Chapter Nine. Danish Supremacy In Scandinavia In The Early Eleventh Century: Cnut And The Regimes Of Norway And Sweden

Abstract

Cnut the Great appears to have tried to perpetuate his fathers relationships with rulers in Norway and Sweden, but with little success. This chapter concentrates on the Norwegian and Swedish part in the conflict. The main accounts record a naval engagement in a river named Helgea (Holy River), identified variously as in Skane or in Uppland in modern Sweden. The only legitimate evidence that Cnut asserted some form of overlordship in Sweden is the title he adopted in his letter of 1027 to the English. Unlike Sweden, Norway was much more politically organised in the early eleventh century, and although the concentration of power in the hands of a single ruler had occurred only recently, it had been fought for aggressively and successfully. Correspondingly, Cnuts approach there was different. The chapter also focuses on the issue of Cnuts Norwegian lawcode.Keywords: Cnut the Great; early eleventh century; Helgea; Norway; Norwegian lawcode; Sweden