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Canute is one of the more famous kings of England and he’s remembered primarily for two things - for being an effective king and for a story about his attempt to stop the tide coming in, both of which we’ll explore later in this video.
We don’t know where and when Canute was born.
It’s likely he was born in or around 990 in Scandinavia.
At the time his father Sweyn Forkbeard was king of Norway and Denmark, a position he’d stolen after overthrowing and exiling his predecessor, his own father.
During Canute’s lifetime, his father Sweyn would launch an all out attack on England, chase the English King AEthelred into exile and have himself crowned King of England.
After Sweyn died, Canute himself would seek to become the next English king but be chased out of England himself.
He would return in 1016 to take over half of England before being crowned and would rule for 19 years until his passing in 1035, probably in his mid-40s.
Canute’s father Sweyn was behind a series of Viking raids on England around then, possibly partly in revenge for his sister’s passing.
Finally in 1013 Canute’s father conquered England and on Christmas Day that year, was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
Sweyn ruled for five weeks before dying.
His eldest son Harald II became King of Denmark, while Canute was proclaimed King of England by people in the north of England - the part that had in previous generations been Danelaw.
The only problem was that English nobility in the south didn’t see it that way.
Instead they recalled their exiled King AEthelred, who returned was was re-crowned as their ruler.
Back in Denmark, Canute is thought to have tried to convince his older brother Harold, the newly crowned King of Norway, to help him invade England, but it seems Harald wasn’t interested.
This didn’t stop Canute, who spent the following year building an invasion fleet.
Finally in the summer of 1015 he launched his attack, it’s thought with an army of about 10,000 troops sailing in 200 longships.
This army would spend the next 14 months fighting a series of head-to-head battles with he English forces, led primarily by the King AEthelred’s son Edmund Ironside.
You might expect, given AEthelred and his son Edmund were English Kings descended from the House of Wessex, that both could have relied on the loyalty of the English nobility.
However, things proved to be not so simple. One of the first things Canute did was battle his way towards Wessex, which submitted to him at the end of 1015.
Soon after this Mercia abandoned AEthelred.
Incredibly Mercian forces didn’t just submit to Canute; perhaps detecting a change in the wind, they actually joined forces with him.
Moving into 1016, Canute turned his attention to Warwickshire and East Mercia.
Attempts by King AEthelred oppose these advances came to nothing and he was forced to return to London.
At this point in early 1016, AEthelred’s son Edmund Ironside took the initiative and traveled north to link up with he Earl of Northumbria.
The two armies then attacked Western Mercia.
In the interim though Canute moved his forces into Northumbria, forcing the Earl of Northumbria to return home where he was beaten by a rival.
On the 23 April 1016, AEthelred the Unready died in London and his son, tough-as-boots Edmund Ironside was crowned the next King of England.
At this point that - despite his gains - Canute’s only hope of achieving his goal of becoming King was to overthrow King Edmund.
To that end, he turned his attentions south and laid siege to London.
Though Edmund drove Canute’s forces away, he suffered heavy losses and had to withdraw to Wessex. Canute laid siege to London again but failed and withdrew to Kent.
As 1016 progressed, the two clashed again in Essex.
With autumn and winter approaching, the two leaders perhaps sensed that they were reaching a stalemate and decided to sue for peace.
Canute and Edmund met to negotiate peace terms and under those terms England north of the Thames would be Canute’s while anything south would be Edmund’s.
And so at this point England has two kings - one in the north and one in the south.
Only … this didn’t last long. Edmund died within weeks of this settlement - it’s thought he was either murdered or he died of wounds he’d suffered during battle.
Finally, all of England accepted Canute as King.
Canute died in November 1035 and he was buried in Winchester.
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1 май 2022
