North Sea Empire
Encyclopedia
The North Sea Empire is the name usually given to the historical unified kingdom ruled by Cnut the Great as king
of England
, Denmark
, Norway
, and parts of Sweden
between 1016 and 1035. As one historian put it:
while Sweyn was in the south of England, was acclaimed by the Danes. However, the invasion fell apart: the men of Lindsey
, who had promised to supply horses for a tactical raid, were not ready before the English nobles had reinstalled King Æthelred, whom they had previously sent into exile, after forcing him to agree to govern less harshly.
Cnut's brother Harald
became king of Denmark, but with help from Jarl Erik
of Norway, Cnut raised a new invasion fleet of his own and returned to England in summer 1015. The English were divided by intrigue among the king, his sons, and other nobles; within four months one of Æthelred's sons had pledged allegiance to Cnut and he controlled Wessex
, the historic heart of the kingdom. Before the decisive battle for London could be fought, Æthelred died on 23 April 1016. The Londoners chose his son Edmund
as their king, while most of the nobles met at Southampton and swore fealty to Cnut. Cnut blockaded London, but was forced to leave to replenish his supplies and beaten by Edmund at the Battle of Otford; however, following the Danes as they raided into Essex, Edmund was in turn defeated at the Battle of Ashingdon
. He and Cnut struck an agreement under which Edmund would retain Wessex and Cnut rule all of England north of the Thames. But on 30 November 1016, Edmund in turn died, leaving Cnut king of England.
In summer 1017 he cemented his power by marrying Æthelred's widow, Emma
, although he had previously married an English noblewoman, Ælfgifu of Northampton. In 1018 he paid off his fleet (with money especially from the citizens of London) and was fully recognised as King of England.
King Olaf of Norway
and King Anund Jacob of Sweden
, seeing the combined Anglo-Danish kingdom as a threat - Cnut's father Sweyn had asserted power over both their countries - took advantage of Cnut's being in England to attack Denmark in 1025 or 1026, and were joined by Ulf Jarl
, Cnut's Danish regent, and his brother. Cnut took Olaf's fleet by surprise and took the battle to the Swedish fleet at the Battle of the Helgeå
. The outcome is disputed, but Cnut came out best; Olaf fled and the threat to Denmark was dispelled.
In 1027, Cnut traveled to Rome, partly to expiate his sin for having Jarl Ulf killed the previous Christmas, partly to attend the coronation of Conrad II
as Holy Roman Emperor
and to demonstrate his importance as a ruler. He secured relaxation of tolls levied on pilgrims journeying to Rome from Northern Europe, and on Papal fees for English archbishops receiving their pallium
; he also began a relationship with Conrad that led to the Emperor's son Henry
marrying Cnut's daughter Gunnhild
and before that to the Emperor ceding to Denmark Schleswig and a strip of ancient Danish territory between Hedeby and the Eider that the Germans had occupied as a buffer zone against the Danes.
, now Trondheim, he was acclaimed king at the Eyrathing, and in a few months Olaf fled to Sweden.
In 1030, Olaf attempted to return, but the people of the Trondheim area did not want him back and he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stiklestad
.
, or in Lund
, then part of Denmark, with the inscription CNVT REX SW ("Cnut King of the Swedes"). Western Götaland
or Blekinge
have been suggested. It was probably an overlordship more than actual rule; Cnut did not have to be present in Sweden to order the minting of coins, coins were also minted asserting he ruled Ireland, and Swedish history at this early date is so uncertain that we can hardly be sure even of the names of the kings.
In addition to Sweden, of which he or the person who wrote the heading to his letter claimed he was king, Cnut received tribute from the Wends and was allied with the Poles; in 1022, together with Godwin
and Ulf Jarl, he took a fleet east into the Baltic to confirm his overlordship of the coastal areas that the Danish kings dominated from the Jomsborg
.
