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00:21On the shores of Sandwich,
00:26a man walks in silence.
00:31His name is Knut, a Viking prince born into a line of kings who have ruled Denmark for
00:39more than half a century.
00:46A few days earlier, he believed he could rely on a pact his father had forged with the English
00:52nobility, an agreement that he thought would make him king of England.
01:02But the lords turned their backs on him.
01:10And today, it is their sons who will pay the price.
01:21Many of these hostages may have been young men not much older than him.
01:26In many ways, that highlights the ruthlessness Knut was wishing to demonstrate in this particular
01:35action.
01:38He is only 20 years old, but Knut does not tremble.
01:46With a single gesture, he orders the hostages to be mutilated.
01:53Noses, ears, hands, just enough for England to understand.
02:05He is not killing them.
02:07He wants these people to go back and send the message, don't underestimate me.
02:12In his eyes burns a cold fury.
02:16He swears he will return.
02:19And this time, he will take England.
02:32Season 2, Season 2, Season 3, Season 3, Episode 22, Season 3, Season 2, Season 3, Season 3, Season 4,
02:53Region 2, Season 4, Captain Emily 2, Season 4, Hunt such as the
03:20On the shores of the Roskilde Fjord,
03:24Knut watches the longships approaching.
03:30On board stands his brother, Harold.
03:35As always, a single glance is enough to spark a furious race.
03:41Not for the thrill of the game, but out of defiance.
03:46Between the two brothers, everything already seems written.
03:56It is not Knut, but Harold, who will wear the crown.
04:03Knut is the second son, and I think that's important in understanding the man and understanding
04:10his ambitions, because he can be Prince Harry to Prince William.
04:14As long as Harold stays alive, Knut is not really going to be in a substantial position
04:19of power in Denmark.
04:22So there was a lot to play for, and that probably explains some of the kinds of jockeying
04:26and competitiveness we often see amongst heirs in this period.
04:35Ideally located at the crossroads of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the Kingdom of Denmark
04:41is one of the most powerful and feared realms in Scandinavia.
04:48It's coastlines scattered with islands and carved out by fjords, shelters natural harbours where hundreds
04:54of merchant ships converge.
05:03Like in Roskilde, the capital, the merchant stores overflow with riches from the east and west.
05:15Amber, furs, weapons and slaves.
05:24For Knut, who has never left his homeland, these treasures are a call to adventure.
05:31The kings of the Danes could be divided into two main categories, kings of the land and
05:36kings of the sea.
05:37Those who stay in the country and govern it, and the younger sons often chose the sea, setting
05:43out for adventure in England, in West Francia, or elsewhere.
05:49It seems Knut was raised with that very purpose in mind, to conquer, to wage war, to amass wealth
05:56abroad, and then return home to carve out his own share of power, by force or by strategy.
06:06Knut's thirst for power comes from an extraordinary lineage.
06:10Her grandfather, Harold Bluetooth, who for the first time united the kingdom under a single
06:17crown, and a father, Svein Forkbeard, a feared Viking warlord who has ruled Denmark for more
06:25than 20 years, a lineage forged in blood and betrayal.
06:30Harold Bluetooth was a long-ruling and highly successful king, and therefore his son Svein
06:36was chomping at the bit, because it's of course in the interest of Svein to gain as much power
06:41and authority as possible, as quickly as possible, and it's in Harold's interest to prevent him
06:45doing so, because only one can be king at the same time.
06:50And he ends up in battle.
06:52Again, we don't know where the battle was, but we do know that Harold is injured and he retreats
06:57to his allies in the Baltic, where he dies.
07:01Svein has seized power through the murder of his father.
07:04This is not a strong beginning.
07:07This is a weak and wobbly start.
07:12It is in a world where loyalty hangs by a thread, and power is won by the sword, that Canute
07:18comes of age.
07:25A ruthless world, that one morning comes knocking at his door.
07:32King Svein summoned him to his hall.
07:37Canute does not yet know it, but his father has made his decision.
07:43Within weeks, they will march on England.
07:49The 11th century was a major target for the Vikings.
