Cnut the Great: England's Viking King

In this episode, Lucas and Luna turn from Alfred's line to a Danish conqueror who reshaped England. Cnut the Great, son of Sweyn Forkbeard, seized the throne in 1016 after years of war with Æthelred the Unready and Edmund Ironside. We explore how Cnut ruled not just England but a North Sea empire spanning Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden—his 'North Sea Empire.' We talk about his 1018 meeting at Oxford where he formalized law between Danes and English, his pilgrimage to Rome in 1027, and the famous story of him commanding the tide (a myth, but revealing). We also discuss his most lasting act: the Canute penny, a high-silver coin that replaced Æthelred's Helmet type and became the standard English coin for a generation. Through the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Encomium Emmae Reginae, and hoards like the Sporle Hoard, we piece together how a Viking king made himself an English one—and why his empire didn't outlast him. #CnutTheGreat #VikingKing #NorthSeaEmpire #CanutePenny #AngloSaxonChronicle #EncomiumEmmaeReginae #SweynForkbeard #EdmundIronside #Oxford1018 #RomePilgrimage #SporleHoard #VikingHistory #MedievalEngland #EnglishCoinage #EleventhCentury #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo