Canute The Danish Viking King of England: The 'Coronation' of 1016

by Stuart Reddish

Canute King of England 1016

Canute's father was Swegen Forkbeard and had briefly reigned as king of England from Christmas 1013 until his death in February, 1014. Canute was then held by the Vikings to be their commander, a warlord, and King of England. However, it took two more years for Canute to rally his allies against an English claim to the throne. Finally, at the end of the summer of 1016 Edmund Ironside, probably suffering and fatally wounded, was caught in retreat half way across the country, near the Forest of Dean. This is where there was likely to have been a final struggle made in an attempt by the English to protect their king. Canute's army was to get the upper hand and was ultimately able to force Edmund into peace talks, on the terms which the Danes set, or none.

Canute and Edmund met on an island in the Severn, which left King Edmund only to accept defeat and sign a treaty with Canute in which all of England, except for Wessex, would be controlled by Canute. It was agreed that when one of the kings should die, the other king would be the one and only king of England; his sons being the heir to the throne. It was a move of astute political sense, as well as mercy, on the part of the Viking leader. Edmund's death, probably by the afflictions of war, or possibly murder by the hand of the traitor Eadric Streona's men, happened on November the 30th in 1016. 

When Canute finally took the English throne in 1016 it was an event, which through frequent contact with the Danes, had long been anticipated. An event which the partly Scandianavianised population of Northumbria and the Danelaw would not have resented and one which the new king himself doubtless saw as the culmination of the victories of his countrymen from the time of Ivar the the Boneless a century an a half before. Canute then ruled the whole kingdom. Canute was recognised by the nobility as the sole elective king during a Yuletide Gemot lasting into 1017, yet his coronation was at Christmas 1016 or even earlier. 

In Cnut England's Viking King 1016-35 Lawson gives the following account of events:

According to John of Worcester, shortly after Ethelred died in April 1016 certain English churchmen and nobles elected Canute king, came to him at Southampton, swore fidelity and repudiated all Ethelred's progeny; in return, he vowed to be a good lord in matters of both church and lay. As late Anglo-Saxon rulers were often required to give undertakings of this sort at their coronations, Canute was possibly crowned and anointed at this time. His involvement in such a ceremony after the death of Edmund Ironside is even more likely. John says that he held a meeting in London, and asked the witnesses of his agreement with Edmund whether the latter's brother and sons were entitled to succeed him. They replied that Edmund left no claim to his brothers and wanted Canute to support and protect his sons until they were old enough to rule, and they also swore that they wished to elect Canute king, humbly obey him, and pay tribute to his army. 

 
The meeting was obviously intended to establish Canute as sole king and may have led directly to the coronation in London by Archbishop Lyfing as reported by a twelfth century dean of St. Paul's in December 1016.

It is reputed that at the coronation Canute saw to the decapitation of the untrustworthy Eadric Streona, and the head was put on a pole for all to see. This execution was by the hand of his Earl of Northumbria, Erikr. If it was in reaction to the dishonour of murder against the former king, or simply disloyalty, that lead Canute to this man's execution, it is unsure. He was now King of England though, and the throne could be kept only under a ruler who was seen by the people as just, even ruthlessly, as well as liberal to their cause. Treachery was the main threat which put Canute's life in peril. Him as the Viking whom was to be one of England's most successful kings, with a wide unity across Scandinavia and the North Atlantic.

In July 1017, to associate his line with the overthrown English dynasty, as well as to protect himself against his aggressors in Normandy, where Ethelred's sons Edward the Confessor and Alfred Atheling were in exile, Emma of Normandy, daughter of Richard the Fearless, Duke of Normandy, was married to Canute. She was Ethelred's widow, and held the keys to a secure English court in more ways than one. Cnut duly proclaimed their son Harthacanute as his heir, while his first sons with Aelgifu of Northampton were left on the sidelines. He sent Harthacnut to Denmark while he was still a boy, and the heir to the throne was brought up, like he was himself, as a soldier of the Vikings.

Canute's first act in the country, in 1017, was to officially divide it into the four great earldoms of Wessex, his personal fief, Mercia, to be given to Leofric after its previous Earl's death, Northumbria, for Eric, and East Anglia, for Thorkel. This was to be the basis for the system of feudal baronnies which were to underlie English sovereignty for centuries, while the very last Danegeld ever paid, a sum of £82,500, went to Canute, in 1018, a significant proportion of which was levied from the citizenry of London alone. He felt secure enough to send the invasion fleet back to Denmark with £72,000 that same year.