07:53It's wealthy, it's organised, it's bureaucratic.
07:57The English have produced a money-making machine.
08:01Trade is going well.
08:03There are large amounts of gold and silver lying around.
08:06And it's close.
08:10This time, it is no mere raid.
08:16Svein is aiming for the entire kingdom.
08:19And above all, the crown of England.
08:23And so one way of solving the problem of only having one Danish kingdom
08:27that you can give to your son and son heirs is to conquer another kingdom
08:31and to offer prospects to Canute.
08:33So at the back of his mind probably is that he'd like to have and control England himself,
08:38but if he takes England, England can then be Canute.
08:45Canute is stunned to conquer England.
08:48Never before had a Viking dared to imagine it.
08:56For the first time in his life, Canute glimpses a spark of hope.
09:02The chance to break free from his place as the younger son
09:06and finally forge his own destiny.
09:23In his palace, King Æthelred hastily gathers his counsellors.
09:28They confirm what many feared.
09:31A massive fleet is assembling in Denmark.
09:35There is no longer any doubt.
09:38The Vikings are coming back.
09:43It's very likely that Æthelred would have known about Svein's invasion project.
09:48I think with the amount of traffic across the North Sea during the late Viking Age,
09:56rumours that something was afoot would be very likely to reach the English court at this time.
10:05The nobles know it.
10:07They can no longer rely on Æthelred.
10:11Rarely in the kingdom's history has a king faced such open doubt.
10:18For over 20 years, men from the Northmen have ravaged his lands.
10:24And for over 20 years Æthelred has failed to stop them.
10:30And of course, paying tribute has almost become the default solution.
10:35Whenever a fleet appeared, Æthelred seemed to offer greater and greater sums.
10:41He is often portrayed as the archetypal weak king,
10:45a ruler who preferred to pay off his enemies rather than fight them.
10:58Ever heavier tributes have drained the kingdom.
11:03His subjects are weary of a king unable to put an end to this infernal spiral.
11:09But this time Æthelred believes the outcome may be different.
11:15He has secured a powerful new ally.
11:19The Dane Æthorkel the Tall.
11:22One of the most feared Viking leaders of his age and above all.
11:29A sworn enemy of Svein Folkbeard.
11:37Thorkel the Tall is the greatest worry for the Danish kingship.
11:42He is a member of the elite of Eastern Denmark, so the southern tip of Sweden.
11:48This is an area that Knut's dynasty have pushed aggressively into,
11:53and he has seen his power and his wealth and his privilege being eroded,
11:56and he is not happy.
11:59Four years earlier, in 1009, Æthorkel had fled Denmark with 45 ships.
12:08For three years he ravaged England, leaving death and chaos in his wake.
12:16To stop him, Æthelred once again chose to pay.
12:24But this time, there was a condition.
12:34At this point in 1013, Æthorkel had signed up with Æthelred the Unready.
12:39He was taking Æthelred's money, providing protection.
12:43He pays them to be his private bodyguard.
12:46If you've got one of the largest and scariest Viking armies,
12:50and you pay it to work for you, sitting in England,
12:53frightening off other Vikings, well, this is a brilliant idea.
12:57And so the strategy here, really, is to set a thief to catch a thief,
13:02to use a Viking to stop future Vikings.
13:05And that's his hope, really, is that Æthorkel and his formidable army
13:08will be able to stop people like Swain.
13:16Æthelred and Æthorkel struck a pact.
13:20In exchange for a generous tribute,
13:23the Dane would place his men and his 45 ships at the king's disposal.
13:29Swain and Cnut would now face not only Æthelred's army,
13:33but a seasoned Viking force, hardened by years of raiding.
13:49Swain learns of the alliance between Æthelred and Æthorkel,
13:52and immediately understands that time is running out.
13:57He knew that his old rival's loyalty belonged to no one but himself.
14:05Behind this alliance of convenience, Æthorkel is pursuing only one way.
14:10For one cause, his own.
14:14Æthorkel clearly poses a threat to Swain and Cnut,
14:17because he's shown just how weak the English regime now is,
14:21and he's come within a whisker of conquering England himself.
