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The Viking Emperor Season 1 Episode 2
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00:12This is a story of conquest, betrayal, and courage.
00:20The story of a son of a Viking sovereign forged in the shadow of battle.
00:25A man destined for nothing, yet fated to build an empire.
00:31He was larger than life in his lifetime and is somebody who had wide-ranging achievements that surprised even many
00:40of his contemporaries.
00:42The story of a man who became ruler of three kingdoms.
00:47A Viking who became an emperor.
00:51It's one of the great medieval success stories.
00:54What he does, we have no word for.
00:56It's completely new.
00:58This is the legend of Canute.
01:01Emperor of the North Sea.
01:36The South Sea.
01:53He was born in the mountains.
01:56No longer mere invaders, they are now conquerors.
02:03After a lightning-fast campaign, Knut and Svein have subdued England.
02:10The nobility has sworn allegiance to them.
02:15And King Æthelred has been driven into exile in Normandy.
02:21From this moment on, the land is theirs.
02:26But conquering a kingdom is one thing.
02:30Becoming its rightful rulers is another.
02:36Knut and Svein did not come to fundamentally change everything about English society.
02:40They came to take over its head, the head of the snake, as it were, and control that.
02:45Once Svein has effected military conquest of England,
02:49he then must achieve legitimacy and authority.
02:53And that cannot be asserted purely at the end of a sword or a spear.
02:58And so that starts with convening the so-called Wittan,
03:03that is, leading magnates of England who represent the realm,
03:06and having them elect a monarch.
03:13Knut and Svein must now secure the loyalty of all the members of the Wittan.
03:21One of its most influential members resides in York.
03:28Archbishop Wulvstan.
03:40We know that Wulvstan was deeply concerned by the Viking threat.
03:44He seems generally fearful of the return of unchecked paganism in early 11th century England.
03:51And you see there a man who is railing and screaming about,
03:55this is the end of the world, this is the apocalypse, this is the end of everything.
03:58So he sees the Vikings as sent by God to punish the English for their sins.
04:04And I think for Wulvstan, the Vikings become a symbol of the Antichrist.
04:14Winning such a man over may seem impossible.
04:19But Knut is about to present a powerful argument.
04:36All of Knut's actions suggest that he was indeed Christian,
04:41and his dynasty was riding on the coattails of Christianity.
04:45It's his grandfather, Harold Bluetooth, who'd also made the Danes Christian.
04:49Because one of the crucial teachings that the church has is that there are monarchs put in place by the
04:55grace of God,
04:56that God has created the social order.
04:58So if tapped into correctly, Christianization and the Christian faith can become a powerful force.
05:08The piety displayed by Svein and Knut appears to reassure Wulvstan.
05:13Yet no one can truly guess their real intentions.
05:19For Svein, the time has come to summon the Wulvstan.
05:29Back in Gainsborough, he sends his messengers across the kingdom.
05:34The assembly will meet in three weeks in York, not London.
05:41For it is from the north that he intends to rule England, abandoning Wessex, the traditional heart of English royal
05:49power.
05:51After he's conquered England, there's a Witteniumot being called in York.
05:57Well, clearly it's to crown him king and it's to give Knut some sort of office or title in that
06:03region.
06:03And that is crucial because we can see then how close Svein is to the north, how much he focuses
06:09energies on it.
06:10And also what a dreadful mistake he made.
06:13Because you can't run a kingdom from its least organized part.
06:20The powerhouse of England is in the south.
06:23That's where the bureaucracy is, that's where the towns are, that's where the markets are.
06:26Primarily that's where the money-making machine is.
06:29And if you want to be in England and you want to control it, you've got to do it from
06:33the south.
06:35England is about to open a new chapter in its history.
06:41Nothing seems capable of halting the advance of the two Danes.
06:48And yet, fate will decide otherwise.
07:02Knut rushes back to Gainsborough.
07:10He has been summoned to the royal palace.
07:17At dawn, his father's lifeless body is discovered.
07:24The conqueror of the north has died suddenly at the age of 50.
07:29At the height of his power.
07:35His reaction, of course, to his father's death has to be enormous shock.
07:38Enormous shock.
07:39This is not what they had planned.
07:41They're about to become legitimate rulers.
07:44They're about to be accepted by the nobles, ecclesiastical and secular, of the whole country.
07:50And suddenly, his father's dropped down dead.
07:53There would have been a part of him, at least, that is pleased that his father, who was one of
07:59the main obstacles other than his brother, to his own ambitions, was gone.
08:08Standing before the man to whom he owed everything, Knut finds himself utterly alone, for he knows that now everything
08:18rests upon him.
08:20Swain's conquered England, but has not managed to establish that kind of authority that will allow him to pass the
08:27throne without opposition to a son.
08:30Because he's only been in England in a matter of months, not even a full year.
08:34So, for Knut, that's come too fast.
08:37Does he want to claim to be king of England following his father's death?
08:42Or does he have to go back to Scandinavia?
08:44That sort of uncertainty, I think, would have been a tremendous pressure for Knut at this time.
