London Under Danish Rule: Cnut’s Politics and Policies as a Demonstration of Power
In 1016, London was one of very few English cities of European significance. This reflected London’s prominence as a trading port, an economic and administrative hub, and population centre, rather than any status as a nascent capital city.
Pilgrim and patron: Cnut in post-conquest historical writing
This article examines a number of short narratives from the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries which relate to the activities of Cnut as king of England.
BOOK REVIEW: The Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror’s Subjugation of England by Teresa Cole
October marked the 950th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings. Author Teresa Cole’s latest book, The Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror’s Subjugation of England, looks at the events, key figures, and sources that brought Harold Godwinson (1022-1066) and William I (1028-1087) to this pivotal turning point in English history.
BOOK EXCERPT: King Cnut and the Viking Conquest of England 1016 by W.B. Bartlett
The Viking Conquest of England in 1016, saw two great warriors, the Danish prince Cnut, and his equally ruthless English opponent, King Edmund Ironside fight an epic campaign.
BOOK REVIEW: The Northern Queen by Kelly Evans
Kelly Evans’Anglo-Saxon novel centres around the story of Aelfgifu of Northampton (990-1040); from her rise in court and eventual marriage to one of England’s most famous early kings, Cnut the Great (995-1035), to her repudiation, and later life with her sons after Cnut’s passing.
National-Ethnic Narratives in Eleventh-Century Literary Representations of Cnut
This article takes literary representations of Cnut, the Danish conqueror of England, as a case study of the construction of English identity in the eleventh century.
The Changing Story of Cnut and the Waves
There is famous story about King Cnut and the waves. However, most people know do not know the original version.
Cnut: England’s Danish King
There is very little historic information on King Cnut even though he was the most powerful king in northern Europe in the early eleventh century.
Reconsidering Agatha, Wife of Eadward the Exile
The antecedents of Agatha, wife of Eadward the Exile and ancestress of Scottish and English monarchs since the twelfth century and their countless descendants in Europe and America, have been the subject of much dispute…
Hosting the king: hospitality and the royal iter in tenth-century England
Hosting the king: hospitality and the royal iter in tenth-century England Levi Roach (Trinity College, Cambridge) The Journal of Medieval History, 37.1 (March…
The Danish attacks on London and Southwark in ‘1016’
This incident has been fatally embroidered by many local historians, taking their cue from various sources, so that the popular accounts have distorted what was already a confusing set of events.
Aethelred the Unready
Calling Aethelred ‘Unraed’ could mean he was given bad counsel, he did not take advice from his counselors or that he himself was unwise. Perhaps all were true. Let’s look at the story and see.
Conquest or Colonisation: The Scandinavians in Ryedale from the Ninth to Eleventh Centuries
The study of settlement history has developed within the fields of history, archaeology and geography. As a result much of the work carried out in settlement studies has borrowed the research and conclusions of scholars from other disciplines.
Against the Heathen: Saints and martyrs in late Anglo-Saxon literature
In this essay I will argue that the militarised martyrs and saints in Anglo-Saxon England are both a shining example to Saxon Christians and an enticing lure to encourage the Scandinavian settlers to adopt the Catholic faith like King Cnut did.
THE MINT OF AYLESBURY
As these numbers suggest, Aylesbury seems to have made a comparatively minor contribution to the Late Saxon coinage pool. Basing his calculations on a total of some 44,350 English coins, Petersson estimated that, in each issue for which its coins were known, Aylesbury was responsible for only 0.1% or 0.2% of the recorded coins of the issue…
Cultural Changes in England resulting from the Battle of Hastings
This paper, in examining the reigns of the Ethelred, Canute, Harold Harefoot and Hardicanute, and Edward the Confessor, will show how they came to power, the legacy each left – if any — and how the events during each reign ultimately led to the Battle of Hastings, with William the Conqueror’s victory changing England forever.
The Staffordshire Hoard and the Mercian Royal Court
In England, whatever date you prefer for the composition of Beowulf, it is of interest that the poet thought of the king as a goldwine gumena – the gold-friend of the warriors – or as the goldwine Geata – the gold-friend of the Geats.
Canute and his Empire
The first mention of Canute in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is in the entry for 1013, where it is recorded that his father Sweyn, after taking hostages from the conquered territories of Northumbria, Lindsey, and the Five Borough Towns,