Immediately after his return from Rome, Cnut led an army into Scotland and made vassals of Malcolm, the High King of Scotland, and two other kings, one of whom, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill
, was a sea-king whose lands included Galloway
and the Isle of Man
and would become king of Dublin
in 1036. All these and likely also the Welsh paid tribute, on the model of the Danegeld
that Æthelred had instituted to pay off the Danes; and Cnut was thus reasserting the dominion over the Celtic kingdoms that recent English kings had had to let lapse, as well as punishing those who had supported Olaf against him.
was in transition from heathenry
to Christianity, but the Scandinavian countries were still predominantly heathen. Cnut's father, Sweyn, had initially been heathen but in later life had been basically Christian. In England, Cnut assiduously promoted the interests of the church, and this brought him acceptance from the Christian rulers of Europe that no other Scandinavian king had previously been accorded. In Norway, in contrast, he built churches and was both respectful and generous to the clergy, but also made allies of the heathen chieftains, and unlike Olaf, did not make laws benefitting the church until his power was on a solid footing.
s on the Scandinavian model: Wessex he governed directly, and of his allies Thorkell the Tall became Earl of East Anglia, Erik retained Northumbria, which Cnut had already given him, and Eadric Streona
became Earl of Mercia. But the last was disgraced and executed within a year. In 1018 Cnut revived at least two earldoms in Wessex and at a meeting at Oxford, his followers and representatives of the English agreed that he would govern under the laws of King Edgar.
Stenton points out that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
has relatively little to say about Cnut's reign except to note his frequent travels abroad, indicating that he was in strong control of England. Thorkell likely acted as his regent during his absences, until they had a falling out and he was outlawed in 1021. The terms of their reconciliation in Denmark in 1023, with an exchange of sons for fosterage and Thorkell becoming Cnut's regent in Denmark, suggests that Thorkell had won them with an armed force.
However, it was left to another of Cnut's earls, Siward
, to protect his earldom of Northumbria by consolidating English power in Scotland; at his death in 1055 he, not the king, was overlord of all the territory that the Kingdom of Strathclyde had annexed early the previous century.
The Danes had more reason to grumble about Cnut's absences than the English; he reigned primarily from England, leaving regents in charge in Denmark. He replaced Thorkell as his primary advisor in England with Godwin
, an Englishman whom he made Earl of Wessex, while within three years of their reconciliation he had also been replaced as regent of Denmark, by Ulf Jarl
, Cnut's sister's husband, whom Cnut also made guardian of his son by Emma, Harthacnut. Ulf in turn proved less than loyal, first conspiring against him with the kings of Sweden and Norway, then making a power play by having the nobles swear fealty to Harthacnut (thus effectively to him); Cnut returned to Denmark at Christmas 1026, ordered his housecarls to kill Ulf, and it was done in Trinity Church at Roskilde. By the end of his life, he had entirely replaced the Scandinavian inner circle who advised him with Englishmen.
In Norway, Cnut stayed into the new year and then left Jarl Erik's son Hakon
in charge as his regent (he had served Sweyn Forkbeard in the same capacity), but he drowned the following winter. As his replacement Cnut sent Swein, the younger of his two sons by Ælfgifu and thus known as Sveinn Alfífuson in Norway - along with his mother as guardian. They were delayed in southern Norway while Olaf's return was rebuffed, but became even more unpopular than he had been. Ælfgifu tried to impose new taxation and stricter controls on a people who valued their independence and especially resented that the new customs were Danish.
Cnut also prepared to hand over Denmark to one of his sons: upon taking power in Norway, he held a great court in Nidaros and proclaimed Harthacnut, his son by Emma, king of Denmark. As Stenton points out, by appointing different sons his heirs in different countries, he demonstrated that he did not have "the deliberate intention of founding a northern empire . . . [which] would remain united after his death." It may have been simply the custom of his people. In any event, it was clear throughout Cnut's reign that the weakness of his empire lay in the impossibility of finding loyal and competent regents to govern when he could not be present. And his sons could not hold it together.
back from Gardariki to rule, and in autumn 1035, a few weeks before Cnut's death, Swein and his mother had to flee the country altogether and go to Denmark. Swein died shortly afterwards.
In Denmark, Harthacnut was already ruling as king, but he was unable to leave for three years because of the threat that Magnus of Norway would invade to exact revenge. In the meantime the English nobles, divided between him and Cnut's younger son by Ælfgifu, Harold Harefoot
, decided to compromise by having Harold rule as regent, and by the end of 1037 Ælfgifu had persuaded the most important to swear allegiance to Harold, he was firmly ensconced as Harold I, and Harthacnut's own mother, Queen Emma, had been forced to take refuge in Flanders.
Harthacnut prepared an invasion fleet to wrest England from his half-brother, but the latter died in 1040 before it could be used. Harthacnut then became king of England, reuniting it with Denmark, but made a generally bad impression as king. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
said of him that he never did anything royal during his entire reign. He died suddenly in June 1042 "as he stood at his drink" at a wedding feast, and with him died the North Sea Empire.