08:52Returning to Denmark is impossible.
08:55His brother, Harald, has almost certainly claimed the crown.
09:00Without hesitation, Knut asserts his right to the throne of England.
09:07He knows he can rely on the loyalty of his army.
09:11And above all, on the hostages handed over by the English nobility the previous year, as pledges of allegiance.
09:22The Witan should be nothing more than a mere formality.
09:26Yet, behind the scenes of power, a very different reality is beginning to emerge.
09:33He is elected king by the Danish army, but the English, unsurprisingly, stop and say,
09:39wait a second, Swain was a known entity, highly experienced campaigner.
09:43We were submitting to him, not to his son.
09:46That wasn't the deal.
09:47It was Swain as king.
09:50He's just a young boy to the English nobility.
09:52He's not even the king of the Danes.
09:55And there would be conversations in dark corners about the possibilities.
10:01Here, what do we do?
10:09In York, Wolfstein has chosen his side.
10:18Before a nobility consumed by doubt, he delivers a sermon heavy with warning.
10:26The Sermon of the Wolf.
10:29A radical text calling on the English to rise up and save their kingdom.
10:38Sermon Lupi ad Anglos is perhaps most famous of the many apocalyptic sermons of Wolfstein of York.
10:45And in this, he is adumbrating all of the terrible things that English have done
10:49and all of the signs of God's wrath upon them,
10:52including the fact that they have exiled their king,
10:56that they have sent their king into exile, their rightful king, Æthelred.
10:58As guardian of moral order within the kingdom,
11:02he calls on every man to stand ready to defend his king.
11:10In the utmost secrecy,
11:14the English nobility sends envoys across the channel to Normandy.
11:21There, Æthelred has taken refuge,
11:26under the protection of his brother-in-law, Duke Richard II.
11:33For the old king,
11:35this sudden turn of events may offer one final chance to reclaim his throne.
11:42And so they open negotiations,
11:44and part of the deal struck with Æthelred
11:46is that he agrees to rule them more justly than he had before.
11:50That is the condition of their return.
11:54Æthelred appears to acknowledge his past failures.
11:57He accepts the negotiated terms of his return,
12:01promising to rule more wisely,
12:03to show greater respect to his subjects,
12:05and to forgive those who had betrayed him during the previous year.
12:11So in a sense, they prefer to bring in Æthelred 2.0
12:15rather than risking it with a relatively unknown canute
12:18from a completely different kingdom.
12:25Æthelred now plays what may be his last card.
12:31He calls upon all those who reject Danish rule.
12:38Among them stands a feared Viking war leader,
12:44Olaf Haraldsson.
12:45The story is told when Æthelred comes back from Normandy to England.
12:51He has the support of Olaf Haraldsson,
12:54this Viking warlord who has his own fleet.
12:59Olaf Haraldsson has been someone who's been involved
13:03in raiding and attacking on England
13:06and probably elsewhere in Europe,
13:07has made a name for himself freebooting,
13:09like many of these Viking adventurers do.
13:11But crucially, he's also converted to the Christian faith.
13:15And he seems to be someone who Æthelred and his court
13:18are trying to use and set up in opposition to Canute.
13:25For Æthelred, the time has come to reclaim his kingdom.
13:30At the head of a fleet, he sets sail for England
13:35and marches toward London.
13:42London represents a potential stronghold.
13:45It's a logistical hub, rich beyond measure.
13:48Controlling it, even without fully conquering it,
13:51was likely one of Æthelred's primary objectives
13:53upon his return to England.
13:57Æthelred approaches the capital,
14:01the only city that has remained loyal to him.
14:05He knows, however, that the confrontation will be fierce.
14:10London is held by Danish forces loyal to Canute.
14:16There were points of resistance,
14:17as if Svein had deliberately garrisoned
14:20the main fortifications that had been captured.
14:23It makes sense.
14:24A newly conquered kingdom cannot be left undefended.
14:28There was no way to control the territory.
14:32Danish troops were plausibly stationed across the land,
14:35guarding key towns and fortresses.
14:40The garrison entrenched itself in the fortress
14:43on the southern bank of the Thames,
14:46blocking access to the city.
14:52At the heart of this defensive network
14:54stands the London Bridge,
14:57a fortified obstacle that controls the river
15:01and connects both shores.
15:09Against such a stronghold,
15:11a siege borders on the impossible.
15:17So, Olaf volunteers for one of the most perilous missions imaginable.
15:24To destroy the London Bridge.
15:30He is said to have assembled a small flotilla,
15:33choosing the most skilled and courageous men.
15:36With a few boats,
15:38they positioned themselves beneath the bridge,
15:41secured it with reeds and ropes,
15:43and tore away its supports.
15:47The collapse forced the surrender
15:49of both Southwark and London.
15:56Whether that story is quite true or not,
16:00I think is debatable.
16:03But it is such a good story
16:05that it's very much embedded
16:08in the history of Viking Age London.
16:13Even if the story of the bridge's destruction
16:15may be legend,
16:19Æthelred enters the city as a victor.
