Cnut's Foreign Relations and Attitude toward the Church

In foreign matters Cnut displayed the same far-sighted statesmanship. His interests were wider than had been those of any English king up to this time. He ruled Sweden, Denmark, and Norway; he preserved peaceful relations with the Welsh and Scots; and when in 1018 Malcolm II defeated the Northumbrians in a battle at Carham on the Tweed and seized Lothian, Cnut confirmed the cession and so separated that region permanently from England, an event of prime importance in Scottish history. Hoping to prevent any attempt of the Normans to invade England in behalf of the sons of 'Ethelred, he married Emma, Ethelred's widow, herself a daughter of a Norman duke. He held frequent communication with Conrad II, one of the ablest kings of Germany and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, and effected a marriage between Conrad's son and his own daughter. And lastly, he brought the English church into closer touch with Rome. In 1027 he himself went on a pilgrimage thither, where he was received with marks of distinguished favor, and where he witnessed the coronation of Conrad. His experiences at Rome he narrated in a famous letter which he sent back to his people. Possessed of great wealth from the revenues of all his kingdoms, he gave liberally to churches and monasteries in England and France, and was hailed as a benefactor by the church, both at home and abroad.

Danish Influence in England

Cnut ruled for twenty years, at the end of which time the Danish influence had made itself permanently felt in England. The Danish invasion and rule had introduced a new and hardier element into English life, for the Danes were stronger, freer, and more adventurous than were the Anglo-Saxons of Cnut's day. There is some reason to think that greater freedom existed in the Danelaw than elsewhere, and that the subjection of the peasantry went on more slowly there than in the south, which had been the scene of the bloodiest wars. On the other hand, Cnut's levies of Danegeld, that of 72,000 in 1018, for example, must have had a tremendous effect in reducing the people to poverty ; and there is reason to think that from this time the Danegeld, as a tax for the purpose of revenue and no longer as a tribute to buy off the Danes, was more or less regularly imposed.

Other traces of Danish influence are found in names, in forms of landholding, in the promotion of new industries, and pre-eminently in the introduction of a new monetary system. London became, in a sense, a Scandinavian port, and commerce with Flanders, Normandy, France, Germany, and the Baltic began to increase. The Danes were traders, and the union of Norway, Denmark, and England and the close connection of England with the Continent were favorable to commerce and navigation. Twenty years of prosperity gave a great impetus to the boroughs, particularly those of the coasts and rivers, and London, Chester, and Bristol grew rapidly in importance.

The Successors of Cnut

No sooner had Cnut died (1035) than his great empire fell apart. Sweyn, the eldest son, took Norway; Harthacnut, the son of Emma, received Denmark; and Harold, an illegitimate son, was supported by the Anglo-Danes for the kingship of England. Within England, where there was no longer a strong king to control the rival earls, tendencies toward disunion made themselves felt more strongly than before. The great earls of Wessex and Mercia, Godwine and Leofric, began a struggle for the leadership, Leofric supporting the cause of Harold, Godwine that of Harthacnut. Godwine obtained the consent of the people south of the Thames to receive Harthacnut as king, but his success was only temporary, for Harthacnut refused to leave Denmark. Therefore Harold became sole ruler in 1037, and reigned till 1040. When he died, the people chose Harthacnut, who came to England and ruled for two years. Neither of these men did the least thing to bring unity or peace to England, or to check the ambition and power of the great earls. In 1041 Harthacnut, to decrease somewhat his unpopularity, associated with him upon the throne Eadward, second son of Ethelred and Emma of Normandy; so that when in 1042 Harthacnut died, the witan, acting under the advice of Godwine, accepted Eadward as their king.