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The Viking Emperor Season 1 Episode 1
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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.
02:25After the night, it will return back up to the alerts.。
02:29. .
03:29On 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 Canute, but Harold, who will wear the crown.
04:04Canute 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, Canute 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 and
04:27competitiveness 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.
04:48Its coastline, scattered with islands and carved out by fjords, shelters natural harbors
04:54where hundreds of merchant ships converge.
05:03Like in Roskilde, the capital, the merchant's stores overflow with riches from the east
05:09and west, amber, furs, weapons, and slaves.
05:24For Canute, who has never left his homeland, these treasures are a call to adventure.
05:31The kings of the Danes divided into two main categories, kings of the land and kings of
05:37the sea.
05:37Those who stay in the country and govern it, and the younger sons often chose the sea,
05:42setting out for adventure in England, in West Francia, or elsewhere.
05:49It seems Canute was raised with that very purpose in mind, to conquer, to wage war, to amass
05:56wealth abroad, and then return home to carve out his own share of power, by force or by
06:02strategy.
06:06Canute's thirst for power comes from an extraordinary lineage.
06:10A grandfather, Harold Bluetooth, who, for the first time, united the kingdom under a single
06:17crown.
06:18And a father, Svein Falkbeard, a feared Viking warlord who has ruled Denmark for more than
06:2520 years.
06:26A 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
06:40much power and authority as possible, as quickly as possible, and it's in Harold's interest to
06:45prevent him doing so, because only one can be king at the same time.
06:50And it ends up in battle.
06:52Again, we don't know where the battle was, but we do know that Harold is injured, and
06:57he retreats to 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
07:18Knut comes of age.
07:25A ruthless world, that one morning comes knocking at his door.
07:32King Svein summoned him to his hall.
07:37Knut does not yet know it, but his father has made his decision.
07:44Within 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.
07:58The English have produced a money-making machine, trade is going well.
08:03There are large amounts of gold and silver lying around, and it's close.
08:10This time, it is no mere raid.
08:16Svein is aiming for the entire kingdom, and above all, the crown of England.
08:23And so one way of solving the problem of only having one Danish kingdom that you can give
08:28to your son and son heirs is to conquer another kingdom, and to offer prospects to Knut.
08:33So, at the back of his mind probably is that he'd like to have and control England himself, but if
08:38he takes England, England can then be Knut.
08:45Knut is stunned to conquer England, never before had a Viking dared to imagine it.
08:56For the first time in his life, Knut glimpses a spark of hope.
09:02The chance to break free from his place as the younger son, and 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.
09:39The Vikings are coming back.
09:43It's very likely that Æthelred would have known about Svein's invasion project.
09:49I 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.
11:14He has secured a powerful new ally.
11:17The Dane Æthelred, Æthelred, Æthelred, Æthelred.
11:47This is an area that Knut's dynasty have pushed aggressively into.
11:52And 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, Æthelred had fled Denmark with 45 ships.
12:07For three years he ravaged England, leaving death and chaos in his wake.
12:17To stop him Æthelred once again chose to pay.
12:24But this time there was a condition.
12:34At this point in 1013 Æthelred 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
12:49and you pay it to work for you, sitting in England, frightening off other Vikings,
12:55well, 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 Æthelred and his formidable army
13:08will be able to stop people like Svein.
13:16Æthelred and Æthelred 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.
13:29Svein and Cnut would now face not only Æthelred's army,
13:33but a seasoned Viking force, hardened by years of raiding.
13:49Svein learns of the alliance between Æthelred and Æthelred and Æthelred,
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, Æthelred is pursuing only one cause, his own.
14:14Æthelred clearly poses a threat to Svein 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
14:32to being the ruler of England.
14:35And so for Svein, it's a matter of trying to take England
14:39before Æthelred does the same.
14:44At the start of spring, Svein 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.
15:20And that's the key difference.
15:23On foot and on horseback,
15:26thousands of Danes, Norwegians and Swedes
15:29converge 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
15:48gather under the king's banner.
15:52So we are looking at a scale of attack
15:54which is certainly very different to those England
15:57had traditionally seen in the earlier Viking ages.
16:00So this is a very, very large army
16:02that can rival any of the English armies.
16:08Canute watches the constant movement on the docks
16:11and the forest of masts stretching 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
16:33would have been learning those skills of war,
16:36honing them through things like hunting,
16:38but also alongside that,
16:40learning the tricks of the trade at court
16:42where also politics was an important consideration,
16:44where making deals,
16:46where hard-nosed realpolitik
16:47was also something to be learned at a very young age.
16:52Setting aside their rivalry,
16:55Harold 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,
17:13he 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.
17:34To conquer one of the richest kingdoms in the west.
17:39The task is immense.
17:42And Svein expects Canute to stand by his side.
17:46The role that Svein wants for Canute
17:51is as a junior partner.
17:53It's very handy to have a member of your family
17:56who's able to provide some leadership
17:58within the Danish army.
18:01But Svein also knows that his son
18:04still has much to prove.
18:06His first lesson will be to earn the loyalty of his men.
18:15At the heart of any Viking expedition
18:18lies the ability to reward followers.
18:21And obviously,
18:22if a leader is able to distribute wealth,
18:25gold and precious metals,
18:26it tends to secure his men's loyalty.
18:33The second essential factor is prestige,
18:36delivering victory,
18:37and being able to lead military operations successfully.
18:42Within days,
18:44the fleet will reach the English coast.
18:48There,
18:49the young prince is about to shed his former self
18:52and embrace his destiny
18:54as a warrior,
18:56a Viking,
18:57a war leader.
19:09Once again,
19:10Æthelred prepares to face the fury of the Northmen.
19:15All his hopes now rest on Thorkell.
19:19He orders him to deploy his fleet at Greenwich,
19:22along the Thames,
19:23hoping to lure Canute and Svein into a trap.
19:31But one question torments him.
19:34Could he really be trusted?
19:37Æthelred knew his own fleet would be powerless to stop the Danes.
19:41Yet just five years earlier,
19:44that same fleet had seemed invincible.
19:50Æthelred had,
19:51amongst 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
20:00with the prospect of preventing future invasion.
20:06Shipyards across the kingdom had been mobilized.
20:10Within months,
20:11an armada of 300 brand new ships
20:14gathers 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
20:31seem capable of assembling at that time.
20:33But there's a major problem,
20:35the leadership within the Anglo-Saxon forces.
20:39Æthelred entrusts command of the fleet
20:41to two close nobles of his inner circle.
20:45Wulfnot
20:47and Biotric.
20:52But one evening,
20:54a quarrel broke out.
20:56The two men accuse each other of treason.
21:02In a fit of rage,
21:04Wulfnot seizes 20 ships.
21:09And rebels.
21:13And so he takes a portion of the English fleet off with him,
21:16the rest goes to try to chase them,
21:18and 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,
21:52Thorkall the Tall arrived at Sandwich with barely 50 ships,
21:56a relatively small force,
21:58and he meets no resistance at all.
22:00And so what was, in essence,
22:02a very good strategic plan
22:03is completely undermined due to divisions within the English camp,
22:07rather than any battle being offered with the Vikings.
22:16After ten days at sea,
22:18the 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
22:38to the success of Viking raids,
22:42because Vikings could move very rapidly around the coastline.
22:46And so, consequently, it's virtually impossible to defend,
22:49so it is, unfortunately, perfect for Scandinavian attack.
23:00An unfamiliar landscape,
23:02and yet strangely familiar.
23:07He remembers the evenings of his childhood,
23:10lulled by tales of raids and battles.
23:14And one name keeps coming back.
23:18Sandwich,
23:19an English town invaded many times.
23:26Among the entry points into England,
23:29the port of Sandwich is extremely important,
23:31as it allows ships to be sheltered quite easily.
