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Harthacnut (c1018-1042)

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Biography

Harthacnut was born circa 1018 in England to Cnut (c990-1035) and Emma of Normandy (c985-1052) and died 8 June 1042 Lambeth, South London, England of unspecified causes.

Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great (who ruled Denmark, Norway, and England) and Emma of Normandy. When Cnut died in 1035, Harthacnut struggled to retain his father's possessions. Magnus I took control of Norway, but Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark and became King of England in 1040 after the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot, king of England. Harthacnut himself died suddenly in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. Harthacnut was the last Dane to rule England.

Early life

Harthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017.[1] Cnut had put aside his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton to marry Emma, and according to the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a book she inspired many years later, Cnut agreed that any sons of their marriage should take precedence over the sons of his first marriage. In 1023, Emma and Harthacnut played a leading role in the translation of the body of the martyr St Ælfheah from London to Canterbury, an occasion seen by Harthacnut's biographer, Ian Howard, as recognition of his position as Cnut's heir in England.[2]

In the 1020s Denmark was threatened by Norway and Sweden, and in 1026 Cnut decided to strengthen its defences by bringing over his eight-year-old son to be the future king under a council headed by his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf. However, Ulf alienated Cnut by getting the Danish provinces to acknowledge Harthacnut as king without reference to Cnut's overall authority and by failing to take vigorous measures to meet Norwegian and Swedish invasions, instead waiting for Cnut's assistance. In 1027, Cnut arrived with a fleet. He forgave Harthacnut his insubordination in view of his youth but had Ulf murdered. He drove the invaders out of Denmark and established his authority over Norway, returning to England in 1028 and leaving Denmark to be ruled by King Harthacnut.[3]

Knut syni

Cnut, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, and his sons Harald Harefoot and Harthacnut

Cnut had left Norway under the rule of Håkon Eiriksson, who drowned in a shipwreck in 1029 or 1030. Cnut then appointed his son Svein to rule Norway with the assistance of Ælfgifu, Cnut's first wife and Svein's mother. However, they made themselves unpopular by heavy taxation and favouring Danish advisers over the Norwegian nobles, and when King Magnus I of Norway, the son of the former King of Norway, Olaf, invaded in 1035, they were forced to flee to Harthacnut's court. Harthacnut was a close ally of Svein, but he did not feel his resources were great enough to launch an invasion of Norway, and the half-brothers looked for help from their father, but instead they received news of his death in November 1035.[4]

Reign

Harold and Denmark

In 1035, Harthacnut succeeded his father on the throne of Denmark as Cnut III.[5] He was unable to come to England in view of the situation in Denmark, and it was agreed that Svein's full brother, Harold Harefoot, should act as regent, with Emma holding Wessex on Harthacnut's behalf. In 1037, Harold was generally accepted as king, Harthacnut being, in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "forsaken because he was too long in Denmark",[6] while Emma fled to Bruges, in Flanders. In 1039, Harthacnut sailed with ten ships to meet his mother in Bruges but delayed an invasion as it was clear Harold was sick and would soon die, which he did in March 1040. Envoys soon crossed the channel to offer Harthacnut the throne.

While the general outline of events following Cnut's death are clear, the details are obscure, and historians give differing interpretations. Lawson 2004 states that it is unclear whether Harthacnut was to have England as well as Denmark, but it was probably a reflection of a formal arrangement that mints south of the Thames produced silver pennies in his name, while those to the north were almost all Harold's. There might have been a division of the kingdom if Harthacnut had appeared straight away. He probably stayed in Denmark because of the threat from Magnus of Norway, but they eventually made a treaty by which if either died without an heir, his kingdom would go to the other, and this may have freed Harthacnut to pursue his claim to England.[1]

According to Ian Howard, Harthacnut agreed to help Svein recover Norway and planned an invasion in 1036. Svein died shortly before it was to set out, but Harthacnut proceeded anyway. War was avoided by the treaty between Harthacnut and Magnus, which Harthacnut agreed to because he had no plausible candidate to rule Norway after Svein's death, and he was in any case temperamentally inclined to avoid campaigns and wars. Howard dates the treaty to 1036,[7] whereas other historians date it to 1039 and believe it freed Harthacnut to launch an invasion of England.[8][9]

Exiled in Bruges, Emma plotted to gain the English throne for her son. She sponsored the Encomium Emmae Reginae, which eulogised her and attacked Harold, especially for arranging the murder of Alfred Atheling (the younger of Emma's two sons by Æthelred) in 1036. The work describes Harthacnut's horror at hearing of his half brother's murder, and in Howard's view, was probably influential in finally persuading the cautious Harthacnut to invade England. According to a later edition of the Encomium, the English took the initiative in communicating with Harthacnut in 1039, possibly when they became aware that Harold had not long to live.[10]

Return to England

Silver penny of Harthacnut (YORYM 2000 687) obverse

Silver penny of Harthacnut

Harthacnut travelled to England with his mother. The landing at Sandwich on 17 June 1040, "seven days before Midsummer",[11] was a peaceful one, though he had a fleet of 62 warships. Even though he had been invited to take the throne, he was taking no chances and came as a conqueror with an invasion force.[12] The crews had to be rewarded for their service, and to pay them, he levied a geld of more than 21,000 pounds, a huge sum of money that made him unpopular, although it was only a quarter of the amount his father had raised in similar circumstances in 1017–1018.[13]