16:23Yet he does not linger.
16:26Giving Knut time to regroup
16:28would be a grave mistake.
16:32Tomorrow,
16:33he will gather his forces
16:34and march north.
16:44In Gainsborough,
16:48Knut does not yet grasp
16:49the approaching danger.
16:54Why worry?
16:55Has Æthelred not repeatedly
16:57proven powerless
16:58against the Vikings?
17:03Knut's reaction
17:05after his father's death
17:06is puzzling.
17:07Remarkably,
17:08Æthelred moves swiftly,
17:10while Knut appears
17:11almost inactive,
17:12as if two months passed
17:14without any action.
17:16Knut,
17:17he's only a young man.
17:19He's not his father.
17:21Can he control
17:22his own forces?
17:24He can control
17:24some of them.
17:25Can he control
17:26all of the alliances
17:27his father's made
17:28with Scandinavians?
17:29I doubt it.
17:30I think initially
17:31he must have seen
17:32certain Scandinavians
17:33turn against him
17:34and then the Danelaw
17:36and the other areas
17:37of England
17:38that he could count on
17:39started to show
17:40no support.
17:41And this must be his age.
17:43This must be his inexperience.
17:47Two young,
17:50overconfident men.
17:52Knut does not yet
17:53see the ground
17:54slipping beneath him.
17:57On April the 25th,
17:59Easter Day,
18:00a message reaches him
18:01from his scouts.
18:04Æthelred has entered Lindsay
18:07with a massive army.
18:11Despite having promised
18:12to not repeat
18:14part's abuses,
18:14the first thing he does
18:15is he charges
18:16into the north.
18:18This leads to a massacre
18:20in Lindsay,
18:20the last unit
18:21that supported Knut.
18:26We know Knut
18:27had secured the support
18:28of Lincolnshire's inhabitants,
18:30promising provisions
18:32for his defence,
18:33particularly in anticipation
18:35of a campaign.
18:37It is therefore
18:37entirely logical
18:39that Æthelred,
18:40as Swain once did,
18:41raids and plunders
18:42areas that show disloyalty
18:44or pose potential opposition.
18:51In Gainsborough,
18:53Knut finally gathers
18:55his forces.
18:58He urges them
19:00to defend their king.
19:03But despite his warriors' determination,
19:06it is already too late.
19:10This time,
19:11the English army
19:12holds the upper hand.
19:14Knut, at this point,
19:15is on his back foot.
19:17He's in a very difficult position.
19:19And so,
19:20when the lights
19:22all go out
19:22one after another,
19:24Knut is a good tactician,
19:25and just like Æthelred,
19:27when he's left
19:28with only one region left,
19:29he left quickly.
19:31Because,
19:32at that point,
19:33he's trying to save
19:34whatever he's got
19:35for the next assault.
19:42Knut has no choice.
19:45Leave England
19:46or die.
19:49He gathers
19:50his last loyal men
19:53and takes to the sea
19:55at the head
19:55of his fleet.
19:59Behind him,
20:00lies a land
20:01ravaged by the vengeful fury
20:03of the Anglo-Saxons.
20:05It's an enormous,
20:07chaotic,
20:08swinging backwards
20:09and forwards situation.
20:10Æthelred's been driven
20:11from the country.
20:12Sven's come to power.
20:14Sven's died.
20:15There's panic running around
20:16of all the various forces.
20:17Some stay with Knut.
20:18Most don't.
20:19Knut flees.
20:20The English
20:21open negotiations
20:22with Æthelred
20:23and Æthelred comes back.
20:24It's an immensely
20:26chaotic time.
20:33On his ship,
20:36Knut watches
20:37the English coast
20:38recede.
20:41Defeated by a man
20:43he considers weak,
20:45he must flee.
20:49Trapped by his own pride,
20:57He must have been furious.
21:00There must have been
21:01quite a lot of people
21:02who said they would
21:03support him
21:03and then turned against him.
21:05And so he did exactly
21:06what he said
21:07he was going to do
21:08in that scenario.
21:15After several days at sea,
21:17his fleet lands at Sandwich.
21:23The hostages,
21:24given by the English nobility
21:26during his father's conquests,
21:28are cast ashore.
21:35What should be done
21:36with these men?
21:39For Knut,
21:40mere execution
21:41would be far too gentle
21:42a revenge.
21:46He wants to make an example.
21:49What if there's a time machine?
21:51Would you like to have dinner
21:52with Knut?
21:53Absolutely not.
21:54I think he was a ruthless,
21:55scary individual
21:56and I don't think,
21:57I think we would all,
21:58all of us in the modern world
21:59would run screaming from him.
22:01I think if you survive
22:02in this environment,
22:03if you thrive in this environment,
22:04you're a pretty scary,
22:06ruthless creature in yourself.
22:07and Knut is good at it.
22:11Without the slightest remorse,
22:15he orders them
22:16to be mercilessly mutilated.
22:21Knut employed a range
22:23of corporal punishments,
22:24standard under the law
22:26of the time.
22:27Cutting off hands,
22:28parts of the face,
22:29ears or nose,
22:31these practices appear
22:32in contemporary legal codes,
22:34including those issued
22:35by Wolfstein.
22:37And so I think for him,
22:38this is a parting shot.
22:39This is saying,
22:40I may be leaving now,
22:41but I'll be back
22:42and don't underestimate me.
22:45Do not cross me.
22:46This is what happens
22:47to people who cross me.
22:49They don't get killed.
22:50They get injured in ways
22:52that will maim them for life
22:53and make them
22:54and everyone else
22:55who meets them
22:56remember what I'm capable of.
23:07Harald watches with concern
23:09as his brother's ships
23:11near the coast.
23:15Crowned king of Denmark
23:16upon their father's death,
23:18he cannot know
23:19Knut's true intentions.
23:22At the back of Harald's mind
23:25and at the back
23:26of Knut's mind
23:26is this sort of notion
23:27that this Danish kingdom
23:29isn't big enough
23:30for the two of us here.
23:32This is a situation
23:33where these two brothers
23:34are at some point
23:35going to have to face off
23:38potentially against one another.
23:41One might imagine
23:42that Harald would feel
23:44a little bit nervous
23:46about the presence
23:47of his war-experienced brother
23:50back in the kingdom.
23:55Though always close,
23:57Knut and Harald's brotherly bond
23:59cannot mask the tension that day.
24:08Knut initially seems intent
24:11on reclaiming part
24:12of the Danish kingdom.
24:14From Harald's perspective,
24:15Knut is a threat
24:16because Knut's interests
24:18lie in becoming king.
24:21Harald's interests lie
24:22in keeping the kingship.
24:24And so, Knut back in Denmark
24:25is one prince too many
24:27for a kingdom
24:28that has just lost swaying.
24:32In the throne hall
24:33now under his control,
24:36Harald invites Knut to speak.
24:39Yet his younger brother's claims
24:42could ignite
24:43a dangerous war of succession.
24:47If Harald refuses,
24:49Knut must choose.
24:53Submit or fight.
24:56If Knut was the astute politician
24:58I believe,
24:59it made sense for him to adapt.
25:01Very well,
25:02if you're unwilling
25:02to grant me anything,
25:03I will demonstrate loyalty
25:04and friendship instead.
25:06This may have been
25:07the surest way
25:08to achieve his aims,
25:09avoiding direct confrontation
25:11and certain defeat.
25:14Barely 20 years old,
25:17Knut has already lost everything.
25:19His throne,
25:20his kingdom,
25:22and perhaps even his future.
25:27Unwilling to live
25:28in his brother's shadow,
25:30he sees one path.
25:33Reclaim by force
25:34what he believes
25:35is rightfully his.
25:37This is not a man
25:39who is accepting
25:41his role in Denmark
25:43as the second son.
25:44This is instead
25:45a man
25:46who is waiting
25:47for his opportunity
25:48to reinvade England.
25:50He's waiting
25:51and he's watching
25:52for some key mistake
25:54in the English regime
25:56to be made
25:56that gives him
25:57a new way in.
26:08After 30 years
26:09of a chaotic reign,
26:15Æthelred finally
26:16recovers his throne.
26:21Yet he now faces
26:22a nobility steeped
26:24in mistrust
26:24and betrayal.
26:26A nest of scorpions
26:29at whose heart
26:30he believes
26:31he has found
26:32a loyal ally.
26:35Iadric Streona.
26:41Iadric Streona
26:42is the bad man
26:44of the first half
26:45of the 11th century
26:46in English politics.
26:49His nickname,
26:51Streona,
26:51it means
26:52the grasper,
26:52the acquisitor.
26:53In addition to which
26:54he doesn't seem
26:55to have very much
26:55what we would say
26:56moral fibre,
26:57fibre,
26:57or he's a brilliant
26:58survivor,
26:59which one do you want
27:00to say?
27:00And he flip-flops
27:01between supporting
27:03whoever looks
27:04like they might win.
27:05And we don't
27:06quite know why,
27:07but for whatever reasons
27:08Æthelred gives
27:09Iadric more and more
27:11power and authority
27:11and it's clear
27:13that many of those
27:14at court resent this,
27:15that this is a new
27:16guard coming in.
27:17that Æthelred places
27:18absolute trust in.
27:22Iadric never leaves
27:24the king's side,
27:26feeding his paranoia
27:28day after day.
27:31At 47,
27:33weakened by illness,
27:35Æthelred faces
27:36yet another threat,
27:38the struggle
27:39for his own succession.
27:42So all the sons
27:43of the king
27:44are considered
27:45to be Æthelings,
27:46so you actually have
27:47a number of contenders
27:48through the throne.
27:50It's a bit of
27:50a political brawl,
27:51but it also means
27:53that the son,
27:55who's the best leader
27:56and who has
27:57a strong faction
28:00behind him
28:01among the noblemen,
28:02will come to the top
28:03rather than necessarily
28:04the firstborn,
28:05who may not be the best.
28:11two lines now vie for power.
