CANUTE or CNUT (994?–1035), called the Great, and by Scandinavian writers the Mighty and the Old, king of the English, Danes, and Norwegians, was the younger son of Sweyn, king of Denmark, by Sigrid, widow of Eric the Victorious, king of Sweden (Adam Brem. ii. 37). In his charters his name is written Cnut, and sometimes Knuð, in Norsk it is Cnútr, and in Latin correctly Cnuto. The name is one peculiar to the Danish royal family. The form Canutus is a corruption; it is, however, as old as the canonisation of the later king of that name by Paschal II about 1100 (Ælnoth, Vita S. Kanuti, ap. Langebek, Scrip. Rer. Dan. iii. 340, 382 ; Freeman, Norman Conquest, i. 442). While, then, Canute is certainly an incorrect form, it has obtained such sanction as wide and long use can give. Sweyn had apostatised, but some time after the birth of Cnut he again became a christian, and was rebaptised. As a boy, then, Cnut must have bee a pagan, but he seems to have received baptism before 1013, and possibly before 1000, the date of the battle of Swold, won by Sweyn, as it seems, after his conversion, and by his allies, the Swedes. At his baptism Cnut received the name of Lambert (comp. Chron. Erici, Langebek, i. 158; Adam Brem. ii. 87, 38, 49, and Schol. 38). He is said to have urged his father to invade England in 1013 (Enc. Emmæ, i. 3); he sailed with him, and must therefore have landed at Sandwich, and thence gone round to Gainsborough, where Sweyn received the submission of Earl Uhtred of Northumbria, and of all the Danish part of the kingdom. Crossing Watling Street into the purely English districts, the host advanced to London, ravaging all the country. Being repulsed from London, the Danes marched westwards, and all Wessex submitted to Sweyn, who was now acknowledged as ‘full king’ (A.-S. Chron. 1013). London gave hostages to him, and Æthelred fled to Normandy. Thus Cnut's conquest only completed and confirmed the work of his father (Norman Conquest, i. 399). According to one writer, Sweyn, believing his end to be near, talked much with his son concerning the art of government and the christian religion (Enc. Emmæ. i. 6). His death, however, was unexpected, and the gifts Cnut afterwards made to the monastery of Bury seem to show that he shared the general belief that it was due to the vengeance of St. Eadmund. Sweyn died on the road from Gainsborough to Bury on 3 Feb. 1014. His son Harold succeeded him in Denmark, and the Danish fleet chose Cnut to be king of England. The ‘witan,’ however, sent after Æthelred, and declared every Danish king an outlaw. Æthelred returned to England during Lent. Meanwhile Cnut remained at Gainsborough until Easter (17 April), evidently gathering together as large a force as he could, in order to crush the newly awakened energy of the English. Following his father's example, he now made an agreement with the people of Lindesey that they should supply him with horses, an indispensable step towards inland conquest, and then join his army in ravaging the country. Before he could set out Æthelred marched into Lindesey at the head of a great host, and forced Cnut and his Danes to flee. They sailed to Sandwich, and there Cnut cut off the hands, ears, and noses of the hostages his father had taken, and put them ashore. He then returned to Denmark.
Meanwhile the Norwegians shook off the Danish yoke. Olaf Haroldsson (the saint), a Norwegian sea-king, had carried Æthelred from Normandy to England in his ships. Foreseeing that the English war would call for all