Harthacnut had been horrified by Harold's murder of Alfred, and his mother demanded vengeance. With the approval of Harold's former councillors, his body was disinterred from its place of honour at Westminster and publicly beheaded. It was disposed of in a sewer, but then retrieved and thrown in the Thames, from which London shipmen rescued it and had it buried in a churchyard.[14] Godwin, the powerful earl of Wessex, had been complicit in the crime as he had handed over Alfred to Harold, and Queen Emma charged him in a trial before Harthacnut and members of his council. The king allowed Godwin to escape punishment by bringing witnesses that he had acted on Harold's orders, but Godwin then gave Harthacnut a ship so richly decorated that it amounted to the wergild that Godwin would have had to pay if he had been found guilty.[15] Bishop Lyfing of Worcester was also charged with complicity in the crime and deprived of his see, but in 1041 he made his peace with Harthacnut and was restored to his position.[1]


Death

On 8 June 1042, Harthacnut attended a wedding in Lambeth. The groom was Tovi the Proud, former standard-bearer to Cnut, and the bride was Gytha, daughter of the courtier Osgod Clapa. Harthacnut presumably consumed large quantities of alcohol. As he was drinking to the health of the bride,[8][16] he "died as he stood at his drink, and he suddenly fell to the earth with an awful convulsion; and those who were close by took hold of him, and he spoke no word afterwards..."[17] The likely cause of death was a stroke, "brought about by an excessive intake of alcohol".[16]

Sten Körner noted that the death of Harthacnut could be part of a plot, but did not further explore the notion, though the implication would be that Edward the Confessor was behind this plot.[18] Brewer points out that Edward benefited from the sudden death of Harthacnut and that while Godwin, Earl of Wessex, was the father-in-law to Edward, he had once led an uprising against his son-in-law. He died suddenly after dining with said son-in-law, again pointing suspicion at Edward as the probable culprit behind both deaths.[19] Katherine Holman was certain that Harthacnut was poisoned but felt that the culprit will never be known with certainty due to "no shortage of discontented candidates".[20]

Contradictory account of his death

There is a contradictory account of Harthacnut's death featured in the Morkinskinna (13th century). According to this account, Magnus I of Norway (reigned 1034–1047) visited the court of Harthacnut in Denmark, received with all official honours. The two monarchs then argued on a matter of etiquette, on whether the host or the guest should drink first, each man offering the honour to the other. The two eventually agreed that the host should drink first.[21] Then Álfífa (Ælfgifu of Northampton) entered the royal hall, welcoming Magnus. She poured a drink for him. But the guest offered the drink to Harthacnut. He drank from the drinking horn and fell dead, poisoned. Álfífa had thus intended to poison Magnus, but accidentally killed Harthacnut instead. She fled to escape punishment.[21]

The tale is probably fictional in origin, though consistent with the villainous depiction of Ælfgifu in this work. A nearly identical story appears in the Egils saga, though the three protagonists are different, with Egill Skallagrímsson as the intended victim, with Bárðr of Atley and Gunnhild, Mother of Kings as the would-be poisoners.[21]

Succession

Magnus den godes saga - Magnus og Horda-Knut - H

Harthacnut (left) meeting the young King Magnus the Good at the Göta älv river in modern-day Sweden. Illustration by Halfdan Egedius.

The political agreement between Harthacnut and Magnus the Good included the appointment of the latter as heir to Harthacnut. At the time, the agreement would have only affected the throne of Denmark. The Heimskringla reports that when Harthacnut died, Magnus extended his claim to England. He reportedly sent a letter to Edward the Confessor, pressing his claim to the English throne and threatening invasion. His own heir, Harald Hardrada, would also press this claim. Both considered themselves legal heirs to Harthacnut.[22] The Fagrskinna contains a scene where Magnus proclaims that "I will take possession of all the Danish empire or else die in the attempt."[23]







Siblings


Offspring of Cnut (c990-1035) and Ælfgifu of Northampton (c990-1036)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Swein Knutsson (c1016-1035) 1016 Denmark 1035 Denmark
Harold Harefoot (c1017-1040) 1017 Denmark 10 March 1040 Oxford, Oxfordshire, England


Offspring of Cnut (c990-1035) and Emma of Normandy (c985-1052)
Name Birth Death Joined with
Harthacnut (c1018-1042) 1018 England 8 June 1042 Lambeth, South London, England
Gunhilda of Denmark (c1020-1038) 1020 18 July 1038 Italy Heinrich III of the Holy Roman Empire (1017-1056)

Residences

References

  1. ^ a b c Lawson 2004.
  2. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 15, 27.
  3. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 29–38.
  4. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 42–51.
  5. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named kongehuset
  6. ^ Giles 1914, p. 112.
  7. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 58–61.
  8. ^ a b Bricka 1893, pp. 91–92.
  9. ^ Lund 2017.
  10. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 105–107.
  11. ^ Giles 1914, p. 113.
  12. ^ Howard 2008, p. 109.
  13. ^ Howard 2008, p. 117.
  14. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 111–112.
  15. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 112–117.
  16. ^ a b O'Brien 2006, pp. 202-203.
  17. ^ Giles 1914, p. 114.
  18. ^ John 1996, p. 169, note 2.
  19. ^ Brewer 2000, pp. 13–14
  20. ^ Holman 2007, p. 94.
  21. ^ a b c Fjalldal 2005, pp. 51–53.
  22. ^ Howard 2008, pp. 40–44.
  23. ^ Finlay 2004, p. 173.

See Also

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Cnut the Great 		King of Denmark
1035–1042 		Succeeded by
Magnus the Good
Preceded by
Harold I 		King of the English
1040–1042 		Succeeded by
Edward the Confessor



Footnotes (including sources)

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