1016–1042
Cnut’s North Sea empire
Cnut is crowned in London in 1017 and marries Æthelred’s widow, Emma of Normandy, in July. He keeps Wessex for himself and gives Northumbria to Eiríkr Hákonarson, East Anglia to Thorkell the Tall and Mercia to Eadric Streona, whom he has killed before the year is out. In 1018 he raises 72,000 pounds from the country and 10,500 from London, pays off his army and keeps 40 ships and their crews in England, paid by a yearly army tax.
Cnut and Queen Emma give a gold cross to the New Minster at Winchester, in the New Minster Liber Vitae, about 1031Wikimedia Commons, 11th-century scribe, Public domain (Blmsstowe944fol6r.jpg)
When his brother Harald II of Denmark dies about 1018, Cnut takes the Danish throne, and he later leaves Earl Ulf there as regent for his young son Harthacnut. In 1026 he fights Olaf Haraldsson and Anund Jacob at the Helgeå, and at Easter 1027 he is in Rome for the coronation of the emperor Conrad II, who cedes him the march of Schleswig. In a letter to the English he now calls himself king of all England and Denmark and of the Norwegians and some of the Swedes. He takes Norway in 1028, and in 1031 Malcolm II of Scotland submits to him.
Queen Emma receives the Encomium Emmae Reginae from its author, with her sons Harthacnut and Edward behind, about 1050Wikimedia Commons, unknown illuminator, Public domain (Emma Receiving the Encomium.jpg)
Cnut dies at Shaftesbury on 12 November 1035 and is buried in the Old Minster at Winchester. Harthacnut, at war with Magnus of Norway, stays in Denmark, and his half-brother Harold Harefoot rules England, first as regent and from 1037 as king. Harold dies on 17 March 1040 and Harthacnut takes the throne, raises heavy taxes and in 1041 invites his half-brother Edward back from Normandy.
A silver penny of Harthacnut, struck in England between 1040 and 1042Wikimedia Commons, York Museums Trust, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Silver penny of Harthacnut (YORYM 2000 687) obverse.jpg)
On 8 June 1042 Harthacnut collapses at a wedding feast at Lambeth and dies, the last Danish king of England. Edward, Æthelred’s son, becomes king. In Denmark Magnus succeeds under the pact he had made with Harthacnut, and by Heimskringla’s account he writes to Edward to claim England as well.
Sources
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, versions C, D and E, 1017 to 1042.
- Cnut, letter to the English of 1027.
- Timothy Bolton, Cnut the Great (2017).
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