APPENDIX 2

THE DATE OF CNUT'S PILGRIMAGE TO ROME

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle followed by most of the later English chroniclers placed the pilgrimage of Cnut to Rome in the year 1031.¹ William of Malmesbury did not give a year, but stated that his pilgrimage took place in the 15th year of Cnut's reign. If we assume that Cnut's reign began after the death of Edmund Ironside, the 15th year of his reign would be 1031. The Encomium Emmae did not give the year of Cnut's pilgrimage, but implied that it was late in his reign:

... after [Cnut] had returned from Rome, and had lingered in his own kingdom for some little time, ...[he] passed to the Lord, to be crowned upon his right hand by God himself the creator of all.²

Cnut's letter that he sent to the English people after his trip to Rome clearly connected his visit with the coronation of Emperor Conrad and with a great assembly at the celebration of Easter.³ This letter and its connection with the coronation of Conrad is the primary evidence used to date Cnut's pilgrimage at a time other than that given by the chronicles.

Most recent books and articles agree that Cnut's pilgrimage to Rome was in 1027. Stenton gave that date and stated that Cnut traveled to Rome in order to attend the coronation of Conrad.⁴ Lamb similarly gave that date and indicated that the pilgrimage was inspired by religious devotion and a desire for political power.⁵ Lawson argued that though the entries in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle are early, the dates are not necessarily correct.⁶ He too connected Cnut's trip to Rome with the coronation of Conrad II on Easter Sunday in March 1027.⁷ Brooke merely tied the pilgrimage to the coronation and stated that Cnut used the occasion to negotiate with both the pope and the emperor.⁸ Frank Barlow addressed the possibility that Cnut actually made two pilgrimages to Rome. He noted that "it is indisputable that Cnut was in Rome at Easter 1027 for Conrad's coronation as emperor." After examining the possibility of a second trip, Barlow concluded that evidence was lacking for more than one trip.⁹

The 1027 date of Conrad's coronation by John XIX was established by Karl Hampe, William Stubbs and T. F. Tout.¹⁰ Both Hampe and Tout also said that Cnut and Rudolf of Burgundy were present at the coronation. Hampe further stated that this was the only time Conrad was ever in Rome. We know that Conrad was in Italy again in 1036 to 1038 to put down a revolt in northern Italy, but that was after both Pope John and Cnut had died and thus could not be the occasion of Cnut's pilgrimage and meeting with him.¹¹

Papal archives state that Conrad II was crowned by John XIX who held the papacy from 1024 to 1033. However, the Bullarum Pontificum contains a suggestion that Conrad's coronation was in 1028.¹²

Thus, in spite of the 1031 date given by the early sources, the preponderance of evidence points to March of 1027 as the date of Cnut's pilgrimage to Rome.

NOTES

1. See Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; Forester, Florence of Worcester; J. A. Giles, trans., Roger of Wendover's Flowers of History (London: Henry G, Bohn, MDCCCXLIX; reprint, New York: AMS, 1968); Henry T. Riley, The Anals of Roger De Hovden, Vol. 1. (London: Henry G, Bohn, MDCCCLIII; reprint, New York: AMS, 1968); and Rev. Joseph Stevenson, trans., The Church Historians of England containing The Historical Works of Simeon of Durham, vol. III, pt. II. ([London]: Seeleys, MDCCCLV), all s.a. 1031. RETURN

2. Campbell, Encomium Emmae, ii., 23. RETURN

3. "Cnut's Letter of 1027," in Whitelock, English Historical Documents, p. 417. RETURN

4. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, p. 407. RETURN

5. Lamb, The Archbishopric of Canterbury, p. 223. RETURN

6. Lawson, Cnut, p. 54. RETURN

7. Ibid., p. 96-7. RETURN

8. Brooke, From Alfred to Henry III, p. 64. RETURN

9. Frank Barlow, "Two Notes: Cnut's Second Pilgrimage and Queen Emma's Disgrace in 1043," English Historical Review 73 (1958), p. 650-1. RETURN

10. Hampe, Germany Under the Salian and Hohenstaufen Emperors, p. 42; William Stubbs, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, 476-1250, Arthur Hassal, ed. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co, 1908), pp. 143-4; T. F. Tout, The Empire and the Papacy: 918-1273, 8d. ed. (London: Rivingtons, 1932), p. 53. RETURN

11. Stubbs, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, p. 151; Tout, The Empire and the Papacy, p. 59. RETURN

12. Francisco Gaude, ed., Bullarum Diplomatum et Privilegiorum Sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum, Tomus I (Augustae Taurinorum: Seb. Franco Et Henrico Dalmazzo Editoribus, 1857), p. 533. RETURN