Canute (985-12 November 1035) was the king of England from 1016 to 1035 (succeeding Edmund Ironside and preceding Harold Harefoot), Denmark from 1018 to 1035 (succeeding Harald II of Denmark and preceding Harthacanute), and Norway from 1028 to 1035 (succeeding Olaf Haraldsson and preceding Magnus I of Norway). Canute seized England at the 1016 Battle of Ashingdon after defeating Edmund Ironside's powerful army, and in 1026 he defeated King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway at the Battle of Helgea, giving him a large North Sea empire that was divided after his death in 1035.
Biography[]
Canute in 1003
In 1013, the young Canute joined his father, King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, on an expedition across the North Sea. After decades of raiding, the Danes had decided upon the conquest of England. With his son acting as his main lieutenant, Sweyn drove king Ethelred into flight abroad and claimed the English throne. After reigning for five weeks, Sweyn died. Canute was acclaimed king by the Viking army in England, but Ethelred returned from exile to reclaim the crown. Canute sailed back to Denmark to assemble a new army and fleet drawn from all parts of Scandinavia and returned to England in 1015.
Hard-Won Victory[]
The conflict that followed was an arduous contest of fluctuating fortunes. Ethelred's son, Edmund Ironside, English king from April 1016, was a resourceful warrior. Canute led his army on destructive marches across swathes of English territory, exploring the mobility provided by his fleet when necessary. But he failed to reduce London by siege and was several times bettered by Edmund in the field. At the battle of Ashingdun, however, the Scandinavian fighters triumphed, inflicting a defeat from which Edmund could not recover. In December 1016, Canute was crowned king of England. He also soon became king of Denmark and, in 1026, he decisively defeated the Norwegian king, Olav Haraldsson, and his Swedish allies in a Baltic battle at Helgea. This victory left Canute ruler of a North Sea empire which he held until his death in 1035.