Canute's brother Harald was maybe in England for his coronation, if not for the conquest, while it may be he went back to Denmark, as king, at some point thereafter. It is though, only sure that his name was to enter a confraternity with Christ Church, Canterbury, in 1018. This though, is not conclusive, as the entry may have been made for him, by the hand of Cnut himself even, which means it is unsure if he was dead or alive at the time. Nevertheless, it is usually thought that Harald's life was at its end, in 1018.

Revealing the Landscape: Community Archaeology in Viking Sherwood Forest

By Stuart Reddish

 

Had a very enjoyable evening giving a public lecture at Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Nova Scotia last week with Lynda. my wife. For the first time we were able to tell the full story of our discovery of the Thynghowe Viking Assembly Site in Sherwood Forest England and bring it right up to date with the community dig held last year in 2016.

The slides of the presentation are available online. 

Click for Lynda's presentation

Click for my presentation

photo credit James Mallett

Canute: The Danelaw and the Vikings of Sherwood

By Stuart Reddish.

CANUTE1000 May 2016

Thynghowe Viking Spring Thing 2016

The recent event Canute1000 organised by Lynda Mallett and committee members of the Friends of Thynghowe was a great success. In association with the Forestry Commission and Regia Anglorum and sponsored by Canute Group the two day event attracted thousands of people. Held at Sherwood Pines Nottinghamshire the 2016 Spring Thing recreated the heritage of the Vikings of Sherwood and its connections with a 1000 years of history since the crowning of the Danish Viking Canute as the King of All England

Arena displays, a living history camp, a specially transported Viking boat and perfect weather combined to provide a major event in the celebration of 1000 years since the creation of Nottinghamshire as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronical.

Arena battle Mercian army against the Vikings of Canute

In conjunction with this event a booklet was published setting the history of how Vikings came to live in Sherwood Forest and how the Thynghowe Viking Assembly Site may have been an important part of Canute's invasion campaign in 1016.

Click here to read booklet

Nottinghamshire 1000 : 365 Reasons to celebrate a County's Heritage

Great New webpage provided by Mercian Archaeological Services CIC to support the Nottinghamshire 1000 project in partnership with Sherwood Forest Trust, The Friends of Thynghowe, King John's Palace and the Public Information Research Organisation.

Nottinghamshire 1000 is a group of organisations that have joined together to help celebrate the 1000th anniversary of this great shire.
We are encouraging people to post memories of significant people, places and events that have connections with Nottinghamshire. These events can have happened anytime in the last 1000 years. We would then like to make a timeline, with an event for every day of the year. 365 reasons to celebrate our Nottinghamshire heritage and create a resource for anyone to use.

To achieve these goals we need funding. We'll do that. But we need as much support as possible. The more posts we get, and the more 'likes' for the page, the more evidence we will have to show funders.
We know how much knowledge you have, and we believe in people driving their own heritage and cultural development.
Simply post your suggestion onto facebook.com/Nottinghamshire1000

http://mercian-as.co.uk/notts1000.html

Nottinghamshire Canute and the Danish Warrior Farmers

Nottinghamshire is fortunate in that it has a tangible link to its origins. In this year 2016 we have an opportunity to celebrate 1000 years of history. Our first celebration is to mark 1000 years since the Danish Viking Canute became King of England. Our second celebration is to mark 1000 years since Nottinghamshire was recorded as a Shire in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles. This may not be a coincidence as the connections are deeply rooted in the Danelaw and the existence of the Five Boroughs within it. (See previous posts).

These extremely important events will be celebrated at Sherwood Pines Nottinghamshire on 14th and 15th of May. A Viking Spring Thing, using the traditions of our Thynghowe Viking Assembly Site, will provide a perfect setting to tell the story of our important Nottinghamshire heritage.

Fig 1. Event Leaflet Front

Fig 2. Event Leaflet Back

The Seven Boroughs of The Danelaw

Canute1000 The Nottinghamshire Connection

By Stuart Reddish

                                                                                                     Canute and his Empire, G.N. Garmonsway 1963

Canute's Seven Boroughs of the Danelaw 1013 -1016

Interestingly, this account of events in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, leading to the eventual Danish rule of England in the early 11^th century, has a particular significance. It provides a connection between Canute and a possible tactical link to the Viking assembly site at Thynghowe in the boundary forest of Sherwood in Nottinghamshire. This link would have been vital in the strategic preparations for the arrival of a Danish invasion fleet via the river Humber and the river Trent and the subsequent consolidation of territorial gains. For king Svein Forkbeard and his son Canute to ensure their military success they would require the support of a large number of followers already in England with sympathies for a Danish king. This support would come from those very families of the early Viking warrior farmers of the northern Danelaw and their support would make a lasting invasion possible. It is evident that there was a consolidation of Northumbria (York), Lindsey, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Leicester and Stamford which came 'into the charge of Canute' in 1013.