28:14First,
28:16from his union
28:17with Ergifu of York,
28:20six sons.
28:27At that point,
28:29the elder son,
28:30Edmund Ironside,
28:31appears to have
28:32the upper hand.
28:34He's a young man
28:35in his early 20s,
28:36perhaps a little younger
28:37or older,
28:38already highly respected
28:39and clearly eager
28:40to go to war.
28:44Opposing him,
28:45the second line.
28:49Edward
28:50and Alfred,
28:53born of Ethelred's
28:55second wife,
28:56a noble woman
28:57from across the channel,
29:00Emma of Normandy.
29:05Emma of Normandy
29:06is the daughter
29:07of the Duke of Normandy,
29:10Richard I,
29:11who is a descendant
29:12of Rollo,
29:13so the Viking
29:14who established Normandy
29:16as a county
29:17in the 9th century.
29:18And she seems to be
29:20a very aggressive
29:20political figure
29:21that she's influenced there,
29:23as we know,
29:24by Norman politics,
29:25where women took
29:25a much greater role.
29:26They really didn't do this
29:28in English politics.
29:29She is extraordinarily powerful
29:31and not shy
29:33about exerting that power.
29:35So Emma dedicated her life,
29:38really,
29:38to making sure
29:39that one of her sons
29:40was on the throne.
29:45Emma has no intention
29:46of letting the throne
29:48slip from her grasp
29:49in favor of a son
29:50from a previous marriage.
29:54At court,
29:55the treacherous Iadric
29:56may prove a valuable ally
29:58against Edmund's ambition.
30:01By Ethelred's later years,
30:03Emma,
30:04his queen,
30:04quite possibly Ethelred himself,
30:06and certainly others at court
30:07aligned with Iadric,
30:08are creating a faction.
30:10And that faction
30:11may well be working
30:12to try to line up
30:13eventually the succession
30:14of Edward and Alfred,
30:17Ethelred's sons
30:18with his second wife,
30:18Emma,
30:20over his sons
30:21with his first wife.
30:23And so what we start seeing
30:24is a fracturing
30:25of the dynasty
30:25between rival line.
30:33The king summons
30:35a great assembly.
30:39Nobles from across
30:41the realm gather.
30:44Among them stand
30:46Seerfurth and Morkar,
30:49two leading figures
30:50of the Danelaw,
30:52both known for supporting
30:54Edmund's claim
30:55to the throne.
30:58As the feast
31:00reaches its height,
31:03Iadric Streona
31:04approaches the king.
31:06With a simple gesture,
31:09Ethelred gives the order
31:10to strike.
31:12He has Seerfurth
31:14and Morkar
31:16invited by Iadric Streona
31:17to a meeting,
31:19and then they are murdered.
31:21They are just murdered.
31:23The king seizes their lands,
31:26and he has Seerfurth,
31:27a widow placed
31:28in Malmesbury Abbey.
31:30What happens there
31:31is that Ethelred
31:33has created a scenario
31:34whereby his son,
31:36his trusted friends
31:37and allies,
31:38are now being attacked
31:39by his own father.
31:44For Edmund,
31:45it is a crushing blow.
31:49His closest allies
31:51are dead.
31:52worse,
31:54Ethelred now openly favours
31:55Edward,
31:56Emma's son.
31:59On August 15th,
32:011015,
32:02Edmund acts.
32:06He travels
32:07to the monastery
32:08of Malmesbury,
32:11adacts Yargith,
32:13widow of Seerfurth,
32:14and marries her
32:16on the spot,
32:17claiming her late
32:18husband's inheritance.
32:23It's a crucial
32:24and enormous act
32:26is he's aligning himself
32:27against Ethelred,
32:29and what we have here
32:31is shock and horror
32:33because suddenly
32:34the king
32:34and the obvious heir
32:36are at loggerheads,
32:37and they're at war
32:38with each other.
32:42By attacking
32:43the northern nobility,
32:44Ethelred fractures
32:45his kingdom
32:46once again,
32:48pushing England
32:49to the brink
32:50of civil war.
33:04The news
33:05spread like wildfire.
33:07A few days earlier,
33:09Canute had issued
33:10the call to arms.
33:12Now,
33:13from one end
33:14of the country
33:15to the other,
33:18thousands march
33:19towards the capital.
33:24Canute has waited
33:25months for this moment.
33:27The fractures
33:29tearing England apart
33:30offer him
33:31the perfect opportunity
33:32for revenge.
33:34The tree has a trunk,
33:36and you see
33:36one trunk
33:37above the ground,
33:38as it were,
33:39but if you were
33:39to grab that
33:40and pull it out
33:41of the ground,
33:41you see all these routes,
33:43and each route
33:44leads to another unit
33:45and to another unit,
33:45and they spread out
33:46in a myriad of ways.
33:47So Canute doesn't
33:48have direct contact
33:49with people
33:50even a few stages down.
33:51When a king calls,
33:54as opposed
33:54to a local nobleman,
33:56you get an enormous
33:57amount of uptake
33:58of this.
