The Greatest Viking King | Canute The Great | Vikings Valhalla

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that's only 14.99 for the whole year which is just 1.25 a month so use my link in the description or go to curiositystream.com forward slash hp for unlimited access to the world's top documentaries and use my promo code hp to sign up and get 25 off your yearly subscription in this video we will delve into 10th and 11th century england and scandinavia this was a perilous time where the kings of england were being assassinated exiled or cut down in the field of battle need it be said that this was a time of murder betrayal and ambition in scandinavia the situation was no better sven forkbeard was canute's father and before knuts birth in the latter part of the 10th century sven revolted against his own father king harold bluetooth and seized the throne of denmark driving his father into exile and death the story of canute involves many awe-inspiring figures as in this time when boats were made from wood men were made from steel when cnut was just a boy he heard a story of the saint bryce's day massacre king ethelred of england ordered the extermination of all danes in his land which led to the death of his aunt gunhild and her husband palig and countless others his father sven forkbid was overcome with grief he would personally lead raids against england frequently knuts father was rash bold and a fearless warrior but he wasn't there for the boy as he was always away fighting so how would canute be forged into the greatest king scandinavia had ever seen this is his story first let's look at the early life of knut we don't have an exact date to when he was born but it's widely believed he was born in the year 990. he came from a legendary bloodline with his great great great great grandfather being sigurd snake in the eye the mythic viking warrior and danish king who was the son of ragnar lothbrok knuts grandfather harold bluetooth would cast aside the old gods of his forefathers and adopt christianity making him the first scandinavian king to accept it so knut was a christian just like his grandfather but with his father always being away how would he learn what it meant to be a man and a warrior according to a 13th century book called the flateja book canute was personally tutored in the art of war by thor called the tall in order for this to happen canute may have been sent to yomsburg the castle of the fabled yom's viking warriors thakul the tool was a famous warrior and it is said that there was no man taller he would teach a young canute the way of the sword the axe and how to kill a man growing up knut admired thorkel for he was everything he wanted to be strong respected and feared knut would not forget the lord thaukel for he owed him much knuts training by thorkel and the yom's vikings was so intense that he would be ready for battle in his teens in the knuts drappa an old norse poem it states that knut was of no great age when he first went to war but barely anything is known of knuts early life apart from his tutoriage from thorkal once he became a man he was described as follows in the kanitlinga saga 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 nonetheless and a fine thick head of hair his eyes were better than those of other men both the handsomer and the kinah of their sight soon enough in the year 1012 knuts old tutor lord thorkel now leader of the yom's vikings led a viking invasion into england with his men the disruption thor call caused in england gave canute's father king sven an opportunity to finally finish what he started and that was to kill king ethelred of england or take his crown or both but this time sven would take his son prince canute with him by 1013 sven and knut led a full-scale invasion on england they would sail with hundreds of ships ready to take the throne and avenge the extermination of danes ordered by king ethelred years before when knut and his father arrived in england according to the anglo-saxon chronicle they arrived with their fleet in sandwich and swiftly went to east anglia erlutrid quickly bowed to sven as did all the people of northumbria then the people of the five boroughs followed they then went to winchester and the people there did the same they then pressed eastward to london conquering london would prove difficult however due to thor called at all defecting to king ethelred's side after abandoning his individual raids in england he became one of ethelred's generals and he would personally hold london against the forces of canute and sven nonetheless thought calls resistance was in vain he knew that they could not hold the city due to the overwhelming might of sven and canute's forces king ethelred sent his sons edward and alfred to normandy and then retreated to the isle of wight thorkel abandoned london to meet ethelred for one final meeting after this ethelredd followed his sons into exile on christmas day in the year 1013 sven was declared the king of england only five weeks after his ascent he would die at the age of 50. sven did not even have the time to organize his vast new kingdom and his sudden death would leave england in chaos but upon sven's death the vikings and common people of the danelaw would cry out for canute to be crowned as the king of england the witten however who were the king's council composed of the anglo-saxon nobility quickly sent words to normandy to recall ethelred from his exile king ethelred with the support from the witton quickly mustered up a force of loyalists ethelred's son was a notable warrior said to be one of the finest swordsmen in all of england he would come to be known as edmund ironside and he would lead his father's army in a surprise attack against canute's forces the attack left canute's army of vikings running back to their longships and caused them to flee england knut was now at his lowest point he had lost his father lost his newly acquired lands which he had bled for and he was no king so he went to his brother harold and managed to muster up more men for a new campaign in england and he wasn't going to let all his father's achievements go to nothing so in the summer of 10 15 canutes fleet set sail for england and their numbers were immense but this invasion wouldn't be like his father's for they faced edmund ironside and something had changed in him perhaps from his exile he was strong bold and an inspiring figure to his men he was quickly becoming a savior to the english he would die for his men and they would do the same for him and what knut faced wasn't the bowing and submission of lords but grisly bloody warfare [Music] it is said that the battles to come were of an intensity that had not been seen since the days of alfred the great in early september cnut would arrive in sandwich he then sailed around kent to wessex and began his campaign and in order to win rivers of blood would need to stain the english soil he wished to rule lord erdrich the elderman of mercier deserted king ethelred and he and his men joined canute cnut's old mentor the man who taught him to fight and be a man lord thorkel the