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Saga of Knut The Great

Saga of Knut the Great

The Danish king Svein Forkbeard invaded England during the summer of 1013. His son Knut was by his side. They swiftly took command of the whole country, forcing King Æthelred into exile to Normandy. Svein became regent but died suddenly within a mere few months, leaving Knut on the throne. The English nobility had other ideas and recalled Æthelred with the help of Olaf Haraldsson, a Norwegian Viking. Knut was duly expelled early in 1014 and returned to Denmark where his brother Harald was king.

Knut was determined to retake England and set sail the year after with a fleet of some two hundred longships. Eirik Hakonarson sailed with him. Eirik ruled Norway on behalf of the Danish crown together with his brother Svein. On arrival in England Knut quickly dispatched Uhtred of Bamburgh, making Eirik ealdorman of Northumbria in his stead. This secured him control of the whole north of the country. Æthelred died in April 1016. His son Edmund Ironside and Knut were both proclaimed king by their respective factions. After several battles the two rivals agreed to divide the kingdom between them. Within two months, however, Edmund was dead leaving Knut the accepted king of all of England. He was crowned in London during the first days of 1017, and the following year succeeded his brother to become king of both England and Denmark.

Olaf Haraldsson had meanwhile returned to Norway and ousted Svein Hakonarson, whose nephew Hakon Eiriksson fled to England to join his father by Knut’s side. There was no love lost between Knut and Olaf. He’d not forgotten that it was Olaf who had brought back Æthelred from Normandy. But Olaf was also very aware that Knut was far away in England and so began launching attacks on Denmark in cahoots with the Swedish king. Knut was furious and set sail in 1026 with a fleet of English and Danish longships. He won a decisive victory at the Battle of Helgeå. One of the Norwegian chieftains to join with him was Tore the Hound. He came from Hålogaland in the north of the country. Knut named him his representative before leaving for England. A couple of years later Knut returned with a fleet of fifty ships sailing into Trondheim where he was proclaimed king. Knut was now King of England, Denmark and Norway.

Knut was ambitious and wanted total dominance of both Scandinavia and the British Isles. He saw Hakon Eiriksson as providing a strategic role in achieving this, and so in 1030 recalled him to be his deputy in Norway. Hakon was ruling in the Hebrides at this time and Knut saw this as an opportunity to gain control of the sea road north to Orkney and Shetland. But Hakon never made it. He was drowned in a shipwreck in the Pentland Firth. When Olaf heard the news he saw a chance to take back control of Norway. Tore the Hound rallied the chieftains on the king’s behalf, and they faced Olaf’s rebel army at Stiklestad near Trondheim. During the battle which ensued Tore thrust at Olaf with his spear before Kalf Arnesson, another loyal chieftain, stabbed him in the throat. With his arch-rival now dead Knut was the undisputed king.

Knut died five years later in England at Shaftesbury on 12 November 1035. His body was carried to Winchester and buried with great honour in the Old Minster. As ruler of three distinct kingdoms Knut had created for himself an unparalleled North Sea empire. It’s only appropriate that we still know him today as Knut the Great.

By Brydon Leslie