14:25So it may well be that he himself is harbouring ambitions,
14:28that at some point he might just move from being the leading general
14:33to being the ruler of England.
14:35And so, for Swain, it's a matter of trying to take England
14:39before Æthorkel does the same.
14:44At the start of spring,
14:46Swain issues a great call to arms across Scandinavia.
14:55Each noble is ordered to provide men, weapons, provisions,
14:59and to join the gathering fleet.
15:06This is the first time that a king of Scandinavia
15:11has called for such a campaign.
15:14And he's drawing in people from all across Scandinavia.
15:18It's an invasion, it's not raiding.
15:21And that's the key difference.
15:24On foot and on horseback,
15:26thousands of Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes converge on Roskilde.
15:35Soon they are joined by hundreds of fortune seekers.
15:43Within a few weeks,
15:45several thousand men and more than a hundred ships gather
15:49under the king's banner.
15:52So we are looking at a scale of attack
15:54which is certainly very different to those England had traditionally seen
15:59in the earlier Viking ages.
16:00So this is a very, very large army that can rival any of the English armies.
16:08Canute watches the constant movement on the docks and the forest of masts,
16:13stretching across the horizon.
16:18He could feel it.
16:22Everything in his life had led to this moment.
16:27From a very young age,
16:29Canute would have been trained up to be a warrior.
16:32So crucial to his upbringing would have been learning those skills of war,
16:36honing them through things like hunting,
16:38but also alongside that learning the tricks of the trade at court,
16:42where also politics was an important consideration,
16:45where making deals,
16:46where hard-nosed realpolitik was also something to be learned at a very young age.
16:52Setting aside their rivalry,
16:55Harald greets his brother one last time.
16:59Their father had entrusted him with the Regency of Denmark,
17:02confirming his status as the rightful heir.
17:08Canute has no choice.
17:11If he ever wished to rule,
17:14he would have to carve out his own kingdom.
17:25At dawn, the Armada weighs anchor and turns west.
17:31On board, father and son share the same dream,
17:35to conquer one of the richest kingdoms in the west.
17:39The task is immense,
17:42and Swain expects Canute to stand by his side.
17:46The role that Swain wants for Canute is as a junior partner.
17:53It's very handy to have a member of your family
17:56who's able to provide some leadership within the Danish army.
18:01But Swain also knows that his son still has much to prove.
18:06His first lesson will be to earn the loyalty of his men.
18:16At the heart of any Viking expedition lies the ability to reward followers.
18:21And obviously, if a leader is able to distribute wealth, gold and precious metals,
18:26it tends to secure his men's loyalty.
18:33The second essential factor is prestige, delivering victory, and being able to lead military operations successfully.
18:43Within days, the fleet will reach the English coast.
18:48There, the young prince is about to shed his former self and embrace his destiny.
18:54As a warrior, a Viking, a war leader.
19:09Once again, Ethelred prepares to face the fury of the Northmen.
19:15All his hopes now rest on Thorko.
19:19He orders him to deploy his fleet at Greenwich, along the Thames,
19:24hoping to lure Canute and Swain into a trap.
19:31But one question torments him.
19:34Could he really be trusted?
19:37Ethelred knew his own fleet would be powerless to stop the Danes.
19:41Yet just five years earlier, that same fleet had seemed invincible.
19:50Ethelred had, amongst his attempts to face down the Viking threat,
19:55sought to reinforce England's naval capabilities.
19:57And he raises a very, very large navy with the prospect of preventing future invasion.
20:06Shipyards across the kingdom had been mobilised.
20:10Within months, an armada of 300 brand new ships gathers along the southern coast of England.
20:20Never before had an English king achieved such a feat.
20:27Everything seems to be going well,
20:28since 300 ships are more than the Danes seem capable of assembling at that time.
20:33But there's a major problem, the leadership within the Anglo-Saxon forces.
20:39Ethelred entrusts command of the fleet to two close nobles of his inner circle,
20:46Wulfnot and Biotric.
20:52But one evening, a quarrel broke out.
20:56The two men accuse each other of treason.
21:02In a fit of rage, Wulfnot seizes 20 ships.
21:09And rebels.
21:13And so he takes a portion of the English fleet off with him, the rest goes to try to chase
21:18them, and then a storm dashes them entirely.
21:21Many of the ships sink.
21:23The survivors who manage to reach the beach are slaughtered.
21:26And the ships are set on fire to Wulfnot's initiative.
21:32A single dispute was enough to set the royal fleet ablaze.
21:38Along with the last hopes of the English people.
21:48The irony is that in 1009, shortly afterwards, Thorkell the Tall arrived at Sandwich with barely 50 ships, a relatively
21:57small force, and he meets no resistance at all.
22:00And so what was, in essence, a very good strategic plan is completely undermined due to divisions within the English
22:06camp, rather than any battle being offered with the Vikings.
22:16After ten days at sea, the fleet finally reaches the English coast.
22:22The island has more than 12,000 kilometers of coastline.
22:26Countless possible landing points for the Vikings.
22:34Geography of the English coastline contributed enormously to the success of Viking raids, because Vikings could move very rapidly around
22:45the coastline.
22:46And so consequently, it's virtually impossible to defend, so it is unfortunately perfect for Scandinavian attack.
23:00An unfamiliar landscape, and yet strangely familiar.
23:07He remembers the evenings of his childhood, lulled by tales of raids and battles.
23:15And one name keeps coming back.
23:18Sandwich.
23:19An English town, invaded many times.
23:25An English town, invaded many times.
23:26Among the entry points into England, the port of Sandwich is extremely important, as it allows ships to be sheltered
23:33quite easily.
23:34It also offers easy access to the mouth of the Thames.
23:38It is difficult to secure for defenders, and easy to access for attackers.
23:42An ideal place to launch an invasion.
23:51Canute leaps from the ship, and for the first time sets foot on the soil of the Kingdom of England.
24:00What does he feel? Excitement? Rage?
24:06He probably has no time to wander.
24:09On the beach, English soldiers are trying to stand in their way.
24:16For the young Dane, it is a baptism of fire, and perhaps his first chance to prove himself.
24:26All of these great Scandinavian leaders are warriors and lead troops into battle, and clearly are battle-hardened and known
24:33for this fact, and that is an essential part of their reputation.
24:37At the same time, they are almost certainly not normally in the front line of the fray.
24:42So, as a Scandinavian leader, you need to have the respect of your men, you need to be known to
24:48be a formidable warrior, but you also need to not be silly and ridiculous and take unnecessary risks.
24:54And Canute is an excellent example.
24:57We rarely see him fighting, except when he knows he will win, which is quite wise of him.
25:05The English troops are quickly defeated.
25:12The Vikings set up camp for the night.
25:18Around the fire, Svein and Canute ponder their next move.
25:25England is divided into several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
25:29Mercia to the west.
25:32Northumbria to the north.
25:35East Anglia to the east.
25:39And Wessex, the center of power, to the south.
25:46That is where Thorkell deployed his fleet to defend London.
25:53Svein knows that attacking head-on would be suicidal.
25:59Thorkell is very frightening for Svein.
26:02Presumably because he is slightly scared that he might either not win or damage an enormous part of the Danish
26:08Royal Forces.
26:08If we add to this the fortifications of the city of London, then yes, it clearly becomes very difficult for
26:14Svein.
26:15He could go straight forward, but that would involve a real risk.
26:19Avoiding Thorkell is therefore the logical choice.
26:23At first light, Svein and Canute weigh anchor.
26:29They sail north, and at the mouth of the Thames they turn away, leaving London behind.
26:38They head towards the Danelaw.
26:42A vast territory stretching from East Anglia to Northumbria, where Viking influence runs deep.
26:51Danelaw is a term which is used to refer to the areas in England which were settled by Scandinavian settlers
27:01from the early Viking Age.
27:03It does mean to say that there was a significant Scandinavian, particularly Danish, influence.
27:10These people are both simultaneously Scandinavian and English.
27:14They don't see themselves, I think, as allied to either party.
27:19Sometimes they work with the Danes, sometimes they work with the English.
27:22But they see themselves as a unit in themselves.
27:25And I think that's what attracts Svein Fortbeard.
27:28He recognises the Danelaw as somewhere that looks like home.
27:32And he knows how to rule that area. He knows how to control this.
27:40Svein and Canute are taking a gamble.
27:43If there is one place in England ready to welcome them, it's there.
27:50Here, resentment towards King Æthelred runs strong.
27:55A resentment born of a past neither Svein nor Canute has forgotten.
28:22As England buckles under Danish attacks and the ever-growing weight of tribute, the nobility grows restless.
28:34Determined to regain control, Æthelred makes a drastic decision.
28:40In November of the year 1002, he sends messengers across the kingdom.
28:54On St Brice's Day, the 13th of November, armed men slip silently through the sleeping streets of towns and villages
29:01across the Danelaw.
29:07The St Brice's Day massacre becomes one of those very storied events of Æthelred's reign.
29:14And it's the first real sign that panic is starting to grip Æthelred's court.
29:19That the logical, perhaps more sensible, measured responses have failed.
29:24And so he starts looking to more extreme measures.
29:28And what he fastens upon is the idea that the Danes who are resident in his kingdom, the Scandinavians who
29:33are resident in his kingdom, are plotting against him.
29:35And so he decides to kill them all.
29:39In York, the Danes are hunted down and enter into a church where they seek refuge.
29:53But outside, torches arc through the air towards the sacred building.
30:03The St Brice's Day massacre is quite a stain on the reputation of King Æthelred.
30:10Because whatever the scale of the St Brice's Day massacre, it had an impact across the world connected with the
30:19Danes.
30:20It must have been in the back of the minds of some of the Vikings who were present in England
30:25in Sven's army.
30:27Æthelred believed he was securing his kingdom.
30:31Instead, he unleashed a terrible storm.
30:36Now, who can say whether the people of the Danelaw will remain loyal to him?
30:46Sven and Knut's ships sail up the estuary of the river Humber.
30:51They then enter the calm waters of the river Trent.
30:57On deck, Knut remains watchful.
31:01He scans the river banks, alert to the slightest movement.
31:06He has not forgotten the tales of the elders.
31:10Venturing deep into the English countryside is never without danger.
31:16Since the 9th century, the Anglo-Saxons have established a network of fortifications known as the Burrs, which were a
31:23kind of fortified stronghold.
31:24Some were old, restored Roman fortresses.
31:27Others were exceptional natural sites, headlands or cliffs, that were walled off to create a fortified point that was difficult
31:34to seize.
31:36Their purpose was to protect merchants, shelter populations, and above all, to create a defensive mesh across the territory.
31:45When you look at the map of these Burrs, it really gives the impression of a tight mesh, designed to
31:50prevent any Viking army from slipping through the net.
31:57The fleet reaches Gainsborough, a small fortified town south of York.
32:05Sven orders the landing.
32:11For Knut, who is experiencing his first military campaign, everything seems too easy.
32:19Since leaving the North Sea, nothing has stood in their way.
32:23No traps, no ambushes.
32:27This is an area of England which has often been distant from royal control and power, which is naturally suspicious
32:34of English monarchs at the best of time.
32:36And that means that when Knut and Swain land at Gainsborough, they're rapidly able to gain the support of the
32:41local population.
32:42And they almost certainly know that in advance.
32:44It's no accident that they, instead of attacking the south of England, the heartlands of the English kingdom, they go
32:50to precisely where there is the chink in Æthelred's armour.
32:57A group of horsemen approaches the camp.
33:02At their head rides the powerful Uhtred of Northumbria.
33:06He comes to request an audience with Svein.
33:16Knut watches him in silence.
33:21Here stands the enemy he expected to fight.
33:25But Uhtred has not come for battle.
33:28Instead, he offers his submission.
33:31That of Lince and the five boroughs.
33:35To Knut, raised in the Viking code of honour, this surrender without battle or glory speaks volumes about his adversary.
