Editing Cnut (section)

== King of Norway and part of Sweden ==
[[File:Cnut lands.svg|thumb|The [[North Sea Empire]] of Cnut the Great, {{circa}} 1030. (Note that the Norwegian (now Swedish) lands of [[Jemtland]], [[Herjedalen]], [[Idre]] and [[Särna|Særna]] are not included in this map.)]]

In his 1027 letter, Cnut refers to himself as king of "the Norwegians, and of some of the Swedes" – his victory over Swedes suggests Helgeå to be the river in [[Uppland]] and not [[Helge River|the one]] in eastern [[Scania]] – while the king of Sweden appears to have been made a renegade.{{sfn|Lawson|2004|pp=95–98}} It has been speculated that the Swedish city [[Sigtuna]] was held by Cnut; there were coins struck there that called him king, but there is no narrative record of his occupation.<ref>Graslund, B.,'Knut den store och sveariket: Slaget vid Helgea i ny belysning', ''Scandia'', vol. 52 (1986), pp. 211–38.</ref> These coins are however usually regarded as copies of coins minted in Denmark. Coins stating that the Swedish king [[Olof Skötkonung]] was King of England have also been found in [[Sigtuna]].{{sfn|Hagerman|1996|p=135}}{{sfn|Sawyer|1991|p=23}} Cnut also stated his intention of proceeding to Denmark to secure peace between the kingdoms of [[Scandinavia]], which fits the account of [[John of Worcester]] that in 1027 Cnut heard some Norwegians were discontented and sent them sums of gold and silver to gain their support for his claim to the throne.{{sfn|Lawson|2004|p=97}}

In 1028, [[Cnut's Invasion of Norway|Cnut set off from England to Norway]], and the city of [[Trondheim]], with a fleet of fifty ships. King [[Olaf II of Norway|Olaf Haraldsson]] was unable to put up a serious fight, both as his nobles had been bribed by Cnut and (according to Adam of Bremen) because he tended to apprehend their wives for sorcery.{{sfn|Lawson|2004|pp=97–98}} Cnut was crowned king, now of England, Denmark and Norway as well as part of Sweden.{{sfn|Lawson|2004|p=49}} He entrusted the Earldom of [[Lade, Trondheim|Lade]] to the former line of earls, in [[Håkon Eiriksson]], with Eiríkr Hákonarson probably dead by this time.{{sfn|Lawson|2004|p=}} Hakon was possibly the Earl of Northumbria after Erik as well.<ref>Trow, ''Cnut'', p. 197.</ref>

Hakon, a member of a family with a long tradition of hostility towards the independent Norwegian kings, and a relative of Cnut's, was already in lordship over the Isles with the earldom of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]], possibly from 1016 to 1017. The sea-lanes through the [[Irish Sea]] and the [[Hebrides]] led to [[Orkney]] and [[Norway]], and were central to Cnut's ambitions for dominance of Scandinavia and the [[British Isles]]. Hakon was meant to be Cnut's lieutenant in this strategic chain, and the final component was his installation as the king's deputy in Norway, after the expulsion of Olaf Haraldsson in 1028. He was drowned in a shipwreck in the [[Pentland Firth]] (between the [[Orkney Islands]] and the mainland coast) either late 1029 or early 1030.{{sfn|Forte|Oram|Pedersen|2005|pp=196–197}}

Upon the death of Hakon, Olaf Haraldsson returned to Norway, with Swedes in his army. He died at the hands of his own people, at the [[Battle of Stiklestad]] in 1030. Cnut's subsequent attempt to rule Norway without the key support of the [[Trondejarls]], through [[Ælfgifu of Northampton]], and his eldest son by her, [[Sweyn Knutsson]], was not a success. The period is known as ''Aelfgifu's Time'' in Norway, with heavy taxation, a rebellion, and the restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under [[Saint Olaf]]'s illegitimate son [[Magnus the Good]].