Cnut the Great (Old Norse: Kntr inn rki; c.

985 or 995 12 November 1035), more commonly known

as Canute, was a king of Denmark, England, Norway, and parts of Sweden, together often referred to as
the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire. After the death of his heirs within a decade of his own and
the Norman conquest of England in 1066, his legacy was largely lost to history. Historian Norman Cantor
has made the statement that he was "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history", despite his not
being Anglo-Saxon.
As a prince of Denmark, Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking
activity in northwestern Europe. His accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of
England and Denmark together. Cnut maintained his power by uniting Danes and Englishmen under
cultural bonds of wealth and custom, rather than by sheer brutality. After a decade of conflict with
opponents in Scandinavia, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028.
Cnut's possession of England's dioceses and the continental Diocese of Denmark was a source of great
leverage within the Church, gaining notable concessions from Pope Benedict VIII and his successor John
XIX. Cnut also gained concessions on the tolls his people had to pay on the way to Rome from other
magnates of medieval Christendom, at the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor. After his 1026 victory
against Norway and Sweden, and on his way to Rome for this coronation, Cnut, in a letter written for the
benefit of his subjects, stated himself "king of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some
of the Swedes".


Cnut and ordering the waves not to break upon his land:
According to the story, the king had his chair carried down to the shore and ordered the waves not to
break upon his land. When his orders were ignored, he pronounced: "Let all the world know that the
power of kings is empty and worthless and there is no King worthy of the name save Him by whose will
heaven and earth and sea obey eternal laws," (Historia Anglorum, ed D E Greenway).
The account shows Canute setting out to demonstrate that the tide would come in regardless, says
Professor Simon Keynes of the department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of
Cambridge. "The story is intended to illustrate his piety - a prominent feature in his kingship," he says.
"He knows his power is nothing besides that of God. The subtext is that he knows what is going to
happen - he is demonstrating what he knows already."
So while the Canute abusers regard him as a laughing stock - Prof Keynes describes him as a
"remarkable king". "He was a firm ruler, renowned not only for actions calculated to win the support and
affection of his English subjects, but also for his attempts at reconciling the English and the Danes.
"Although he had come to rule over the English by force of arms, he dealt intelligently with the situation
and always acted with acute political sense."
Of course, no-one knows for sure whether or not the tide event actually happened. Some academics see
it simply as a story that has little basis in fact.

"It's a 12th Century legend... and those 12th Century historians were always making up stories about
kings from Anglo-Saxon times," says Malcolm Godden, Professor of Anglo-Saxon, Faculty of English, at
Oxford University.
"The real Canute - or Cnut - showed no signs of such humility and ruled a vast empire using his military
power and a fearsome set of bodyguards.
"There are some signs that he was good at spin, but I can't imagine that he could afford to go around
telling his followers that he wasn't as powerful as they thought."