Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
Canute as English king
A vital source containing many valuable insights into Scandinavian history are Knut’s letters to the
English of 1020 and 1027; see (B107a): I,273-77 for text, transl. in (B107b):140-53 and (B81):452-54,
476-78; see also (I105 ff.) for the English side.
[D105] M.W. Campbell, ‘Queen Emma and Ælfgifu of Northampton: Canute the great’s women’, MS 4
(1971), 66-79
[D106] M.K. Lawson, Cnut: the Danes in England in the early eleventh century (1993) [UL
541:16.c.95.1]
Knut as Danish king
Much of what we know about Knut as king of Denmark relates to his ecclesiastical policies and can be
found in Adam (B73), cf. also his coins (C260 ff.).
[D110] N. Lund, ‘Cnut’s Danish kingdom’, (D103):27-42
[D111] R. Frank, ‘King Cnut in the verse of his skalds’, (D103):106-24
[D112] J. Jesch, ‘Knútr in poetry and history’, International Scandinavian and medieval studies in
memory of Gerd Wolfgang Weber, edd. M. Dallapiazza et al. (2000), 243-56 [ASNC]
Knútr as Scandinavian emperor
As well as being king over Denmark and England, Knut also had aspirations over Norway (which were
eventually realised with Olaf Haraldsson’s expulsion in 1028 (E70 ff.)) and also apparently Sweden.
[D115] P.H. Sawyer, ‘Cnut’s Scandinavian empire’, with appendix B. Sawyer, ‘The evidence of
Scandinavian runic inscriptions’, (D103):10-26
Particularly interesting, if inconclusive, is the battle at Holy River around 1026:
[D118] O. Moberg, ‘Knut den stores motståndare i slaget vid Helgeå’, Scandia 51 (1985), 7-17 (E.s. p.
275)
[D119] B. Gräslund, ‘Knut den store och sveariket: slaget vid Helgeå i ny belysning’, Scandia 52 (1986),
211-38 (E.s. p. 351)
[D120] O. Moberg, ‘The battle of Helgeå’, SJH 14 (1989), 1-19
Early mediaeval Denmark
Knut was succeeded in Denmark (and later also England) by his son Harthaknut, whose death in 1042
sparked a contest between the Norwegian pretender Magnus the good and Knut’s nephew Svein
Estrithsen for the throne. The remainder of the eleventh century saw the steady consolidation of the
Danish state.
[D125] A.E. Christensen, ‘Denmark between the Viking age and the time of the Valdemars’, MS 1
(1968), 28-50
[D126] E. Hoffmann, Königserhebung und Thronfolgeordnung in Dänemark bis zum Ausgang des
Mittelalters, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Quellenkunde des Mittelalters 5 (1976) [UL 532:01.c.23.5];
includes discussion of Svein Estrithsen (23-36) and successors
[D127] A.E. Christensen, ‘Tiden 1042-1241’, Danmarks historie 1. Tiden indtil 1340, edd. A.E.
Christensen et al. (1977), 211-399 [UL 597:1.c.95.39]
[D128] C. Breengaard, Muren om Israels hus: regnum og sacerdotium i Danmark, 1050-1170 (1982)
[UL 65:53.c.95.25] (E.s.)
Svein Estrithsen
[D130] The reign and role of this most crucial of Danish kings has been sadly neglected in most Englishlanguage
scholarship, where Svein tends to be characterised by three tangential points: that he was the
son of the disgraced earl Ulf who was defeated (possibly) at Holy River (D118 ff.), leading to the
adoption of his mother’s name Estrith (ON Ástríðr); that he was a chief informant of Adam of Bremen
(B73); and that he was a fairly ineffectual warleader (in comparison to his rival Magnus), who spent most
of his time bleating to the English for martial aid, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon chronicle (B86).
However, once stabilised his reign saw the serious beginnings of ecclesiastical organisation in Denmark
(L200 ff.). The major source is Adam along with later twelfth-century chroniclers, but for the interesting
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