23:34It also offers easy access to the mouth of the Thames.
23:38It is difficult to secure for defenders,
23:40and easy to access for attackers.
23:42An ideal place to launch an invasion.
23:51Canute leaps from the ship and, for the first time,
23:55sets foot on the soil of the Kingdom of England.
24:00What does he feel?
24:02Excitement?
24:04Rage?
24:06He probably has no time to wonder.
24:09On the beach,
24:10English soldiers are trying to stand in their way.
24:16For the young Dane,
24:17it is a baptism of fire,
24:19and perhaps his first chance to prove himself.
24:26All of these great Scandinavian leaders
24:29are warriors and lead troops into battle,
24:31and clearly are battle-hardened and known for this fact,
24:34and that is an essential part of their reputation.
24:37At the same time,
24:38they are almost certainly not normally
24:41in the front line of the fray.
24:42So, as a Scandinavian leader,
24:44you need to have the respect of your men,
24:46you need to be known to be a formidable warrior,
24:48but you also need to not be silly and ridiculous
24:52and take unnecessary risks.
24:55And Canute is an excellent example.
24:56We rarely see him fighting,
24:58except when he knows he will win,
25:00which 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,
25:19Svein 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,
25:36East 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's slightly scared
26:04that he might either not win or damage
26:06an enormous part of the Danish royal forces.
26:09If we add to this the fortifications of the city of London,
26:12then yes, it clearly becomes very difficult for Svein.
26:15He could go straight forward,
26:17but 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,
26:30and at the mouth of the Thames,
26:33they turn away,
26:34leaving London behind.
26:38They head toward the Danelaw,
26:42a vast territory stretching from East Anglia to Northumbria,
26:46where Viking influence runs deep.
26:51Danelaw is a term which is used to refer to the areas in England
26:57which were settled by Scandinavian settlers from the early Viking Age.
27:03It does mean to say that there was a significant Scandinavian,
27:07particularly Danish influence.
27:10These people are both simultaneously Scandinavian and English.
27:14They don't see themselves,
27:16I think,
27:17as allied to either party.
27:19Sometimes they work with the Danes,
27:20sometimes 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
27:30as somewhere that looks like home.
27:32And he knows how to rule that area.
27:35He knows how to control this.
27:40Svein and Knut are taking a gamble.
27:43If there is one place in England ready to welcome them,
27:46it's there.
27:50Here, resentment towards King Æthelred runs strong.
27:55A resentment born of a past neither Svein nor Knut has forgotten.
28:22As England buckles under Danish attacks
28:25and the ever-growing weight of tribute,
28:27the nobility grows restless
28:34Determined to regain control,
28:36Æthelred makes a drastic decision.
28:40In November of the year 1002,
28:43he sends messengers across the kingdom.
28:53On St. Brice's Day, the 13th of November,
28:57armed men slip silently
28:59through the sleeping streets of towns and villages
29:01across the Danelaw.
29:07The St. Brice's Day massacre
29:10becomes one of those very storied events
29:13of Æthelred's reign.
29:14And it's the first real sign
29:16that panic is starting to grip Æthelred's core,
29:19that the logical, perhaps more sensible,
29:22measured responses have failed,
29:24and so he starts looking to more extreme measures.
29:27And what he fastens upon is the idea
29:30that the Danes who are resident in his kingdom,
29:32the Scandinavians who are resident in his kingdom,
29:34are plotting against him.
29:35And so he decides to kill them all.
29:39In York,
29:40the Danes are hunted down
29:42and enter into a church where they seek refuge.
29:52But outside,
29:54torches arc through the air
29:56towards the sacred building.
30:03The St. Brice's Day massacre
30:05is quite a stain on the reputation
30:08of King Æthelred,
30:10because whatever the scale of the St. Brice's Day massacre,
30:13it had an impact across the world
30:17connected with the Danes.
30:19It must have been in the back of the minds
30:21of some of the Vikings who were present in England
30:24in Sven's army.