33:46What we have to realise at this time is that the idea of English unity is only a relatively recent
33:55construction of the 10th century.
33:58And for Uhtred, it was probably his interests to submit to a Danish lord rather than a distant English king
34:08in the south of the island.
34:11It seems he was caught off guard.
34:14That he's defending his own interests in an unstable situation.
34:18Separated from the main Anglo-Saxon army, he knows no help is coming.
34:23For him, it becomes a matter of real politic.
34:25If he does not submit, he knows he will die.
34:27Thus, he becomes Svein's ally, at least in the short term.
34:32As a pledge of good faith, Uhtred does not come alone.
34:36He brings with him the sons of the great northern families sent to serve as hostages.
34:45Young men, barely older than Knut himself.
34:49And yet, everything separates them.
34:55On one side, the young conqueror.
34:59On the other, an unarmed youth, handed over as collateral for an oath.
35:06If you come to an agreement with anybody in politics in this period, you try to take a hostage to
35:11make sure the man is going to do what he's going to do.
35:13And those hostages are then a token of their seriousness.
35:18They have to be very high-ranking individuals, and they are your collateral.
35:21This is saying, well, we're not going to leave them tied up to a radiator with handcuffs on.
35:27You know, we will treat them with honour, with dignity.
35:29But if anything should happen, then it's the end of your son here.
35:34You know, this is a very practical guarantee, but it's also playing on this idea of honour as well.
35:46Without spilling a drop of blood, Zvein and Knut seize control of northern England.
35:56But for Zvein, this is only the beginning.
36:00What he wants is the crown.
36:03The northern nobility gathers and proclaims Zvein king of England, rejecting Æthelred.
36:13But the rest of the realm still has to be persuaded to accept such a dramatic change of allegiance.
36:22And what better way to seal that bond than marriage?
36:29A union between Knut and a young noble woman from a powerful Anglo-Danish lineage could ease tension and seal
36:37alliance.
36:39Her name is Elgifu from Northampton.
36:46Elgifu from Northampton is the woman that Sven Forkbeard looks at the political landscape of the north and says,
36:52that one. She's the one that's going to marry my son because she's the one who can help us control
36:58this region.
36:59She's the heiress to this old political machinery.
37:01She is the daughter of Alfhelm, who had been a alderman, so the leading man in the southern part of
37:08Northumbria.
37:09But he had been murdered in Æthelred's court in 1006 in a purge.
37:15But that family nonetheless remains important and very alienated from Æthelred.
37:20And so, in a sense, she can be a lightning rod for channeling that descent towards support for Svein and
37:27Knut.
37:27And so for Knut coming in with Svein, perhaps also at the back of his mind,
37:32the prospect may be of becoming an eventual king of England or an under-king of England under his father.
37:37She is the perfect match to make in that moment.
37:45Knut knows exactly what Svein expects of him.
37:49Without hesitation, he leads this perfect stranger to the altar.
37:58And under his father's watchful eye, he takes Elgifu as his wife.
38:07The young prince understands that his destiny is now lying here.
38:12The path is set.
38:14Knut will not look back.
38:22At the end of summer, Svein orders his army to prepare.
38:28Supplies.
38:29Reinforcements.
38:31Horses.
38:35To his seasoned warriors are added the levies raised in the Danelaw.
38:42Before departing, he entrusts his son with the reins of the conquered territory.
38:48Knut might have preferred to march to war.
38:51But instead, another trial awaits him.
38:55In his father's absence, he must guard the fleet, watch over the hostages,
39:02and raise the funds needed to sustain the war.
39:08Sons are expected to be trained up in kingship and to learn the tricks of the trade as soon as
39:13possible.
39:14And one of the best ways to do this for someone like Svein, to ensure his sons that experience,
39:18is to allow them an element of rule while he's still alive.
39:21So we're seeing him potentially setting up Knut as his under-king, his representative in England.
39:28And the sense of responsibility that this new conquest, this new land, this new world, as it were,
39:33that they've struck into, is now his to control.
39:36It must be overwhelming, but simultaneously, simultaneously, steps up to the plate.