commander of the yom's vikings also defected to his side and abandoned king ethelred due to their history together and the legend of thorkel and his men knut accepted his allegiance over the next few months while knut began his campaign king ethelred would die in april 1016 leaving his son edmund ironside to take up the defenses of the country soon enough after many assaults raids and massacres the famed edmund ironside and canute would face each other head-on in the hills of sherston on june the 25th the danish and english armies would clash though called at all would summon his yom's vikings from their 40 ships and they would face the army in the front line to prove his loyalty to canute as the battle raged the deaths were piling up the battle was fierce and thoughtful and his yom's vikings would fight with such ferociousness that no man could face them vanquishing all english men in their path but edmund ironside the warrior prince would also fight amazingly cutting down many danish troops and inspiring his men to fight on canute would also be in the thick of the fighting and would fight with a trance-like fury but once the blood rage wore off the leaders of the armies knut and edmund saw the amount of death and bloodshed and eventually called the battle off neither side won that day there would be no celebration that night for the deaths on both sides were too many to count [Music] later that year on october the 16th 1016 a decisive battle would take place that would decide the fate of england the battle of assandin would take place in essex where canute and thorkel would face off once again against edmund ironside during the battle the english and danish armies fought valiantly but eardrick the elderman of mercia again betrayed edmund ironside and abandoned the battle amidst the carnage which allowed the vikings to break through the english lines and annihilate edmund's forces edmund would then flee and knut and his army would pursue him the two leaders would eventually meet to negotiate terms the vikings and canute had such respect for edmund as a warrior that they allowed him to rule wessex while canute ruled the rest of the country until one of their deaths in which the survivor would take control of the whole country thorkel the lord of the yom's vikings would be made into the yall of east anglia for his help and fighting prowess against the english edmund ironside would soon die either from his wounds in battle or being assassinated a few weeks after the pact leaving knut to rule the whole of england the witten the saxon nobility and all of the danes now accepted canute as their king he was crowned in london in 1017. knut was clever as well as being a warrior he quickly killed off anyone he thought could question his rule or grow to oppose him he ordered the death of ethelred's son and edmund ironside's brother erdwig edric would soon grow arrogant and proclaimed that without his desertion canute would not have been able to claim the english throne knut replied a man who betrays one master is likely to do the same to another while the two were arguing edric was decapitated with a battle axe by eric of northumbria who no doubt hated edric and wanted him dead due to his treachery edrick's head was then placed on a spike on london bridge in the year 1018 knuts brother harold died knut quickly sailed to denmark to seize the crown and that he did with his hold over the danish crown being stable he went back to england in 1021 thorkal also fell out of favour with the king but the past had made canoe to man of mercy on this occasion as he couldn't kill his old mentor so thorkal was outlawed instead of killed the norwegian king olaf haroldson took advantage of canute residing in england and began to launch attacks on knuts kingdom of denmark word would quickly reach canute that his neighbor was ravaging his lands so he set sail for denmark at the head of an army knuts army was now colossal he had around 600 ships and his ship was said to be 80 meters long knut and olaf's armies would soon face off against one another in a battle known as the holy river with an alliance between king olaf haroldson and anud olafsan the swedes and norwegians were attacked in the mouth of the river helga by a navy of canute 10 26 is the likely date and the apparent victory left canute in control of scandinavia in 1028 knut set off with a fleet of 50 ships from denmark to norway olaf harrelson now stood down unable to put up a fight as his nobles sided against him they were swayed with bribes of huge amounts of gold knut was quickly crowned king his office was now king of all england denmark and norway the founder of the north sea empire during canute's reign in england there was an era of peace this is due to the fact that he controlled the forces that would regularly raid the english shores and ravage the lands many people believed that canute had divine powers and could control the tide so knut ordered his throne to be placed on the shores and commanded the sea to halt and not wet his feet when his feet got wet he turned to the court and said let all men know how empty and worthless is the power of kings for there is none worthy of the name but he whom heaven earth and sea obey by eternal laws the story about the tide is not about canute's arrogance but his humility and submission onto god showing that even he was only a man and the true authority and power lay with god knut was a devout christian who repaired all the churches and monasteries that were looted and ravaged by his army with his army being largely heathen he had to tolerate the pagan religion to not alienate his forces he even went on a pilgrimage to rome in 1027 knut would die on the 12th of november 1035 aged around 45 his brilliance was what held together his north sea empire and upon his death it was split chaos would erupt as men of ambition would want to be king the medieval historian norman cantor called canute the most effective king in anglo-saxon history knut the great would grow up amongst all types of men schemers warriors and warmongers in order to survive and carve out his legacy he had to be the best of them all his training with thakul forged him into a warrior his time with edric made him wary of schemers and traitors and his father sven loved to raid and go to battle as did canute being the veteran of a hundred battles and many wars let me know your thoughts on canute the great in the comment sections down below and i'll see you all soon for another history profile

Channel: History Profiles

Views: 257,404

Keywords: History Profiles, Lost History, Forgotten History, Interesting History, Vikings Valhalla, Cnut the great, Canute the Great, Canute Vikings, Cnut Vikings, Canute Vikings valhalla, Jarl Haakon, Earl Godwin, Emma Of Normandy, Harald Sigurdsson, Freydis Eriksdotter, Leif Eriksson, Olaf Haraldsson, Anund Olafsson, Harald Bluetooth, Sweyn Forkbeard, King Aethelred, Thorkell the Tall, Jomsvikings, Earl Uhtred, Edmund Ironside, Battle of Assandun, Eadric Streona, Knut

Id: Z_ocWb5nO1A

Length: 20min 16sec (1216 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 10 2022