30:27Æthelred believed he was securing his kingdom.
30:30Instead, he unleashed a terrible storm.
30:36Now, who can say whether the people of the Danelaw
30:39will 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 riverbanks,
31:03alert to the slightest movement.
31:06He has not forgotten the tales of the elders.
31:10Venturing deep into the English countryside
31:12is never without danger.
31:16Since the 9th century,
31:18the Anglo-Saxons have established a network of fortifications
31:21known as the Burrs,
31:22which were a kind of fortified stronghold.
31:24Some were old, restored Roman fortresses.
31:27Others were exceptional natural sites,
31:29headlands or cliffs,
31:30that were walled off to create a fortified point
31:33that was difficult to seize.
31:36Their purpose was to protect merchants,
31:39shelter populations,
31:40and above all,
31:41to create a defensive mesh across the territory.
31:45When you look at the map of these Burrs,
31:47it really gives the impression of a tight mesh,
31:49designed to prevent any Viking army
31:51from slipping through the net.
31:57The fleet reaches Gainsborough,
32:00a small fortified town south of York.
32:06Zvein orders the landing.
32:11For Knut,
32:12who is experiencing his first military campaign,
32:15everything seems too easy.
32:19Since leaving the North Sea,
32:21nothing has stood in their way.
32:23No traps,
32:24no ambushes.
32:27This is an area of England
32:29which has often been distant
32:30from royal control and power,
32:32which is naturally suspicious
32:34of English monarchs at the best of time.
32:35And that means that
32:36when Knut and Swain land at Gainsborough,
32:39they're rapidly able to gain the support
32:41of the local population.
32:42And they almost certainly know that in advance.
32:44It's no accident that they,
32:45instead of attacking the south of England,
32:47the heartlands of the English kingdom,
32:49they go to precisely where
32:51there is the chink in Ethelred's armour.
32:56A group of horsemen approaches the camp.
33:01At their head rides the powerful
33:03Uhtred of Northumbria.
33:06He comes to request an audience with Zvein.
33:16Knut watches him in silence.
33:20Here stands the enemy he expected to fight.
33:24But 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,
33:39this surrender without battle or glory
33:41speaks volumes about his adversary.
33:46What we have to realize at this time is that
33:50the idea of English unity is only a relatively
33:54recent construction of the 10th century.
33:59And for Uhtred, it was probably his interests
34:02to submit to a Danish lord rather than a distant
34:07English king in the south of the island.
34:11It seems he was caught off guard.
34:14That he's defending his own interests
34:16in an unstable situation.
34:18Separated from the main Anglo-Saxon army,
34:20he 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 Zvein'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
34:40sent 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,
35:02handed over as collateral for an oath.
35:06If you come to an agreement
35:07with anybody in politics in this period,
35:10you try to take a hostage to make sure
35:12the 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,
35:20and they are your collateral.
35:22This is saying, well, we're not going to leave them
35:24tied up to a radiator with handcuffs on.
35:27We will treat them with honour, with dignity.
35:29But if anything should happen,
35:31then it's the end of your son here.
35:34You know, this is a very practical guarantee,
35:37but it's also playing on this idea of honour as well.
35:46Without spilling a drop of blood,
35:48Zvein 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
36:06and proclaims Zvein king of England,
36:09rejecting Æthelred.
36:13But the rest of the realm still has to be persuaded
36:16to accept such a dramatic change of allegiance.
36:21And what better way to seal that bond than marriage?
36:29A union between Knut and a young noble woman
36:32from a powerful Anglo-Danish lineage
36:35could ease tension and seal alliance.
36:39Her name is Elgifu, from Northampton.
36:46Elgifu, Northampton.
36:47Here's the woman that Sven Fortbeard looks at the political landscape
36:51of the north and says,
36:52that one.
36:53She's the one that's going to marry my son
36:55because she's the one who can help us control this region.
36:58She's the heiress to this old political machinery.
37:01She is the daughter of Alfhelm, who had been a alderman,
37:06so the leading man in the southern part of Northumbria.
37:09But he had been murdered in Æthelred's court in 1006,
37:13in a purge.
37:15But that family nonetheless remains important
37:17and very alienated from Æthelred.
37:20And so, in a sense, she can be a lightning rod
37:23for channeling that descent towards support for Svein and Knut.
37:27And so, for Knut coming in with Svein,
37:29perhaps also at the back of his mind,
37:31the prospect may be of becoming an eventual king of England
37:35or 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,
38:01he 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.
38:29Supplies, reinforcements, horses.
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,
38:59watch over the hostages,
39:02and raise the funds needed to sustain the war.
39:08Sons are expected to be trained up in kingship
39:11and to learn the tricks of the trade as soon as possible.
39:14And one of the best ways to do this for someone like Svein,
39:16to 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,
39:26his representative in England.
39:28And the sense of responsibility that this new conquest,
39:30this 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,
39:39simultaneously, steps up to the plate.
39:42Is it a mark of trust being placed in him?
39:45Partly, 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 in reserve 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.
40:21Now alone, he must prove himself worthy of the task.
40:26More than anything, he must ensure his father will be proud of him.
40:37Svein's long column of troops stretches southward,
40:40towards the heart of the kingdom.
40:44But instead of heading for London, where Æthelred awaits,
40:48Svein leads his men west, towards Oxford.
40:56Svein's decision to attack Oxford rather than London
41:00almost 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 Æthorkel the Tall at Greenwich.
41:20If Svein had rushed his campaign and gone for that,
41:23then potentially this might have been game over for Svein too early,
41:29and it made sense to essentially take the pieces on the playing board
41:34first 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.
42:05Svein's orders are clear.
42:07Beyond this line, there will be no mercy.
42:14From farm to farm, village to village,
42:19his army unleashes its full destructive force.
42:25There's no Geneva Convention, so the objective is obviously to put pressure on the enemy,
42:30to scare them.
42:32Men loot, kill and burn as they please.
42:36It's a phrase frequently used to describe Viking armies.
42:39Psychological 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.
42:47Raiding the countryside, seizing resources, living off the land,
42:51and killing a few people in a particularly dramatic way
42:54are all part of the usual practices.
42:59After a few days, Svein 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,
43:36or another round of mass destruction.
43:39Clearly, not everyone is eager to turn their city into another Stalingrad.
43:42Surrendering is the logical choice if it spares lives and avoids crushing tribute.
43:51Svein 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 Svein, it is not enough.
44:18Svein, Falkbeard, is trying to terrorize the south of England.
44:22He has to subdue that part, and he'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.
44:52Exeter, Winchester, all surrendered without resistance.
44:58In London, Ethelred remains barricaded in his palace.
45:04More cut off from his people than ever, he watches helplessly as his kingdom collapses.
45:12Ethelred's passivity has really damned the reputation of Ethelred.
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 eldermen, are just unwilling to act on his behalf while he's in London.
45:43So it's something of a difficult situation for Ethelred at this time.
45:52As autumn begins, the noose tightens around Ethelred.
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 Ethelred'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.
47:05So, 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 Æthelred'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
49:03Anglo-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 Æthelred's chaotic rule, rally to the Dane.
49:22Soon, the rest of the kingdom follows.
49:28Æthelred 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.
49:37And when you've got nothing left except the city of London, then I think you leave.
49:43Abandoned by all, Æthelred, the last king of a 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.
50:27Aboard the ship carrying him into exile, Æthelred watches the English coastline fade into the mist.
50:36His 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 Æthelred is not broken.
50:53He 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.
51:24Before him stands a transformed son.
51:29Seasoned and hardened by the demands of power.
51:34It's a new world.
51:35It'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, Sane 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.
52:39He is the king for the right hand from hisolen.
52:39By the way of UNDON-SPILLE das.
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