KNUD Svendsen, son of SVEND I "Tveskæg/Forkbeard" King of Denmark & his first wife [Gunhild] --- ([995]-Shaftesbury, Dorset 12 Nov 1035, bur Winchester Cathedral, Old Minster). The Encomium Emmæ Reginæ names "Cnutone filio suo [=Sueinum] maiore"[224]. However, the identity of Knud's mother is uncertain. Adam of Bremen names "Chnut" as son of King Svend & his wife "Herici relictam, matrem Olaph"[225]. The Fagrskinna suggests that Knud was the son of King Svend's first marriage by stating that Astrid, daughter of King Svend and Sigrid Skoglar-Tosta, had the same father as King Knud and the same mother as Olof King of Sweden[226]. According to Ronay[227], Knud was taken back to Poland with his mother after her divorce and fostered by Thorkell "the Tall" at the fortress of Jömsborg at the mouth of the River Oder but the author cites no primary source to support this. Knud took part in the invasion of England led by his father in 1013. After the death of King Svend, Æthelred II King of England counter-attacked the Danes in Lindsey, and the Danish fleet under Knud withdrew to Denmark. In August 1015, Knud invaded England again. Guillaume of Jumièges records that “Danamarchæ...regique Sveno” invaded England but died “apud Lundoniam”, was buried “apud Danamarcham”, and succeeded by “filius eius...Chunutus” who launched a new invasion with “Lacman equidem Suauorum et Olavum Noricorum”[228]. By the end of1015, he was in control of Wessex, helped by the defection of Eadric"Streona/the Acquisitor" Ealdorman ofMercia. The Danes controlled Northumbria in early 1016, then turned theirattention to London and the south-east. After thedeath of King Æthelred in Apr 1016, the Witan offered the throne to Knud, towhom a group of nobles andchurch dignitaries from southern England swore allegiance at Southampton[229]. Knud's fleet laid siege to London, which was relieved by King Æthelred's son King Edmund "Ironside" who had been proclaimed king by an assembly in London. Knud turned his attention to Mercia, Eadric "Streona" defecting back to King Edmund's forces at Aylesford, only to return to Knud at Ashingdon in Essex where Danish forces finally defeated King Edmund in Oct 1016[230]. At Alney, nearDeerhurst, the king agreed a compromise division of the country with Knud, Edmund taking Wessex and Knud the north, but Edmund died in Nov 1016 before this could be implemented. After the death of King Edmund II, Knud was accepted as CANUTE King of England, crowned maybe at Old St Paul’s Cathedral, London 6 Jan 1017. After succeeding in England, he divided the country into four districts for administrative purposes[231]. He appointed Eadric "Streona" as Ealdorman of Mercia ("slain in London" the same year[232]), gave East Anglia to Thorkell the tall, confirmed Erik Haakonsson Jarl in Norway as Earl of Northumbria, and kept direct control over Wessex. He held a national assembly at Oxford in 1018 which decided the legal form of his rule, largely following that of King Edgar "the Peaceable". He succeeded his brother in 1018 as KNUD I "den Storre/the Great" King of Denmark, leaving England for Denmark to take possession in 1019. His position in Denmark did not go unchallenged, for he was defeated at the Holy River in [1025] by Olaf King of Norway and Amund King of Sweden[233]. He expelled Olav King of Norway in 1028, declaring himself KNUD King of Norway. Malcolm II King of Scotland submitted to him in 1031[234]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death of King Canute at Shaftesbury on 12 Nov 1035and his burial in the Old Minster, Winchester[235].
