Kilde: Dansk Biografisk Lexicon Carl Fr. Bricka Project Runeberg (1887-1905)
Canute the Great/Knud den Store, ab. 995-1035, king of England, Denmark and Norway. K. was a son of Svend Tveskæg (Sweyn Forkbeard) and Gunhild, a daughter of hertug Miesko of Poland. Svend had after many war expeditions conquered England, but when he died 3 Feb. 1014, the ousted king Aethelred returned from Normandy, and his son Edmund Ironside took bravely up the fight with the Danes. K., who was appointed king by the army, had to leave the country, the hostages he had been given from the Anglo Saxons were put ashore, mauled on nose, ears and hands. In the North was realized though that England was now ready to be taken by the Danes. Knud's brother Harald, who was elected king in Denmark, and his stepmother Sigrid Storråde's son, the Swedish king Oluf , gave him ships for a new expedition, and the Viking chief Thorkil the Tall came to his service. With a splendid fleet of over 200 ships the attack on England could take place (1015), but the brave Edmund, who after his father's death, 23. April 1036, was elected king, gave in 6 great battles the Danes the toughest resistance. The two army chiefs therefore agreed in sharing the country, and in a meeting at Olney in Severn the kingdom was divided, K. got the northern part and Edmund the southern. But Edmund died on 30. Nov. 1016, and this death was so convenient that the chronicle-writers later quite unfoundedly accused K. for having arranged Edmund to be murdered by the traitor Eadric Streona. Now was K. elected king of all England. K.s politics at once intended to reconcile the fighting parties and people. He married (1017) Aethelreds widow, Emma or Aelfgifu,a daughter of hertug Richard I of Normandy, and it was decided that K.'s and her sons became heirs to the throne. The main part of the Danish fleet was sent back home, and the Nordic chiefs, whom he in the first years had given high positions, were gradually removed from these, or they were exiled, while the Anglo Saxons took their place. K. declaired, that the existing laws, "King Edgar's Laws", had to be maintained, and he joined closely church and clergy. His kingdom had to rest upon national ground. But K. had after his brother Harald's death (1018) also won Denmark, and by new acquisitions his power soon rose to a degree like an empire. In an expedition in 1023 K. claimed power over large parts of the south- and east coast of the Baltic Sea, he not only controlled Jomsborg, he controlled several Slavic people in Samland at the mouth of the river Weichsel. When Norway's king Olaf den Digre (the Big) and the Swedish king Anund Jacob joined against him, K. went against them and fought a hard battle at Helgeå in Skåne, (1026), but he did not win the battle. This bad luck had to be revenged, and after K. by bribery had won many supporters in Norway, he went there in 1028 with a fleet, which he had gathered in Limfjorden. Without any battles he reached as far as Nidaros, where he was celebrated king, and Olaf had to leave the country. Hakon, K.'s sister's son, was made governor, but although the farmers at Stiklestad (1030) destroyed Olaf's attempt to regain the country, K.'s power rested upon weak feet. K. appointed his son Svend governor or king in Norway, followed by his mother Aelfgifu, the ealdorman Aelfhelm's daughter, with whom K. had a relationship when young. The Norwegians found this foreign rule unbearable; the killed Olaf's son Magnus was called back, and Svend and Aelfgifu had leave. - K. had also to fight many fights with the border-people in Wales, Cumberland and Scotland, mostly with success. But K. won his great name more by ruling in peace than by wars and conquests. From the first day he showed strange abilities in finding ways for his plans and friends to work them out. His close connection to the church was also very important. In his laws and public messages to the people he always connected love for God and for the king, religious belief and moral behaviour, to keep the commands of the church and the secular laws, and with a masterful hand he maintained both the power of the state and the church. He supported churches and kloster generously, and wisely he seeked papal support for his power. A few months after the battle at Helgeå he went to Rome and took part in emperor Conrad II's coronation in St. Peter's Cathedral on Easter Day 1027. It was the first time a Danish king visited Rome, and it was certain that the travel aimed at political purposes to the pope and other princes. K. achieved that emperor Conrad gave him the dispouted "danske Mark" (Danish land) at the Eider. K.'s religious politics were of great importance, especially to the still half heathen Denmark, churches were built, the bishoprics were