Canute – Second King of Denmark

Canute (ka-nut’) the Great Knud, or Knut, the second king of Denmark of that name and first Danish king of England: b. in the former country, about 995; d. Shaftesbury, England, 1035. He was the son of Sweyn, king of Denmark, and accompanied his father in his victorious campaigns in England. Sweyn proclaimed himself king of England, died in 1014, before his power was established, and appointed Canute as his successor. Then immediately, a latter was driven out by Ethel Red, the representative of the Saxon line. He fled with 60 ships to his brother Harold’s court.

Harold enabled him to build a large fleet in the north to carry out his campaign in England. He invaded the country again in 1015. He fought many battles with Edmund Ironside, who succeeded his father, Ethel Red, in 1016, and finally won the battle of Assington. After this battle, Edmund and Canute agreed upon a kingdom division. To Canute were assigned Mercia and Northumbria, while the Saxon prince preserved West and East Anglia.

By dying his brother Harold, he obtained Denmark’s crown (1016). In the same year, and only one month after the ratification of the partition treaty, Edmund died. Canute became the sole king of England without further resistance. He refrained from murdering his late rival’s children and sent them to his half-brother, Olave, Sweden’s king. He put away his wife, Alfgive, the daughter of the Earl of Northampton, and espoused Emma, the widow of Ethelred, the Saxon monarch (1017), on the condition that their children succeeded to England’s throne.

He made the greatest efforts to earn the affection of his English subjects, to whom his Danish origin was no recommendation. He disbanded his Danish army, retaining only a bodyguard. He endeavored to blend the two races as far as possible and induce them to live in harmony with each other. He erected churches and donated to abbeys and monasteries at the sites of former conflicts and massacres.

As a witness at Winchester, he compiled a code of laws that is still extant. In this code, he denounced those who kept up pagan rites and superstitions and forbade the sending of Christian slaves out of the country for sale. Although Canute generally resided in England, he visited Denmark. He carried with him on these occasions an English fleet, English missionaries, and English artisans.

He promoted three Englishmen to the newly erected Scania bishoprics. Zealand, and Fionia. In 1025, he was attacked by Sweden’s king and defeated. However, Earl Godwin, at the head of the English contingent, surprised the Swedish camp and dispersed the enemy. His absence from Denmark and the bestowal of so many dignities upon his English subjects made him unpopular in that kingdom. To appease this discontent, he left behind in Denmark his son, Hardicanute, then aged 10 years, under the guardianship of his brother-in-law, Ulf (1026). In that year, he visited Rome.

He was well received there by Pope John and by Emperor Conrad II, who gave up to the Danish king all the country north of the river Eider. From the Pope, he obtained privileges for the English school established in Rome and an abatement of the sums demanded from his archbishops for the pallium; and from the various princes, relief for all English and Danish pilgrims and merchants from all illegal tolls and detentions on their route to Rome. He returned from Rome to Denmark. In 1028, he entered Norway, expelled Olave, and restored Haco, who swore allegiance to him.

In 1029, he traveled back to England, and his Danish subjects proclaimed Hardicanute king of Denmark. Canute immediately returned to Denmark, put down the revolt, and executed the traitor, Ulf. In 1031, Canute was acknowledged as king of Norway and laid claim to Sweden’s crown. On his return to England, he allowed his son, Hardicanute, to share the Danish crown. His reign is very significant in Denmark’s constitutional history. Canute issued the first national coinage of Denmark and published the first written code of Danish law, prohibiting private vengeance.

He raised the clergy in their corporate capacity to a separate estate of the realm and instituted the Thinglith, or royal guard of 3,000 men. The members of this body were all men of well-off families and rich enough to equip themselves at their own expense. From them sprang the Danish order of nobility; they were tried only by their peers and formed, with the king, the highest court of justice. Canute’s last campaign was against Duncan, king of Scotland, respecting Cumberland’s possession, but before the armies could engage, the two kings were reconciled, and ancient stipulations concerning Cumberland’s tenure were renewed (1033).

Canute was buried in Winchester. By Emma, he had two children, Hardicanute, or Canute the Hardy, and a daughter, Gunhilda. She was married to Henry, son of Conrad II of Germany, emperor. By Alfgive, he left two sons, Sweyn and Harold. Sweyn received Norway’s crown; Hardicanute retained Denmark; and Harold, surnamed Harefoot, owned England. Canute is most popularly known, not by his extended rule and legislative enactments, but by the familiar story of the monarch, the courtiers, and the disobedient sea.

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