Laurence Marcellus Larson, Canute the Great: And the Rise of Danish Imperialism During the Viking Age, Heroes of the Nations Series (New York: Putnam's Sons, 1912), p. 31. RETURN

3. Ibid., p. 32. The Jomsvikings may have been mythical, but Thorkell the Tall was not. If Jomsburg did not exist, Thorkell must have had a base somewhere in Scandinavia. RETURN

4. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1012. RETURN

5. Viggo Starcke, Denmark in World History, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962), p. 274 gives the following numbers from various sources: Encomium Emmae - 200 ships, Jomsviking Saga - 960 ships, Adam of Bremen - 1000 ships. RETURN

6. M. K. Lawson, Cnut, The Danes in England in the Early Eleventh Century, The Medieval World Series (New York: Longman, 1994), p. 177 estimated that the crews in Hardacnut's fleet in 1041 averaged fifty to eighty men per ship, Cnut's fleet in 1015 was probably not significantly different. RETURN

7. Gwyn Jones, History of the Vikings (London: Oxford University Press, 1968; reprint, Chatham: MacKay, 1969), p. 370. RETURN

8. Ibid; Frank M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, 3d. ed., The Oxford History of England (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), p. 388. RETURN

9. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 389; Christopher Brooke, From Alfred to Henry III 871-1272, The Norton Library History of England (New York: Norton & Co., 1961), p. 61. The map on Figure 1 provides a definition of some of the common subdivisions of England that are mentioned in this thesis. RETURN

10. Lawson, Cnut, p. 19 claimed that these forty ships had previously been under the command of Thorkell. RETURN

11. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1016. RETURN

12. Thomas Forester, trans., The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester (London: Henry G, Bohn, MDCCCLIV; reprint, New York: AMS, 1968), s.a. 1016. RETURN

13. There is some question regarding Essex, East Anglia and London as Forester, Florence of Worcester, s.a. 1016, assigned them to Edmund; Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 393 pointed out that Cnut's subsequent occupation of London would indicate Florence was mistaken. RETURN

14. Starcke, Denmark, p. 273 estimates Cnut's age between 16 and 19 years old; Both Christopher Brooke, From Alfred to Henry III, Norton Library History of England (New York: Norton & Company, 1961), p. 61; and Jones, Vikings, p. 369 say about 18. RETURN

15. Lawson, Cnut, p. 175. RETURN

16. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1017. RETURN

17. With Richard's sister Emma as Cnut's wife and the succession satisfactorily defined, an invasion of England by Richard in support of his nephews was unlikely. RETURN

18. See M. K. Lawson, "The collection of Danegeld and Heregeld in the reigns of Aethelred II and Cnut." English Historical Review 99 (1984): pp. 721-38; and "Those stories look true': levels of taxation in the reigns of Aethelred II and Cnut." English Historical Review (1989): pp. 385-406, for a discussion of the plausibility of these amounts. RETURN

19. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 397. RETURN

20. Ibid., p. 399. RETURN

21. Forester, Florence of Worcester, s.a. 1031. RETURN

22. Jones, Vikings, p. 381. RETURN

23. Ibid. RETURN

24. Snorri Sturluson, From the Sagas of the Norse Kings, Erling Monsen, trans., (Oslo: Dreyers, 1984; Hong Kong: Bookbuilders, 1984), pp. 240-45 passim. RETURN

25. The timing of this invasion was in response to the Norwegian-Swedish alliance of 1026, but Cnut probably would have attempted to regain Danish control of Norway at some time in any case. RETURN

26. Jones, Vikings, p. 382. RETURN

27. Forester, Florence of Worcester, s.a. 1031. RETURN

28. Lawson, Cnut, p. 109. This match was probably negotiated when these men met in Rome in 1027. RETURN

29. Ibid., pp. 109-10 RETURN

30. Ibid., p. 111. RETURN

31. Brita Malmer, King Canute's Coinage in Northern Countries, The Dorothea Coke Memorial Lecture in Northern Studies delivered May 30, 1972 at University College London, (London: Viking Society for Northern Research). RETURN

32. Lawson, Cnut, p. 113. RETURN

33. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1032 to 1035. RETURN

34. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, s.a. 1040, 1041, indicates some internal turmoil during the reign of Hardacnut, but the first threat of foreign invasion was by Magnus of Norway in 1046, early in Edward's reign. RETURN

35. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 399. RETURN