34:01To launch
34:01his reconquest,
34:03Canute relies
34:04on a man
34:05from Norway,
34:07Erich of Lade,
34:11an old ally
34:12of his father,
34:13destined to be
34:14the cornerstone
34:15of his great army.
34:19Erich's family
34:21has been slowly
34:22consolidating power
34:23over northern Norway,
34:24and pretty much
34:25then all of Norway
34:27down to the south.
34:28They are probably
34:28the most powerful dynasty
34:30ruling any part
34:31of Scandinavia
34:32at that point.
34:33Erich, moreover,
34:34has married
34:34one of Canute's
34:35half-sisters.
34:36He was therefore
34:37a family ally,
34:38a recognized war leader,
34:39a man of great power
34:40and considerable charisma,
34:42widely respected,
34:43and very likely
34:44someone who played
34:44the role of a mentor
34:45to Canute.
34:52As the army gathers,
34:55an alarm sounds.
34:58A fleet approaches
35:00off the coast.
35:02Filled with men
35:04and weapons.
35:08At its head
35:09is Thorkil the Tall,
35:12fearsome Viking leader,
35:15Æthelred's ally
35:16for more than three years.
35:19Of all his followers,
35:21Thorkil was likely
35:22the most loyal.
35:23Yet, in 1015,
35:25he seems to vanish
35:26from England,
35:27returning discreetly
35:28to Denmark
35:29with only a few ships.
35:33and he stays
35:34a little bit offshore.
35:35This is a man
35:36who's not quite sure
35:37if the Danish royal family
35:39are going to try
35:39and kill him or not,
35:40but also he doesn't want
35:41to give them
35:41the opportunity.
35:44Canute is intrigued
35:46and agrees to hear out
35:48this formidable adversary.
35:53Thorkil knows England
35:54extremely well.
35:55Its balance of power,
35:57its terrain,
35:57such knowledge
35:58could be of great value.
36:01Canute studies the man,
36:0330 years his senior,
36:06once among his father's
36:07greatest enemies.
36:10A single gesture
36:12could have ended him.
36:14But instead,
36:16Canute offers his hand.
36:21Canute accepts the allegiance
36:23very quickly,
36:24without reserve.
36:26Securing the support
36:27to such an experienced,
36:29influential,
36:30and knowledgeable leader
36:31is sufficient.
36:33Erik then stands
36:34as Canute's
36:34positive guiding force,
36:37Thorkil his darker,
36:38more ambivalent counterpart.
36:41together they form
36:43the two paternal figures
36:44around whom Canute
36:46builds himself
36:46and his army.
36:49They're the very best
36:50allies he could find,
36:52both among the Norwegians
36:54and the Dates.
36:56His ability to surround
36:58himself with talent
36:59is extraordinary.
37:05At first light,
37:09Canute,
37:09gives the order
37:10to set sail.
37:18At the head of a fleet
37:20of 200 ships,
37:22he heads towards England.
37:27The encomium of Queen Emma
37:30records the fleet
37:32as being dazzling to behold.
37:34It uses these sort of
37:35grandiose Latin terms,
37:38emphasising sight of this
37:41terrible war fleet
37:43of Canute
37:44that is brought
37:44to England
37:45in 1015.
37:47So,
37:48for an observer
37:50standing on the
37:51English coast,
37:52there must have been
37:53a view of this
37:54kind of forest
37:55of masts
37:56and sails,
37:57and it must be
37:58a terrible sight
37:59to behold.
38:05But as the fleet
38:06nears the English coast,
38:08Canute turns south.
38:11Unlike his father,
38:13two years earlier,
38:14he does not aim
38:15for the north.
38:16His target is the heart
38:18of power,
38:19Wessex.
38:21He's now had a taste
38:22of England,
38:23he's been around it
38:24a bit,
38:24he's spent a bit
38:25of time there,
38:25and he can see
38:26that what he needs
38:27more than anything else
38:28is he doesn't need
38:29to go to the part
38:30that looks like Scandinavia
38:31because it's most
38:32convenient for him.
38:33He needs to go
38:33to the part
38:34that's least convenient
38:35for him to understand
38:36and interact with
38:37because that's
38:38where you rule
38:39England from,
38:40and that's
38:40the wealthy south.
38:43The ships skirt
38:45the coast of Kent,
38:46pushing into Dorset.
38:53On board,
38:54carried by the dark
38:55waters of the river,
38:58Canute recalls
38:59the day a year earlier
39:01when he first set foot
39:02on English soil
39:03beside his father.
39:08Today,
39:09he fights
39:10for his own name,
39:12for the oath
39:13whispered over
39:14Zwein's lifeless body.
39:19By the time
39:20Canute comes back
39:21to England,
39:21he's still young,
39:24but already
39:25has considerable experience.
39:26He's had those
39:27early moments
39:28in England,
39:29working first
39:30with his father
39:30successfully,
39:31those difficult moments
39:32where it all went wrong.
39:33He's had a few years
39:35experience,
39:36he's had experience
39:36now back
39:37at his brother's court
39:38in Denmark
39:39and some of the difficulties
39:40he's encountered there.
