In the blog entry dedicated to the most important Saxon king, Alfred the Great We recount that at the end of the 9th century England was about to fall completely under Danish rule and that from his refuge in the marshes of Wessex Alfred began to recover little by little the lands of the Saxon kingdoms. His descendants continued with the task, not without great difficulties and without continuing to suffer Viking attacks from Denmark.
The situation worsened from the year 978 with the rise to the English throne of Aethelred II. The nickname with which he has gone down in history, The Unready, perhaps not entirely fair, since he was a competent administrator and made a compilation of laws known as the Wantage Code that would be used for many years as the basis of the civil laws of the kingdom. In addition, the creation of a very famous figure that endures today even in the United States is due to him:the judges (reeves) county ( shire), i.e. the shire-reeves, from which contraction derives the word sheriff.
But Aethelred was not a charismatic leader and neither was he a soldier. That is why when England was subjected to a resurgence of the Danish invasions, Aehtelred was not up to the task, he was not prepared to face the situation; hence the nickname for him. The Danish invaders were led by King Harald Bluetooth and his son Sweyn Forkbeard . On the history and figure of Harald Bluetooth and his relationship with modern wireless technologies, the link that appears above his name is to the entry dedicated to him on the reference page on Viking history and traditions The Valkirie's Vigil , who has kindly allowed me to link to his article in this post.
Harald and Sweyn's forces did not resemble ninth-century Viking raiding bands but were a well-armed and well-organized army that came to England intent on making the most of the situation. Aethelred based her strategy on two fundamental pillars:offering the Danish invaders huge amounts of money in exchange for maintaining a certain peace in her kingdom and seeking an alliance with the descendants of Count Rollo's Vikings who had settled in Normandy, marrying with the sister of the Duke of Normandy Richard II, Emma (to whose figure we dedicate a blog entry). This decision to unite his fate with the Normans would have enormous consequences for the future of the country after the year 1066... but that's another story.
However, Aethelred made a fatal mistake when he ordered all Danes in England to be massacred, leading to events known as the St. Brice's Day Massacre. As we have commented above, neither Aehtelred was a military leader nor were the Saxons in a position to face the Danes when in the year 1013 the King of Denmark Sweyn Forkbeard he realized that England was a ripe fruit ready to be picked and organized a full-fledged invasion to take over the country for good. He set sail from Denmark accompanied by his son Knut with an impressive fleet of lavishly ornamented ships, which provoked a mixture of fear and admiration in the Saxons, who had suffered poverty and hunger for years due to the Danish invasions. Q>
Aethelred and Emma took refuge in London where they put up resistance alongside the Viking Thorkell, who had abandoned Sweyn. This continued the conquest of the rest of the country and was recognized as sovereign by various nobles and lords in Bath. Fearing for his fate if they maintained their resistance, the Londoners also submitted to Sweyn.
Aethelred and Emma sought refuge with their children in Normandy, and Sweyn became de facto king (the sources of the time speak of the fact that throughout the country he was considered the true king) in recognition of his domination of all of England, an achievement that had eluded his predecessors. Unfortunately for him, he could not enjoy his situation very much, since only three months later he died.
When they heard of his death and the return of his son Knut to Denmark to defend her right to the Danish throne, the English nobles decided to call Aethlered back from exile to sit on the throne of England again. The fact that they made it a condition of their support for Aethelred "that he rule the realm more justly than he had in the past" demonstrates the degree of dissatisfaction his subjects had with the way Aethelred had performed as king. The monarch returned to England accompanied by his wife Emma, but they left his children in Normandy, including the future King Edward the Confessor, another fact that would influence future relations between Saxons and Normans.
The task begun by Sweyn to conquer England was completed by his son Knut, who after Aehtelred's death contended for dominance of the country with him and the Saxon king's son from his first marriage, named Edmund Ironside. In 1016 Edmund also passed away and Knut's way was clear; he definitively subdued the country, and was crowned king, adopting the Saxon form of his name and going down in history as Canute The Great . One of his first measures was to marry Aehtelred's widow Emma, thus giving the appearance of dynastic continuity to his accession to the throne. From this union would be born a son, Hardknut or Hardcanute who would also be King of England.
Canute's way of subduing England and some of the symbolic gestures he made to do so are worth telling, but will have to wait for another blog post.