King
- Centers of population :* King, Ontario, CanadaIn USA:* King, Indiana* King, North Carolina* King, Lincoln County, Wisconsin* King, Waupaca County, Wisconsin* King County, Washington- Moving-image works :Television:...
of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and parts of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
between 1016 and 1035. As one historian put it:
When the eleventh century began its fourth decade, Canute, was with the single exception of the EmperorHoly Roman EmperorThe Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, the most imposing ruler in Latin Christendom. . . . [H]e was lord of four important realms and the overlord of other kingdoms. Though technically Canute was counted among the kings, his position among his fellow-monarchs was truly imperial. Apparently he held in his hands the destinies of two great regions: the British Isles and the Scandinavian peninsulas. His fleet all but controlled two important seas, the North and the Baltic. He had built an Empire.
England
Cnut was the younger son of the Danish King Sweyn Forkbeard. When his father died on 3 February, 1014 during an invasion of England, Cnut, who had been left in command of the fleet in the River TrentRiver Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
while Sweyn was in the south of England, was acclaimed by the Danes. However, the invasion fell apart: the men of Lindsey
Lindsey
Lindsey was a unit of local government until 1974 in Lincolnshire, England, covering the northern part of the county. The Isle of Axholme, which is on the west side of the River Trent, has normally formed part of it...
, who had promised to supply horses for a tactical raid, were not ready before the English nobles had reinstalled King Æthelred, whom they had previously sent into exile, after forcing him to agree to govern less harshly.
Cnut's brother Harald
Harald II of Denmark
Harald II of Denmark was King of Denmark from 1014 to 1018. He was the eldest son of Sweyn I of Denmark and Gunhilda, and was regent while his father was fighting Ethelred the Unready in England. He inherited the Danish throne in 1014, and held it while his brother, the later king Cnut the Great...
became king of Denmark, but with help from Jarl Erik
Eiríkr Hákonarson
Eiríkr Hákonarson or Eric of Norway or Eric of Hlathir was earl of Lade, ruler of Norway and earl of Northumbria.-Background:...
of Norway, Cnut raised a new invasion fleet of his own and returned to England in summer 1015. The English were divided by intrigue among the king, his sons, and other nobles; within four months one of Æthelred's sons had pledged allegiance to Cnut and he controlled Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, the historic heart of the kingdom. Before the decisive battle for London could be fought, Æthelred died on 23 April 1016. The Londoners chose his son Edmund
Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside or Edmund II was king of England from 23 April to 30 November 1016. His cognomen "Ironside" is not recorded until 1057, but may have been contemporary. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, it was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut...
as their king, while most of the nobles met at Southampton and swore fealty to Cnut. Cnut blockaded London, but was forced to leave to replenish his supplies and beaten by Edmund at the Battle of Otford; however, following the Danes as they raided into Essex, Edmund was in turn defeated at the Battle of Ashingdon
Battle of Ashingdon
The Battle of Assandun was fought on 18 October 1016. There is dispute over whether Assandun may actually be today's Ashdon, or the long supposed Ashingdon, in southeast Essex, England....
. He and Cnut struck an agreement under which Edmund would retain Wessex and Cnut rule all of England north of the Thames. But on 30 November 1016, Edmund in turn died, leaving Cnut king of England.
In summer 1017 he cemented his power by marrying Æthelred's widow, Emma
Emma of Normandy
Emma , was a daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, by his second wife Gunnora. She was Queen consort of England twice, by successive marriages: first as second wife to Æthelred the Unready of England ; and then second wife to Cnut the Great of Denmark...
, although he had previously married an English noblewoman, Ælfgifu of Northampton. In 1018 he paid off his fleet (with money especially from the citizens of London) and was fully recognised as King of England.
Denmark
King Harald died childless in 1018 or 1019, leaving the country without a king. Cnut was his brother's heir and went to Denmark in 1019 to claim it. While there he sent his subjects in England a letter saying he was abroad to avert an unspecified "danger", and he only returned to quell incipient rebellions. One Danish chronicle states that the Danes had previously deposed Harald in favour of Cnut, then brought back Harald because of Cnut's frequent absences, until Cnut finally became king permanently after his brother's death.King Olaf of Norway
Olaf II of Norway
Olaf II Haraldsson was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised in Nidaros by Bishop Grimkell, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. Enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral...
and King Anund Jacob of Sweden
Anund Jacob of Sweden
Anund Jacob, Swedish: Anund Jakob was King of Sweden from 1022 until around 1050. He is believed to have been born on July 25, in either 1008 or 1010 as Jakob. When the Swedish Thing was to elect him the co-ruler of Sweden, the people objected to his non-Scandinavian name...