39:42Is it a mark of trust being placed in him? Partly, perhaps.
39:46But what always strikes me is that Knut still does not fight.
39:50He's not on the front lines learning how to lead an army.
39:53He really gives the impression of being kept safe and reserved by his father.
39:57In a way, he's already being shaped into an administrator who's learning governance,
40:02which is, in fact, rather wise.
40:06For the young Viking, the moment of truth has come.
40:11Knut watches his father disappear in the distance.
40:20Now alone, he must prove himself worthy of the task.
40:26More than anything, he must ensure his father will be proud of him.
40:37Swain's long column of troops stretches southward, towards the heart of the kingdom.
40:44But instead of heading for London, where Æthelred awaits,
40:48Swain leads his men west, towards Oxford.
40:56Swain's decision to attack Oxford rather than London almost certainly is suggestive of serious strategic calculation.
41:04While Æthelred's regime has shown itself to be toothless in many respects,
41:09not very successful on the battlefield,
41:11it remains capable of deploying armies of a large scale,
41:16and it still has the forces of Æthelred at Greenwich.
41:20If Swain had rushed his campaign and gone for that,
41:23then potentially this might have been game over for Swain too early,
41:29and it made sense to essentially take the pieces on the playing board first of all before going to London.
41:43In early autumn, the invading army crosses Watling Street.
41:50This ancient Roman road runs across England from east to west,
41:55and marks a symbolic frontier between the Danelaw and the southern lands,
42:00still loyal to Æthelred.
42:05Swain's orders are clear.
42:07Beyond this line, there will be no mercy.
42:14From farm to farm, village to village, his army unleashes its full destructive force.
42:25There's no Geneva Convention, so the objective is obviously to put pressure on the enemy, to scare them.
42:31Men loot, kill and burn as they please.
42:36It's a phrase frequently used to describe Viking armies.
42:40Psychological warfare is nothing new.
42:41It exists in every conflict, in every era.
42:43And for civilian populations, it has always meant the same thing throughout history.
42:48Raiding the countryside, seizing resources, living off the land,
42:51and killing a few people in a particularly dramatic way are all part of the usual practices.
42:59After a few days, Swain and his men reach Oxford.
43:04The troops take position before the fortified town.
43:11The city gates slowly open.
43:16A man steps forward and speaks a few words.
43:21The city surrenders without a fight.
43:28The inhabitants of Oxford had already suffered greatly over the previous decade.
43:33Resisting now would mean a second full-scale plundering or another round of mass destruction.
43:39Clearly, not everyone is eager to turn their city into another Stalingrad.
43:43Surrendering is the logical choice if it spares lives and avoids crushing tribute.
43:51Swain and his men enter the city after a victory won without a single sword stroke.
43:59The strategy of fear worked.
44:04The local nobility submits.
44:11But for Swain, it is not enough.
44:18Swain, Fortbeard, is trying to terrorize the south of England.
44:22He has to subdue that part.
44:24He's got to do this with big public displays.
44:26The lords of each region must essentially kneel before him in public.
44:32He needs Wessex to be seen to be beaten and to be under the heel of the Danish oppressor.
44:44In the days that followed, the southern cities fell one after another.
44:58In London, Aethelred remains barricaded in his palace.
45:05More cut off from his people than ever, he watches helplessly as his kingdom collapses.
45:12Aethelred's passivity has really damned the reputation of Aethelred.
45:19The 12th century William of Malmesbury referred to him as being lazy, essentially, and not getting out of bed.
45:27But I think we also have to remember that he had to rely on regional governors to raise forces.
45:36And his commanders, his aldermen, are just unwilling to act on his behalf while he's in London.
45:43So it's something of a difficult situation for Aethelred at this time.
45:52As autumn begins, the noose tightens around Aethelred.
45:59From the ramparts, he observes Svein's troops across the river.
46:06He knows his survival may depend on what happens here and now.
46:12Losing the city, the last stronghold of resistance against the Danes, would mean losing the crown.
46:22Beyond the walls, Svein knows the confrontation will be harsh.
