12th November in 1035 the death of King Cnut.
Edmund Ironside had fought a number of battles against the Danish army, but they ended in his defeat on the 18th October 1016 at the Battle of Assandun in Essex, the signing of a peace treaty gave Edmund control of lands south of the River Thames and Cnut ruled north of the Thames. On Edmund's death, despite leaving two sons, Cnut gained control of all of England.
Taking the English throne was the very beginning of a conquest that saw Cnut rule most of Northern Europe, by the time of his death he controlled England, Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden, yet the one event he is only ever remembered for is his attempt at controlling an incoming tide, Cnut probably didn’t paddle in the sea but what he meant was:
“Let all inhabiting the world know the power of kings to be empty and worthless and that there is no other king worthy of the name but He at whose will heaven earth, sea obey by the eternal laws.”
“Let all inhabiting the world know the power of kings to be empty and worthless and that there is no other king worthy of the name but He at whose will heaven earth, sea obey by the eternal laws.”
Not the words of arrogant and powerful foreign invader, just man suggesting that kings were human.
Cnut controlled much of Scandinavia, under his rule Viking raids on England’s coastline lessened, the economy improved, and by marrying Emma, Ethelred the Unready’s Norman widow, he consolidated his power. He was king of England from 1018 until 1035.
Cnut controlled much of Scandinavia, under his rule Viking raids on England’s coastline lessened, the economy improved, and by marrying Emma, Ethelred the Unready’s Norman widow, he consolidated his power. He was king of England from 1018 until 1035.
Cnut died at Shaftesbury in Dorset and was buried in the Old Minster, Winchester. During the English Civil war, the mortuary chest in which his bones were placed was ransacked, his remains were scattered on the floor and mixed with those of other English kings.
All the bones were eventually gathered and replaced in chests - but not necessarily in the right order!
All the bones were eventually gathered and replaced in chests - but not necessarily in the right order!
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