Cnut the Great Biography

Cnut the Great (Old Norse: Knútr inn ríki; c. 995 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute—whose father was Sweyn Forkbeard (which gave him the patronym Sweynsson, Old Norse: Sveinsson)—was King of Denmark, England and Norway; together often referred to as the North Sea Empire. Yet after the deaths of his heirs within a decade of his own, and Norman conquest of England in 1066, this legacy was lost. He is popularly invoked in the context of the legend of King Canute and the tide, which usually misrepresents him as a deluded monarch believing he has supernatural powers, contrary to the original legend which portrays a wise king who rebuked his courtiers for their fawning behaviour.