46:27For more than a century, London has remained unconquered.
46:35London benefits from its Roman walls that survived throughout the Middle Ages and were extensively restored for defence.
46:42It is the nerve centre of Aethelred's defence.
46:45This is where he resides, likely with his household troops.
46:49Thorkell is there as well, probably with his fleet.
46:52And then there's London, large, wealthy, powerful.
46:55The inhabitants do not seem at all inclined to surrender to the first newcomer.
47:01Svein knows a frontal assault would be doomed to fail.
47:06So, to bypass the English defences, he orders his men to forge the Thames.
47:19It's possible that they tried to cross the river to the west of London at low tide, but you have
47:25to know the river in order to do this.
47:30The manoeuvre turns into a disaster.
47:33Hundreds of men are swept away by the current and the river's tumultuous waters.
47:42The likelihood that many men drowned while trying to do this would have been likely to cause Svein to think
47:51about changing the direction of his campaign.
47:57Svein is forced to face the truth.
48:00To persist would cost countless warriors and endanger the entire campaign.
48:09The siege of London ultimately is going to fail.
48:12London is just too tough a nut to crack in Svein's time.
48:16So Svein pulls out and he heads to the west.
48:24If he cannot force London to yield, Svein may try to isolate it from the rest of the kingdom.
48:32To do that, he must seize the last key stronghold of Wessex.
48:37Bath.
48:40This city, where Ethelred's father was crowned, enjoys near imperial prestige and is home to one of the kingdom's most
48:48influential noble families.
48:51This, if you're going to crack an easier nut and you're going to make an enormous political splash, do it
48:57with these people.
48:58They're related to the kingship, they're long related to the kingship, and that is a huge money-making area for
49:04Anglo-Saxon England.
49:05If you can break the west, maybe you don't have to break London.
49:09Maybe London will fall on its own.
49:13By the end of 1013, the nobles of Bath, weary of Ethelred's chaotic rule, rally to the Dane.
49:22Soon, the rest of the kingdom follows.
49:28Ethelred will have seen it sitting in London as the lights going out one after another across the entire country
49:35as they just stopped talking to him.
49:38And when you've got nothing left except the city of London, then I think you leave.
49:43Abandoned by all, Ethelred, the last king of the five-century-old dynasty, flees toward Normandy.
49:57And there, he can remain king in exile, awaiting his moment to reappear.
50:02So he's kind of a bit like the free French government in London in World War II, if you will.
50:07He's potentially there in Normandy as the, to his mind, genuine English king and the real government, waiting for an
50:16opportunity to step back into those shoes.
50:28Aboard the ship carrying him into exile, Ethelred watches the English coastline fade into the mist.
50:37His defeat tastes of betrayal.
50:43His people did not raise their weapons to defend him.
50:48The nobles abandoned him for a king from the north.
50:51But Ethelred is not broken.
50:54He swears he will return, whatever the cost.
51:12In Lincoln, Canute awaits his father.
51:16The man he finds is no longer only king of Denmark.
51:21He is now king of England.
51:25Before him stands a transformed son.
51:29Seasoned and hardened by the demands of power.
51:34It's a new world.
51:36It's the conquest of somewhere for him to rule.
51:38Harold would now have Denmark.
51:40He will have England.
51:41And he is the second son.
51:43And he's got the conquest.
51:45But what a conquest.
51:46There is far more money there in England than there will ever be in Denmark.
51:51And that wealth will be used by his dynasty to push its ambitions far into Scandinavia to rule what we
52:02have to use the modern word empire.
52:04If he ever dreamed of being an emperor, he did so on the day they conquered southern England.
52:14Together, Thane and Canute have achieved the unthinkable.
52:19Seizing the richest kingdom in the western world.
52:22For the young prince, the future now seems set.
52:26But history is far from finish with him.
52:29England will soon slip from their grasp.
52:32And Canute will be forced to face a new enemy.
52:36Far more formidable than any before.
52:53Dante and Canute will be published by Chris Po arrived.feito.
52:55airplanesfs!
52:56partic
52:56handles Vilasinsuitousuts
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