Exactly 1000 years ago - on 6th January 1017 - Canute the Great was crowned King of England...
On this day: Canute the Great – Viking king of England, Denmark and Norway – is crowned in London
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Canute the Great
Dominic Selwood
6 January 2017
The Telegraph
In response to endless Viking raids, King Æthelred the Unready ordered the “St Brice’s Day Massacre” of all Danish men in England.
The blowback was severe, triggering a full-scale Viking invasion. Æthelred fled to Normandy, and a Viking, Sweyn Forkbeard, took the English throne.
Sweyn’s son, Canute, was part of the invasion force. He was, in turn – after reinvading England following a brief Anglo-Saxon restoration – himself crowned king of England on 6 January 1017. Along with the Anglo-Saxon King Alfred, he is the only king of England to be called “the Great”.
Shetland has a strong Viking heritage (Up Helly Aa, which takes place on the last Tuesday in every January, above). Might England have had one, too? Credit: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
As well as being King of England, Canute was also King of Denmark and King of Norway, creating an unprecedented northern Viking empire. Unlike William the Conqueror 50 years later, Canute did not rip out the English aristocracy and replace it with his own men. Many Anglo-Saxon earls gave him their allegiance, and most of Canute’s men were happy to be paid off with English wealth before returning home.
Details of the legal administration Canute oversaw survive in the laws prepared by Archbishop Wulfstan of York. Although they are full of information, it is likely that they flatter a regime built on heavy taxation and an iron rule.
The lands under Canute's authority Credit: Hel-hama
As a man, Canute was noticeably pious – at least in public. He gave lavish gifts to the Church, and even went on pilgrimage to Rome. In the twelfth century, two chroniclers recalled how he once placed his throne on the water’s edge to prove to his sycophantic courtiers that his power was not absolute and that he could not order the waves back. He was almost certainly ruthless, but Wulfstan’s praises in the legal texts, and the positive view of the chronicler of the Encomium Emmae Reginae, have all meant that Canute is remembered as a good king.
Canute died in 1035. His sons, Harold Harefoot (by Ælfgifu of Northampton) and Harthacnut (by Emma of Normandy) ruled England for another seven years, but died with no issue, leaving the throne free for an Anglo-Saxon restoration under Edward the Confessor (also Emma’s son, but by Æthelred the Unready). Cnut’s empire fractured. Yet, had either of his sons or his daughter lived long enough, they might have consolidated England into a permanent part of the Scandinavian world.
On this day: Canute the Great – Viking king of England, Denmark and Norway – is crowned in London
On this day: Canute the Great – Viking king of England, Denmark and Norway – is crowned in London
2 Comments
Canute the Great
Dominic Selwood
6 January 2017
The Telegraph
In response to endless Viking raids, King Æthelred the Unready ordered the “St Brice’s Day Massacre” of all Danish men in England.
The blowback was severe, triggering a full-scale Viking invasion. Æthelred fled to Normandy, and a Viking, Sweyn Forkbeard, took the English throne.
Sweyn’s son, Canute, was part of the invasion force. He was, in turn – after reinvading England following a brief Anglo-Saxon restoration – himself crowned king of England on 6 January 1017. Along with the Anglo-Saxon King Alfred, he is the only king of England to be called “the Great”.
Shetland has a strong Viking heritage (Up Helly Aa, which takes place on the last Tuesday in every January, above). Might England have had one, too? Credit: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
As well as being King of England, Canute was also King of Denmark and King of Norway, creating an unprecedented northern Viking empire. Unlike William the Conqueror 50 years later, Canute did not rip out the English aristocracy and replace it with his own men. Many Anglo-Saxon earls gave him their allegiance, and most of Canute’s men were happy to be paid off with English wealth before returning home.
Details of the legal administration Canute oversaw survive in the laws prepared by Archbishop Wulfstan of York. Although they are full of information, it is likely that they flatter a regime built on heavy taxation and an iron rule.
The lands under Canute's authority Credit: Hel-hama
As a man, Canute was noticeably pious – at least in public. He gave lavish gifts to the Church, and even went on pilgrimage to Rome. In the twelfth century, two chroniclers recalled how he once placed his throne on the water’s edge to prove to his sycophantic courtiers that his power was not absolute and that he could not order the waves back. He was almost certainly ruthless, but Wulfstan’s praises in the legal texts, and the positive view of the chronicler of the Encomium Emmae Reginae, have all meant that Canute is remembered as a good king.
Canute died in 1035. His sons, Harold Harefoot (by Ælfgifu of Northampton) and Harthacnut (by Emma of Normandy) ruled England for another seven years, but died with no issue, leaving the throne free for an Anglo-Saxon restoration under Edward the Confessor (also Emma’s son, but by Æthelred the Unready). Cnut’s empire fractured. Yet, had either of his sons or his daughter lived long enough, they might have consolidated England into a permanent part of the Scandinavian world.
On this day: Canute the Great – Viking king of England, Denmark and Norway – is crowned in London