39:41So he's certainly
39:42coming back
39:42a wilyer,
39:44more experienced
39:45political operator
39:46and not someone
39:46who anybody in England,
39:48I think,
39:48would underestimate.
39:57Wessex is among
39:58the kingdom's
39:59best defended territories.
40:05But Canute is confident.
40:07His ships give him
40:09a decisive edge.
40:11These long ships,
40:13often miscalled dracars,
40:15are the key
40:16to Viking striking power.
40:21Britain may see itself
40:23today as a navy
40:25first in its military,
40:27but it wasn't then.
40:28And it had nothing
40:30in comparison
40:30to these long boats
40:32that the Vikings used.
40:33What made Scandinavian ships
40:35so effective
40:36in this period
40:36was the fact
40:37that they managed
40:38to be very seaworthy,
40:39could travel
40:40significant distances,
40:41could carry
40:42large numbers of men,
40:43but still have
40:44a relatively shallow draft.
40:46And so what that
40:47allows them to do
40:48is to travel
40:48quite far up
40:49navigable rivers,
40:50to beach quite easily,
40:52and to land
40:53and then attack
40:53local people.
41:00Canute's army
41:02devastates
41:03all in its path.
41:07Dorset.
41:09Wiltshire.
41:12Somerset.
41:14The young Dane
41:17advances relentlessly.
41:29Between Knut's
41:30hesitations
41:30in 1013 to 1014
41:32and his return
41:33in 1015 to 1016,
41:34there's a dramatic shift.
41:35He knows exactly
41:37what must be done,
41:38and he executes it
41:39coldly, efficiently,
41:40and with calculation.
41:42A highly effective approach,
41:44no doubt advised
41:45by the two men
41:46at his side,
41:46probably the finest
41:47war leaders
41:48of the north.
41:52Knut learned
41:53from his past mistakes.
41:56He gives the enemy
41:58no respite.
42:01At the head
42:02of their troops,
42:03Erik and Thorkell
42:04descend on English lands
42:06like a swarm
42:07of locusts.
42:11Knut rarely goes
42:12into battle himself.
42:15Like Octavian
42:17during Rome's
42:18civil war,
42:18he remains behind,
42:21reflecting,
42:22pulling strings,
42:23giving orders,
42:24relying on powerful
42:25men to act.
42:27But his followers
42:28clearly trust him
42:29and are willing
42:30to go into battle
42:31in his stead.
42:38The Scandinavian forces
42:39set up camp in Mercia,
42:42one of the kingdom's
42:43richest regions
42:45and undoubtedly
42:46one of the most
42:47difficult to subdue.
42:52At least,
42:53until a man appears
42:55on the outskirts
42:56of the camp.
43:06Canut is intrigued
43:07and watches
43:08the stranger approach.
43:13It is none other
43:14than Yadric's Triona,
43:18Æthelred's closest advisor.
43:22Instead of defending
43:24his king,
43:25he presents himself
43:27before his most
43:28formidable enemy.
43:36Yadric's choice
43:37to side with
43:39Canut seems to be
43:40one of these
43:40key moments
43:42in many ways
43:43in the strategies
43:45of 10-15.
43:46Why Yadric decides
43:48to betray Æthelred
43:50is really
43:51the million-pound
43:52question.
43:53He'd risen
43:54on Æthelred's
43:55coattails,
43:56but if we look
43:56at Yadric's
43:57later career,
43:58what it seems
43:59to teach us
44:00is that he's
44:00somebody who
44:00is interested
44:01in one thing
44:02and one person
44:03only,
44:03and that was
44:04Yadric's Triona.
44:05So what he does
44:06is he decides
44:07to jump
44:08before he's pushed
44:09and figures
44:10that his best bet
44:11for maintaining
44:12his position
44:13of power and influence
44:14is to then
44:15be the kingmaker,
44:15to be the one
44:16who secures
44:18Canut's claim
44:19to the throne
44:19and then hopefully
44:20reaps dividends
44:21from that.
44:23Like his father
44:25two years earlier,
44:27Canut strikes
44:28at the very heart
44:29of the kingdom.
44:30Once again,
44:32Æthelred does nothing
44:33to stop the invasion.
44:38Left to fend
44:39for themselves,
44:40the nobles
44:41have no choice
44:41but to submit
44:42to the Dane,
44:44one after another.
44:46By securing
44:48the allegiance
44:48of this aristocracy
44:50through his very presence,
44:51Knut symbolically
44:52exposes the king's absence.
44:54The ruler is not there
44:56to defend
44:57his ancestral lands.
44:58He's a failed king
44:59and therefore
45:00an illegitimate one.
45:01Politically,
45:02it's a masterstroke
45:03and above all,
45:04it works.
45:10The campaign seems
45:12almost effortless.
45:14Yet Knut
45:15does not realise
45:16that this time
45:17a far more
45:18formidable opponent
45:19awaits him.
45:34Faint intervenes once again.
45:38King Æthelred falls gravely ill.