changed, priests were summoned from England or from other western districts, and klosters were established. K.'s English laws were important because they created a safe administration and a good order in the country, and there is no doubt that he worked in the same way in Denmark. In England he established an army of 3000 men, whose members (housecarls) were in a brotherhood under a special law (vederlagsret): an institution like this was made in Denmark, or the English branched off to Denmark, where these laws soon became important for the development of the aristocratic landlords. Only few details from K's rule of Denmark are known, but his influence is clear in the monetary system. Many bad deeds which earlier were ascribed to K., have been removed by new critics, or they are seen in another light.His temper could make him violent, like when he let his unreliable brother-in-law Ulf kill in Roskilde Trefoldighedskirke. K. owned diplomatic ingenuity and used often cunnings, but he was not faithless, either hippocratic, he was a devout man, and the famous story about how he acknowledged his scepter's lack of power on the waves by the sea, is a good description of his pious mind. He favored poetry and scalds; a stanza he wrote is still preserved. But like most members of his family his life was short. He died in Shaftesbury 12. Nov. 1035 and was buried in Winchester. That age called him "the rich" *c: mægtige (great); when Denmark later had other kings by the name Knud, he was named "the old", but the name "the Great" was used from the late 12th century. By his sons' incompetence and early deaths England was not in the Royal Danish family for long. With Aelfgifu he had 2 sons, Svend and Harald Harefoot ; in his happy marriage to Emma he had the son Hardicanute and the daughter Gunhild, who was married to Henrik III of Germany. Lappenberg, Geschichte v. England I. Freeman, Norman Conquest I. Steenstrup, Normannerne III og IV. Ersch u. Gruber, Allg. Encyklopädie, 2. Section, XXXVII. Stephen, Dictionary of national biography IX. A. D. Jørgensen, Den nord. Kirkes Grundlæggelse S. 435 f. Olrik, Konge og Præstestand i den danske Middelalder I. Emma (Ælfgifu), --1052, queen, was a daughter of hertug Richard I of Normandy; she was in 1002 married to king Aethelred of England, which marriage was very unhappy, caused by the king's incompetence as regent and his adultery. E. was by the Anglo Saxons named Aelfgifu/Ælfgifu, she had with the king the sons Alfred, Edvard ( the Confessor) and Goda (Godgifu). When Svend Tveskæg attacked in 1013, E. had to (and shortly after Aethelred) to flee to Normandy, where Aethelred died 23. April 1016. King Knud den Store, Canute the Great,had in the meantime subjected England; he now asked her hand in marriage, and after he had promised that their eventual sons became first heirs to the throne, the wedding took place in July 1017. The year after gave E. birth to the son Knud (Hardicanute) and later the daughter Gunhild (married 1036 to king Henrik III of Germany). Knud lived in a happy marriage with his beautiful and clever wife. E. was called "Normannorum gemma", the Norman jewel, especially by the clergy, which she protected. At Knud's death 12. Nov. 1035 E. tried to keep the kingdom for her absent son Hardicanute, but he stayed too long in Denmark, why Knud's illegitimate son Harald Harefoot gained more influence and chased E. out of the country in 1037; the count of Flanders gave her residence and protection in Brügge. Urged by E. Hardicanute came to Flanders with a fleet in order to attempt an expedition against England, but then Harald Harefoot died (1040). E. went to England with Hardicanute, who was crowned king. At his death (1042) Edvard inherited the kingdom, and already the next year he robbed E. of her riches "because she had done too little to help him, both before he became king and later"; yet she kept enough for her support and lived in Winchester. She died in Winchester 6. March 1052 and was buried next to Knud in the cathedral. Freeman, Norman Conquest I. Steenstrup, Normannerne III. Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup. Kilde: Dansk Biografisk Lexicon Carl Fr. Bricka Project Runeberg (1887-1905) Aelfgifu af Northampton (c. 990 – after 1040) was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who became the first consort of King Cnut of England and Denmark, and mother of king Harold I of England (1035–1040). She served as regent of Norway from 1030 to 1035. She is not to be confused with her rival, Emma of Normandy, whose name could be rendered as Aelfgifu/ Ælfgifu in Old English,nor with king Aethelred's first wife, Aelfgifu of York. See: Aelfgifu af Northampton
translation grethe bachmann © copyright
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