, seeing the combined Anglo-Danish kingdom as a threat - Cnut's father Sweyn had asserted power over both their countries - took advantage of Cnut's being in England to attack Denmark in 1025 or 1026, and were joined by Ulf Jarl
Ulf Jarl
Ulf was a Danish earl, in Scandinavia known as a jarl. As a Viking chieftain he participated in Cnut the Great's conquest of England as one of his most trusted men. He married Cnut's sister Estrid Svendsdatter and from c. 1024 he was his appointee as regent of Denmark, probably as the guardian of...
, Cnut's Danish regent, and his brother. Cnut took Olaf's fleet by surprise and took the battle to the Swedish fleet at the Battle of the Helgeå
Battle of the Helgeå
Battle of the Helgeå was a naval engagement which took place during 1026, between joint Danish and English forces and a combined Norwegian and Swedish force, at the estuary of a river called Helgeå in Sweden.King Olaf II of Norway and King Anund Jakob of Sweden took advantage of the commitment...
. The outcome is disputed, but Cnut came out best; Olaf fled and the threat to Denmark was dispelled.
In 1027, Cnut traveled to Rome, partly to expiate his sin for having Jarl Ulf killed the previous Christmas, partly to attend the coronation of Conrad II
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Conrad II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1027 until his death.The son of a mid-level nobleman in Franconia, Count Henry of Speyer and Adelaide of Alsace, he inherited the titles of count of Speyer and of Worms as an infant when Henry died at age twenty...
as Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
and to demonstrate his importance as a ruler. He secured relaxation of tolls levied on pilgrims journeying to Rome from Northern Europe, and on Papal fees for English archbishops receiving their pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...
; he also began a relationship with Conrad that led to the Emperor's son Henry
Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
marrying Cnut's daughter Gunnhild
Gunhilda of Denmark
Gunhilda of Denmark was the first spouse of Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor.-Biography:Gunhilda was a daughter of Canute the Great and Emma of Normandy. Her maternal grandparents were Richard I of Normandy and his second wife Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy.She was a sister of Harthacanute. She was a...
and before that to the Emperor ceding to Denmark Schleswig and a strip of ancient Danish territory between Hedeby and the Eider that the Germans had occupied as a buffer zone against the Danes.
Norway
Olaf II had extended his power throughout Norway while Jarl Erik was with Cnut in England. Cnut's enmity with him extended further back: Æthelred had returned to England in a fleet provided by Olaf. In 1024 Cnut had offered to let Olaf govern Norway as his vassal; but after Helgeå, he set about undermining his unpopular rule with bribes, and in 1028 set out with 50 ships to subjugate Norway. A large contingent of Danish ships joined him, and Olaf withdrew into the Oslo Fjord while Cnut sailed along the coast, landing at various points and receiving oaths of allegiance from the local chieftains. Finally at NidarosNidaros
Nidaros or Niðarós was during the Middle Ages, the old name of Trondheim, Norway . Until the Reformation, Nidaros remained the centre of the spiritual life of the country...
, now Trondheim, he was acclaimed king at the Eyrathing, and in a few months Olaf fled to Sweden.
In 1030, Olaf attempted to return, but the people of the Trondheim area did not want him back and he was defeated and killed at the Battle of Stiklestad
Battle of Stiklestad
The Battle of Stiklestad in 1030 is one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway. In this battle, King Olaf II of Norway was killed. He was later canonized...
.
Sweden
After Helgeå, Cnut also claimed to rule "part of Sweden" together with England, Denmark, and Norway. He had coins minted either in the capital, SigtunaSigtuna
Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....
, or in Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
, then part of Denmark, with the inscription CNVT REX SW ("Cnut King of the Swedes"). Western Götaland
Götaland
Götaland , Gothia, Gothland, Gothenland, Gautland or Geatland is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises provinces...
or Blekinge
Blekinge
' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....
have been suggested. It was probably an overlordship more than actual rule; Cnut did not have to be present in Sweden to order the minting of coins, coins were also minted asserting he ruled Ireland, and Swedish history at this early date is so uncertain that we can hardly be sure even of the names of the kings.
