Mind How You Go

From Viking warrior to English king -

Canute (Knud) The Great

'THE KING WHO COULD NOT STOP THE SEA 

Cnut the Great[2] (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki;[3] 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 his death, the deaths of his heirs within a decade, 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.[4]

Landing in Wessex

According to the Peterborough manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, early in September 1015 "[Cnut] came intoSandwich, and straightway sailed around Kent to Wessex, until he came to the mouth of the Frome, and harried in Dorsetand Wiltshire and Somerset",[27] beginning a campaign of an intensity not seen since the days of Alfred the Great.[28] A passage from Emma's Encomium provides a picture of Cnut's fleet:

Ruler of the waves

Henry of Huntingdon, the 12th-century chronicler, tells how Cnut set his throne by the sea shore and commanded the tide to halt and not wet his feet and robes. Yet "continuing to rise as usual [the tide] dashed over his feet and legs without respect to his royal person. 

Then the king leapt backwards, saying: "Let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings. For there is none worthy of the name but God whom heaven, earth, and sea obey by eternal laws ".

So spoke King Canute the Great, the legend says, seated on his throne on the seashore, waves lapping round his feet. Canute had learned that his flattering courtiers claimed he was "So great, he could command the tides of the sea to go back". Now Canute was not only a religious man, but also a clever politician. He knew his limitations - even if his courtiers did not - so he had his throne carried to the seashore and sat on it as the tide came in, commanding the waves to advance no further. When they didn't, he had made his point that, though the deeds of kings might appear 'great' in the minds of men, they were as nothing in the face of God's power.

 This incident is usually misrepresented by popular commentators and politicians as an example of Cnut's arrogance.[95]

The encounter with the waves is said to have taken place at Thorn-eye (Thorn Island), or Southampton in Hampshire. There were and are numerous islands so named, including at Westminster and Bosham in West Sussex, both places closely associated with Cnut. According to the House of Commons Information Office,[97] Cnut set up a royal palace during his reign on Thorney Island (later to become known as Westminster) as the area was sufficiently far away from the busy settlement to the east known as London. It is believed that, on this site, Cnut tried to command the tide of the river to prove to his courtiers that they were fools to think that he could command the waves.[98] Conflictingly, a sign on Southampton city centre's Canute Road reads, "Near this spot AD 1028 Canute reproved his courtiers".[99][100]

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