Back to the Mainly The Normans calendar
This was the year that King Canute died. He had been a very strong king and during the 19 years of his reign, England
remained a peaceful land and he increased trade and prosperity. He was actually King of three countries at the same time, Denmark, Norway and England but he
claimed England as his home. He sent his Danish fleet and armies home but kept a 2000 strong bodyguard of able Danes never far away.
He had divided England into 4 Earldoms. Wessex, Mercia, East
Anglia and Northumbria. He travelled to Scotland and with a show of force compelled the Scottish King Malcolm to accept him as overlord. He married twice and
indeed had two wives at the same time, not unusual for Danes at the time. One wife was called Elgiva from Northampton and, as we said, he married Ethelred’s
widow, Emma, the Norman Princess. He had two children with Elgiva, Sweyn and Harold. With the princess Emma, he had a son called Hardicanute.
He died on 12 November and his empire was split between three of his sons, Sweyn received Norway, Hardicanute got Denmark and a part of England and
the rest of England went to Harold also known as Harefoot.
These sons weren’t as strong as their father and didn’t reign for long. Harold died in 1040AD and was a bit of a nasty guy. He sent Emma back to
Normandy and when her sons from her marriage to Ethelred came back to England he blinded one of them, Alfred, by gouging out his eyes. Not surprisingly,
shortly after this Alfred died. Meanwhile the other son, Edward, sensibly escaped back to Normandy.
Then Hardicanute, (wonder if he was ever known as Hardicnut) took over all England. Previously he had lived in Denmark but he came over with a
large army, murdered the Earl of Northumbria and burnt the town of Worcester to the ground. On arrival in the south he dug up the body of his brother and
threw it into a bog. If the story about Edmund Ironsides is true that means we had two Kings ending their days in the bog in the space of 25 years. Anyhow,
Hardicanute died of a fit after a reign of only 2 years.
Forward to 1042AD