Tributary areas
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
and Ulf Jarl, he took a fleet east into the Baltic to confirm his overlordship of the coastal areas that the Danish kings dominated from the Jomsborg
Jomsborg
Jomsborg was a semi-legendary Viking stronghold at the southern coast of the Baltic Sea , that existed between the 960s and 1043. Its inhabitants are known as Jomsvikings. Jomsborg's exact location has not yet been established, though it is maintained that Jomsborg was somewhere on the islands of...
.
Immediately after his return from Rome, Cnut led an army into Scotland and made vassals of Malcolm, the High King of Scotland, and two other kings, one of whom, Echmarcach mac Ragnaill
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill
Echmarcach mac Ragnaill was the Gall-Gaidhel King of the Isles, Dublin , and much of Galloway. According to Seán Duffy he was either a grandson or great-grandson of Ivar of Waterford, but an alternative exists. Benjamin Hudson has contended Echmarcach was a grandson of Gofraid mac Arailt...
, was a sea-king whose lands included Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
and would become king of Dublin
Kings of Dublin
The Vikings invaded the territory around Dublin in the 9th century, establishing the Norse Kingdom of Dublin, the earliest and longest lasting Norse kingdom in all of Europe outside of Scandinavia, excepting the so-called Kingdom of Mann and the Isles. This corresponded to most of present-day...
in 1036. All these and likely also the Welsh paid tribute, on the model of the Danegeld
Danegeld
The Danegeld was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources; the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century...
that Æthelred had instituted to pay off the Danes; and Cnut was thus reasserting the dominion over the Celtic kingdoms that recent English kings had had to let lapse, as well as punishing those who had supported Olaf against him.
Religion
By the early eleventh century, England had been Christian for centuries; the DanelawDanelaw
The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...
was in transition from heathenry
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
to Christianity, but the Scandinavian countries were still predominantly heathen. Cnut's father, Sweyn, had initially been heathen but in later life had been basically Christian. In England, Cnut assiduously promoted the interests of the church, and this brought him acceptance from the Christian rulers of Europe that no other Scandinavian king had previously been accorded. In Norway, in contrast, he built churches and was both respectful and generous to the clergy, but also made allies of the heathen chieftains, and unlike Olaf, did not make laws benefitting the church until his power was on a solid footing.
Governance
Early in 1017, probably because he was king by right of conquest not more normal means, Cnut divided England into 4 earldomEaldorman
An ealdorman is the term used for a high-ranking royal official and prior magistrate of an Anglo-Saxon shire or group of shires from about the ninth century to the time of King Cnut...
s on the Scandinavian model: Wessex he governed directly, and of his allies Thorkell the Tall became Earl of East Anglia, Erik retained Northumbria, which Cnut had already given him, and Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona
Eadric Streona was an ealdorman of the English Mercians. His name a loose translation of the Anglo-Saxon "the Grasper." Streona is historically regarded as the greatest traitor of the Anglo-Saxon period in English history....
became Earl of Mercia. But the last was disgraced and executed within a year. In 1018 Cnut revived at least two earldoms in Wessex and at a meeting at Oxford, his followers and representatives of the English agreed that he would govern under the laws of King Edgar.
Stenton points out that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
has relatively little to say about Cnut's reign except to note his frequent travels abroad, indicating that he was in strong control of England. Thorkell likely acted as his regent during his absences, until they had a falling out and he was outlawed in 1021. The terms of their reconciliation in Denmark in 1023, with an exchange of sons for fosterage and Thorkell becoming Cnut's regent in Denmark, suggests that Thorkell had won them with an armed force.
However, it was left to another of Cnut's earls, Siward
Siward, Earl of Northumbria
Siward or Sigurd was an important earl of 11th-century northern England. The Old Norse nickname Digri and its Latin translation Grossus are given to him by near-contemporary texts...
, to protect his earldom of Northumbria by consolidating English power in Scotland; at his death in 1055 he, not the king, was overlord of all the territory that the Kingdom of Strathclyde had annexed early the previous century.
The Danes had more reason to grumble about Cnut's absences than the English; he reigned primarily from England, leaving regents in charge in Denmark. He replaced Thorkell as his primary advisor in England with Godwin
Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Godwin of Wessex , was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great and his successors. Cnut made him the first Earl of Wessex...
