Cnut of Denmark

The Danish Prince Cnut (also spelled Canute) put together what was called the North Sea Empire: England, Denmark, and Norway. This was a remarkable accomplishment for the early 11th century.

He was born about 990, the son of King Svein Forkbeard of Denmark, and his mother is alternately given as Świętosława, a daughter of the founder of the Polish state, or Gunhild, a daughter of Burislav from Scandinavian sagas. A third chronicle claims Cnut's mother was an unnamed former queen of Sweden.

The 13th-century Icelandic Knýtlinga saga describes him:

Knut was exceptionally tall and strong, and the handsomest of men, all except for his nose, that was thin, high-set, and rather hooked. He had a fair complexion and a fine, thick head of hair. His eyes were better than those of other men, being both more handsome and keener-sighted.

Nothing definitive about his youth is known until 1013, when his father invaded England and ousted Æthelred the Unready. Svein married Cnut to Ælfgifu of Northampton. Svein died a few months after the conquest, on 3 February 1014. Back in Denmark, Svein was succeeded by Harald II (Cnut's brother). The Danes in England chose Cnut as the new king, but the native English nobility gathered the witenagemot and elected to have Æthelred return, which he did.

Æthelred's army drove Cnut out of England handily, but Cnut left a lot of bodies in his wake as he departed from Sandwich. Cnut's brother offered him an army to try to take back England, so long as Cnut had no designs on the kingdom of Denmark itself.

By the summer of 1015 Cnut had assembled mercenaries from all over Scandinavia, numbering perhaps 10,000 in 200 ships. They landed first at Sandwich, and then began a series of bloody battles in a conflict that lasted more than a year.

I'll tell you more next time.

The Town of Sandwich

So...Sandwich. Most people just think about the food item that shares its name, but it has had more history than that, and not just as a Cinque Port. Its significance as a port in southeast England helped to weave it through many events that have been mentioned in this blog before.

The name Sondwic is mentioned first in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, covering events in England from the 800s to 1154. The Domesday Book, an account of all property in England so the new Norman rulers knew what they had, calls it Sandwice. The suffix -wic is Anglo-Sacon for a fortified place where trade takes place (a town). The name means a market town on sandy soil, appropriate for a coastal location.

When Rome invaded Britain in 43 CE, Sandwich was their landing point (technically, a town called Stonar across the river Stour from Sandwich, but Stonar disappeared in the 14th century).

King Cnut (c.990 - 1035) had history with Sandwich, initially leaving a pile of bodies strewn across the beach when he fled to Denmark after fighting with King Æthelred the Unready, but then later giving special rights to the church at Sandwich.

When Richard Lionheart was released from captivity after the Third Crusade and returned to England, Sandwich was his choice of landing port.

During the First Barons War (mentioned here) against King John, Prince Louis (later King Louis VIII) of France landed at sandwich to support the barons against John. The Battle of Sandwich was part of the First Barons War, and had the participation of Eustace, the Pirate Monk.

In the 14th century, a hospital (an almshouse for the poor) was established, named for St. Thomas Becket and still standing (see illustration).

In 1660, an earldom was created to bestow on Admiral Sir Edward Montagu. The 4th Earl of Sandwich was First Lord of the Admiralty and sponsored the voyages of Captain Jame Cook, who named the Sandwich islands for the Earl. The 4th Earl, John Montagu, is also credited with the naming of a food item when asking for meat between two pieces of bread so that he would not have to stop his activities. It bears mentioning, however, that a 1st century CE rabbi, Hillel the Elder, put the lamb and bitter herbs of the Seder between two pieces of matzoh, so this concept predates Montage by several centuries. (I doubt, however, that you'd get anything but blank stares of you ask for a "roast beef hillel" next time you want lunch.)

In a more serious vein: once again, I find a gap in my reporting: although King Cnut has had several references in this blog going back over a decade, he himself has not had his story told. Stay tuned.