m (2 or 31 Jul 1017) as her second husband, EMMA de Normandie, widow of ÆTHELRED II King of England, daughter of RICHARD I "Sans Peur" Comte de Normandie & his second wife Gunnora --- ([985]-Winchester 14 Mar 1052, bur Winchester Cathedral, Old Minster[236]). Adam of Bremen records the marriage of "Chnud" and "regnum Adelradi…uxoremque eius Immam…soror comitis Nortmannorum Rikardi"[237]. Emma was described by Henry of Huntingdon as "Emma Normanorum gemma"[238], although it is not known whether this was a particular indication of her beautyor mere hyperbole. She was known as "ÆLFGIFU" in England[239]. Her first husband sent her to her brother's court in Normandy in 1013 after the invasion of Svend King of Denmark[240]. She was living in Normandy in 1017 when King Æthelred's successor King Canute proposed marriage to her. Guillaume of Jumièges records that, after the death of “Edelredus rex”, “Emmam reginam” married “rex...Chunutus...Christiano more”, and names their children “Hardechunutum postmodum regem Danorum et filiam...Gunnildem quæ nupsit Henrico Romanorum Imperatori”[241]. Roger of Wendover records the marriage in Jul 1018 of "Cnuto" and"ducem Ricardum…Emmam sororem suam etregis Ethelredi relictam"[242]. After the death of her second husband, she continued to live at Winchester. After the election of her step-son as regent in early 1036, it was recognised that she would continue to live there to look after the interests of her son Harthacnut (then absent in Denmark), who had nominally succeeded his father as king of England and Denmark. It is likely that she encouraged her sons by her first husband, Edward and Alfred, to join her. After Harold was recognised asking of England in 1037, Emma was expelled from England and took refuge at Bruges[243]. She commissioned the Encomium Emmæ Reginæ from a Flemish convent at Saint-Omer, maybe St Bertin's, designed to promote her son Harthacnut's claim to the English throne. Harthacnut joined her in Bruges in early 1040, and after the death of King Harold I, they returned together to England. After the accession of her son by her first husband, Edward "the Confessor" to the English throne, Emma appears to have supported the rival claim of Magnus King of Norway[244]. King Magnus had claimed the throne of Denmark on the basis of an alleged agreement reached with Harthacnut in 1039, and invaded and took control of large parts of Denmark on the strength of it. He claimed the English throne on the same basis and threatened to invade, but was too preoccupied withconquering Denmark to carry out the threat. Whatever the truth of this, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that King Edward did confiscate her property in 1043[245]. She seems to have spent the last years of her life in retirement in Winchester[246]. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the death of "Ælfgifu Emma, the mother of king Edward and of king Harthacnut" in 1052[247].
Mistress (1): (before [1015]) ÆLFGIFU Ælfhelmsdotter of Northampton, daughter of Ealdorman ÆLFHELM of Deira & his wife Wulfrun of Northampton (-after [1042]). Roger of Wendover names "Algiva, Elfelmi comitis filia" as first wife of "regis Cnutonis" and mother of "duos…filios Suanum…et Haroldum"[248]. She was known as ALFIFA in Denmark and Norway.King Knud took her as a "temporary wife"[249], but the "marriage" was not recognised by the church. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Harold claimed that he was the son of King Canute by "Ælfgifu of Northampton, although it was not true", another passage commenting that "many thought this [claim] quite incredible"[250]. She continued to behave as Queen in the north of England after King Canute married Emma. King Canute appointed her co-regent in Norway in 1030 for their son Svend. Morkinskinna records that “Álfifa” accompanied her son Svend back to Denmark after he was overthrown as king of Norway (in 1035)[251]. Morkinskinna records that “Álfifa” tried unsuccessfully to poison Magnus King of Norway but killed “King Hordaknútr” instead (dated to 1042), and that “she vanished instantly so that she could not be punished”, stating that this took place “in the sixth year of King Magnus´s reign”[252]. Morkinskinnarecords that “Álfífa” tricked “a powerful duke named Otto south in Saxony”, when visiting “Norway and arrived inVik”, intothinking that “her daughter…not King Sveinn´s sister by the same father” was Ulfhild, sister of Magnus King of Norway[253]. The paragraph refers to Ordulf Duke of Saxony who later married Ulfhild, their marriage being dated to Nov 1042. This is the only reference so far identified to this supposed daughter. However, it seems surprising that Ælfgifu would have been present in Norway and have been in a position to welcome foreignvisitors, given that her son by King Canute had been overthrown as king of Norway by King Magnus. All passages in Morkinskinna which refer to “Álfífa” treat her with disdain as the archetypal wicked queen figure, suggesting that they should all be treated with caution. Weir gives her date of death as “1044?” without any basis for her conjecture[254]. Roger of Wendover records that death "Algiva, Elfelmi comitis filia", first wife of "regis Cnutonis", died in 1018[255], but this date is incompatible with the other sources quoted above.
King Canute & his wife Queen Emma [Ælfgifu] had two children