, an Englishman whom he made Earl of Wessex, while within three years of their reconciliation he had also been replaced as regent of Denmark, by Ulf Jarl
Ulf Jarl
Ulf was a Danish earl, in Scandinavia known as a jarl. As a Viking chieftain he participated in Cnut the Great's conquest of England as one of his most trusted men. He married Cnut's sister Estrid Svendsdatter and from c. 1024 he was his appointee as regent of Denmark, probably as the guardian of...
, Cnut's sister's husband, whom Cnut also made guardian of his son by Emma, Harthacnut. Ulf in turn proved less than loyal, first conspiring against him with the kings of Sweden and Norway, then making a power play by having the nobles swear fealty to Harthacnut (thus effectively to him); Cnut returned to Denmark at Christmas 1026, ordered his housecarls to kill Ulf, and it was done in Trinity Church at Roskilde. By the end of his life, he had entirely replaced the Scandinavian inner circle who advised him with Englishmen.
In Norway, Cnut stayed into the new year and then left Jarl Erik's son Hakon
Håkon Eiriksson
Håkon Eiriksson was Earl of Lade and king of Norway as a vassal under Knut the Great.Håkon Eiriksson was from a dynasty of Norwegian rulers in the eastern part of Trondheim, bordering the Trondheimsfjord. He was the son of Eirik Håkonson, ruler of Norway and earl of Northumbria...
in charge as his regent (he had served Sweyn Forkbeard in the same capacity), but he drowned the following winter. As his replacement Cnut sent Swein, the younger of his two sons by Ælfgifu and thus known as Sveinn Alfífuson in Norway - along with his mother as guardian. They were delayed in southern Norway while Olaf's return was rebuffed, but became even more unpopular than he had been. Ælfgifu tried to impose new taxation and stricter controls on a people who valued their independence and especially resented that the new customs were Danish.
Cnut also prepared to hand over Denmark to one of his sons: upon taking power in Norway, he held a great court in Nidaros and proclaimed Harthacnut, his son by Emma, king of Denmark. As Stenton points out, by appointing different sons his heirs in different countries, he demonstrated that he did not have "the deliberate intention of founding a northern empire . . . [which] would remain united after his death." It may have been simply the custom of his people. In any event, it was clear throughout Cnut's reign that the weakness of his empire lay in the impossibility of finding loyal and competent regents to govern when he could not be present. And his sons could not hold it together.
After Cnut's death
The North Sea Empire collapsed immediately once Cnut died in 1035. In fact in Norway it was already collapsing: by the winter of 1033, Swein and Ælfgifu were so unpopular that they were forced to leave Trondheim. In 1034 the leader of the army that had rebuffed and killed King Olaf at Stiklestad went together with one of the king's loyal followers to bring his young son MagnusMagnus I of Norway
Magnus I , known as the Good or the Noble, was the King of Norway from 1035 to 1047 and the King of Denmark from 1042 to 1047. He was an illegitimate son of king Olaf II of Norway, but fled with his mother in 1028 when his father was dethroned. In 1035 he returned to Norway and was crowned king at...
back from Gardariki to rule, and in autumn 1035, a few weeks before Cnut's death, Swein and his mother had to flee the country altogether and go to Denmark. Swein died shortly afterwards.
In Denmark, Harthacnut was already ruling as king, but he was unable to leave for three years because of the threat that Magnus of Norway would invade to exact revenge. In the meantime the English nobles, divided between him and Cnut's younger son by Ælfgifu, Harold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot
Harold Harefoot was King of England from 1037 to 1040. His cognomen "Harefoot" referred to his speed, and the skill of his huntsmanship. He was the son of Cnut the Great, king of England, Denmark, and Norway by Ælfgifu of Northampton...
, decided to compromise by having Harold rule as regent, and by the end of 1037 Ælfgifu had persuaded the most important to swear allegiance to Harold, he was firmly ensconced as Harold I, and Harthacnut's own mother, Queen Emma, had been forced to take refuge in Flanders.
Harthacnut prepared an invasion fleet to wrest England from his half-brother, but the latter died in 1040 before it could be used. Harthacnut then became king of England, reuniting it with Denmark, but made a generally bad impression as king. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
said of him that he never did anything royal during his entire reign. He died suddenly in June 1042 "as he stood at his drink" at a wedding feast, and with him died the North Sea Empire.