"Canute" redirects here. For other uses, see Canute (disambiguation).
Cnut
Contemporary drawing of King Cnut from the New Minster Liber Vitae, 1031
King of England
Reign
1016–1035
Coronation
1017 in London
Predecessor
Edmund II[1]
Successor
Harold I[1]
King of Denmark
Reign
1018–1035
Predecessor
Harald II
Successor
Harthacnut[1]
King of Norway
Reign
1028–1035
Predecessor
St Olaf II
Successor
Magnus the Good
Co-King
Svein Knutsson
Born
c. 990[1][2] Denmark
Died
12 November 1035 (aged around 45)[1] Shaftesbury, Dorset, England
Burial
Old Minster, Winchester, England. Bones now in Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, England.
Spouses
Ælfgifu of Northampton
Emma of Normandy
Issue
Svein Knutsson
Harold Harefoot
Harthacnut
Gunhilda, Queen of the Germans
House
Knýtlinga
Father
Sweyn Forkbeard
Mother
Świętosława or Gunhild of Wenden
Cnut (/kəˈnjuːt/;[3] Old Norse: KnútrOld Norse pronunciation:[ˈknuːtr];[a] c. 990 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great,[4][5][6] was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035.[1] The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rule are referred to together as the North Sea Empire by historians.[7][8]
As a Danish prince, Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. His later accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of England and Denmark together. Cnut sought to keep this power-base by uniting Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom. After a decade of conflict with opponents in Scandinavia, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028. In 1031, Malcolm II of Scotland also submitted to him, though Anglo-Norse influence over Scotland was weak and ultimately did not last by the time of Cnut's death.[9][10]
Dominion of England lent the Danes an important link to the maritime zone between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, where Cnut, like his father before him, had a strong interest and wielded much influence among the Norse–Gaels.[11] Cnut's possession of England's dioceses and the continental Diocese of Denmark—with a claim laid upon it by the Holy Roman Empire's Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen—was a source of great prestige and leverage within the Catholic Church and among the magnates of Christendom (gaining notable concessions such as one on the price of the pallium of his bishops, though they still had to travel to obtain the pallium, as well as on the tolls his people had to pay on the way to Rome). After his 1026 victory against Norway and Sweden, and on his way back from Rome where he attended the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor, Cnut deemed himself "King of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes" in a letter written for the benefit of his subjects.[12] Medieval historian Norman Cantor called him "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history".[13]
He is popularly invoked in the context of the legend of King Canute and the tide.
^ abcdefWeir, Alison (1989). Britain's Royal Families. Vintage. p. 30. ISBN 9780099539735.
^Somerville & McDonald 2014, p. 435.
^"Cnut" Archived 8 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Collins English Dictionary.
^"King Cnut The Great". Historic UK. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
^Laurence M. Larson Canute the Great G. P. Putnam's Sons 1912
^Article Royal Family website (2023)
^Westergaard, Waldemar (1917). The Danish West Indies Under Company Rule (1671–1754): With a Supplementary Chapter, 1755–1917. Macmillan. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
^Belloc, Hilaire (1925). A History of England. Methuen. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
^Trow 2005, pp. 197–198.
^ASC, Ms. D, s.a. 1031.
^Forte, Oram & Pedersen 2005, p. 196.
^Lawson 2004, p. 97.
^Cantor, The Civilisation of the Middle Ages, 1995: 166.
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Cnut (/kəˈnjuːt/; Old Norse: Knútr Old Norse pronunciation: [ˈknuːtr]; c. 990 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great...
Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (who ruled Denmark, Norway, and England) and Emma of Normandy. When Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled...
given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut. Edmund was not expected to be King of England; however, by June 1014 two...
son Cnut. As Cnut's wife, she was Queen of England from their marriage in 1017, Queen of Denmark from 1018, and Queen of Norway from 1028 until Cnut died...
1013. He died in the following year, and his realm was divided. His son Cnut the Great acquired England in 1016, Denmark in 1018 and Norway in 1028. He...
Gainsborough, attempting to stop the aegir, a tidal bore. Cultural depictions of Cnut the Great Xerxes I's whipping of the Hellespont Enimvero extra numerum bellorum...
Cnut (Old Norse: Knútr, Latin: Cnvt) was a Norse King of Northumbria. Numismatic evidence suggests he ruled from around 900 until 905, succeeding Siefredus...
King Cnut of England issued two complementary law-codes during his reign, though they are believed to have been edited or even composed by Wulfstan, Archbishop...
late medieval chroniclers it meant that he was "fleet of foot". The son of Cnut the Great and Ælfgifu of Northampton, Harold was elected regent of England...
the son of Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, Norway, and England, and his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton, a Mercian noblewoman. In 1017 Cnut married Emma...
999/1000 until 1013/14. He was the father of King Harald II of Denmark, King Cnut the Great, and Queen Estrid Svendsdatter. In the mid-980s, Sweyn revolted...
needed] He is also credited as having received the young Cnut the Great into his care and taken Cnut on raids. The Encomium Emmae, a document aimed at the...
1030, Cnut appointed his first wife Ælfgifu and their son Svein as regents, but the Norwegians found their rule oppressive and, by the time of Cnut's death...
while his brother, the later king Cnut the Great conquered England. After his death in 1018(?), he was succeeded by Cnut the Great. Little detail is known...
institution similar to the Danish heimþegar (see below) or to the housecarls of Cnut the Great (see below): free men in the service of a king or lord, who gave...
between Cnut and Malcolm may have had its roots in Cnut's pilgrimage to Rome, and the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, where Cnut and Rudolph...
Cnut the Great's son – and his own half-brother – Harthacnut. He restored the rule of the House of Wessex after the period of Danish rule since Cnut conquered...
shires. While Uhtred was away from his lands, Sweyn's son, Cnut, invaded Yorkshire. Cnut's forces were too strong for Uhtred to fight, and so Uhtred did...
part of Sweden. Cnut was succeeded in England on his death by his son Harold Harefoot, until he died in 1040, after which another of Cnut's sons, Harthacnut...
Canute II may refer to: Canute II of Sweden, king of Sweden from 1229 to 1234 Canute the Great, king of Denmark and of England as Canute I (died in 1035)...
Harthacnut or Cnut I (Danish: Hardeknud; Old Norse: Hǫrða-Knútr) was a semi-legendary King of Denmark. The old Norse story Ragnarssona þáttr makes Harthacnut...
Canute V Magnussen (Danish: Knud V Magnussen) (c. 1129 – 9 August 1157) was a King of Denmark from 1146 to 1157, as co-regent in shifting alliances with...
(died 1017) was Ealdorman of Mercia from 1007 until he was killed by King Cnut. Eadric was given the epithet "Streona" (translated as "The Acquisitive”)...
Canute VI (Danish: Knud Valdemarsøn; c. 1163 – 12 November 1202) was King of Denmark (1182–1202). Contemporary sources describe Canute as an earnest, strongly...
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