Again the source of the existence of the Seven Boroughs is limited to one document that is mentioned in the book by Sir Frank Stenton Anglo Saxon England. In a footnote to page 388 he refers to a short lived extended confederation of the Danelaw's 'Five Boroughs' between the time of the Danish invasions of 1013 and 1016. In the summer of 1015 Canute returned to England with his fleet. During a great council held at Oxford earlier in that year Eadric of Mercia had procured the murder of Siferth and Morcar, sons of Angrim, the Chronicle describes them as the chief thegns belonging to the 'Seven Boroughs”. The phrase does not occur again and the exact meaning is uncertain but Stenton clearly felt that it included the five Danish boroughs of Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Leicester, and Stamford. The sixth borough was thought to be Torksey (or the larger area of Lindsey of which Torksey was part) on the river Trent. Torksey was strategically placed on the Nottingham Lincoln boundary and had an influential growing population that eventually totaled over 200 burgeeses. The seventh borough being York as under Edward the Confessor many thegns belonging to Danish Mercia also held land in Yorkshire.

This would indicate the confederation of seven boroughs could have formed prior to Svein Forkbeards arrival in 1013. The confederation was then placed into the charge of Canute by his father and this confederation was thus consolidated under Canute and was still in place to support his return in 1015. This supporting confederation being part of two planned preparations for Danish invasion.

The known Viking Assembly site at Thynghowe would provide a central geographic location within this confederation. Torksey, a former Viking winter camp, is on the river Trent, as is Gainsborough Svein Forkbeard's main camp, and is situated close to York, Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester, Derby and Stamford. By having a high topographical border location, this would have made it a perfect assembly site for the confederation of the Seven Boroughs. The tradition of Viking legal assemblies was that their location was on a convergence of boundaries and borders. This geographic position was to strengthen the independence of the court and to ensure its freedom from any one kingdom's 'ownership' or patronage. Thynghowe as an established higher regional Thing site would have been an obvious choice. In any event something happened at Thynghowe that was so significant that the site was still recorded on maps hundreds of years ^{1 .}

1. Community Archaeology at Thynghowe, Birklands, Sherwood Forest Lynda Mallett, Stuart Reddish, John Baker, Stuart Brookes and Andy Gaunt. Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire, Volume 116; 2012

©

Canute1000 Celebration 2016

Danish Viking Settlement in the Five Boroughs

Photo: Lynda Mallett

The 10th and 11th century settlements of the Danes differed from those of the English; they were the encampment of armies, and their boundaries were the fighting fronts sustained by a series of fortified towns. Stamford, Nottingham, Lincoln, Derby, and Leicester were the bases of the new invading force. Behind their frontier lines the warriors of one decade were to become the colonists and landowners of the next. The Danish settlement in England was essentially military. They cut their way with their swords, and then planted themselves deeply in the soil, as did their English predecessors. The warrior type of farmer asserted from the first, a status different from ordinary agriculturist.

They had a status of freemen or Sokemen. By the time of the Norman invasion free peasants formed the third largest group among the peasantry, almost 14% of the recorded population. In economic terms, they were among the most substantial groups within the peasantry, possessing on average 30 acres of land and two plough oxen.

Freemen (Status) and freemen (Peasant) appear in large numbers only in the Danelaw where their numbers were very considerable, up to half the rural population in some counties. The peculiarities of this distribution have excited considerable debate. Most historians would agree that the distribution reflects the impact of the Viking invasions of the ninth century, though just how this effect was produced is disputed. Some believe that the free peasantry of the Danelaw recorded in the Doomsday Book represent descendants of the rank and file of the Danish armies who had settled in the ninth century, others that they were the descendants of a mass immigration of Scandinavian peasants which followed in the wake of this military conquest. A third view is that the effects of Viking conquest were indirect and cultural, the native peasantry of the Danelaw acquiring free status under Viking rule. It has also been argued that the free peasantry were widely distributed throughout the country before the Viking invasions, the once free peasantry of Wessex losing their freedom in the struggle for survival against the Vikings. However, in the area of the Five Boroughs within the Danelaw the rights and customs of freemen continued long after the Norman conquest.