45:43Setting aside old quarrels,
45:45he entrusts command
45:46of the war
45:47to his son,
45:48Edmund Ironside.
45:51The big change
45:52that happens
45:53with Edmund Ironside
45:54taking over
45:55is that we have
45:56a competent
45:57and present
45:58English leader.
46:00But he is the Englishman
46:02who will fight
46:03back against Knut.
46:04Between those two,
46:05there's an equality
46:06in their fights.
46:07If you read this
46:08as a narrative,
46:09you're not quite sure
46:11which way it's going to go
46:12until the final battle
46:14happens, as it were.
46:18To confront Knut,
46:20Edmund must rally
46:21the full strength
46:22of the kingdom.
46:26For now,
46:27his army is dangerously thin.
46:31Accompanied by his personal guard,
46:33he rides tirelessly
46:35across the regions
46:36still loyal to the crown,
46:38calling upon the fiat,
46:40the levy of free men.
46:45Fiat is the terms
46:46for the army,
46:47and it would have been
46:47composed typically
46:49of a small inner entourage
46:52of potentially
46:53professional soldiers
46:54or near professional soldiers,
46:55senior aristocrats
46:56who saw war
46:58as one of their main pastimes,
47:00but then supplemented
47:01with a local militia,
47:04so with individuals
47:04called up
47:05from local counties
47:06to serve in the army.
47:09These men were expected
47:10to arrive
47:11with their own resources
47:12and weapons,
47:13which was far from simple.
47:14Such levies often produced armies
47:16that were uneven,
47:17poorly equipped,
47:18unevenly trained.
47:19To resist Knut,
47:20Edmund repeatedly mobilizes
47:22the kingdom's free men,
47:23raising new forces
47:24whenever possible.
47:27To his troops,
47:29Edmund strives
47:30to embody leadership.
47:33But the conflicts
47:34that once opposed him
47:35to his father
47:36have left deep scars.
47:39Many distrust
47:41the young prince,
47:43judging him
47:43to be overly ambitious.
47:47There was a real question
47:48for those loyal
47:49to Ethelred
47:50as to whether or not
47:52Edmund was
47:53friend or foe.
47:55This is one of the things
47:55that hamstrings
47:57Edmund's initial attempts
47:58to resist,
47:59is that he's not able
48:00to secure that support
48:01and that the main English army
48:03under Ethelred's authority
48:05is not willing
48:06to join Edmund's.
48:07This is quite serious.
48:08This is a refusal
48:10to do the king's bidding.
48:11Edmund is there
48:12on behalf of his father
48:13and these armies
48:14are refusing to come
48:15to the meeting places
48:16and join up.
48:17This is very, very bad news.
48:25In London,
48:26Ethelred receives a message.
48:32His son pleads for aid.
48:35Despite the illness
48:36consuming him,
48:37the king orders his guard
48:39to assemble
48:40and rides west.
48:46A few days later,
48:49Edmund welcomes his father.
48:55He studies him closely.
48:57All of England's hopes
48:59now rest on this old,
49:00weary, aging king.
49:03As a final little
49:05sort of bump in this,
49:07Ethelred is warned,
49:08maybe it's real,
49:10maybe it's just paranoia,
49:11that some part of the army
49:12or somebody there
49:13is going to kill him.
49:16The king apparently panics
49:18and runs into the safety
49:20of London
49:20and the army just dispats.
49:24You can see,
49:25you can see the problems here
49:27and the fragility
49:28of the English forces
49:29and this is the major problem
49:32that Edmund has.
49:36But once again,
49:38Ethelred withdraws.
49:42Edmund is isolated
49:43and has no choice.
49:46He rides north,
49:48prepared to risk everything.
49:53At Bamboura,
49:56he meets Uhtred,
49:58Earl of Northumbria.
50:01The man supported
50:03Svein and Knut
50:04the previous year,
50:05yet remains tied to Edmund
50:07through marriage alliances.
50:10He's experienced as a warrior,
50:12he's got troops,
50:13he's got power.
50:15And so Edmund reaches out
50:17to Uhtred
50:17and Uhtred actually joins forces
50:20with the English forces
50:21against the Danes.
50:22This might seem
50:23somewhat anachronistic
50:25because earlier Uhtred
50:26seemed to have some association
50:28with the Danes
50:29but Uhtred is going to be friends
50:31with whoever gets Uhtred
50:33the most power.
50:34This is then combined
50:35with the fact that
50:36he was closely allied
50:38with people like Morkar
50:39and Sierferth,
50:39so who've just been purged
50:41from the court
50:41and therefore do not look kindly
50:43upon Ethelred
50:45and his regime
50:45and so for Edmund,
50:47Uhtred is a logical ally.
50:52With Uhtred now at his side,
50:56Edmund finally commands forces
50:58capable of challenging Knut.
51:05Yet instead of facing his rival,
51:09he turns south towards Mercia.
51:16Unleashing his strength
51:17against those nobles
51:19accused of treachery.
51:29Once again,
51:31the English fight among themselves
51:33while the Danes
51:34devastate the kingdom.
51:38Everybody thought that they would
51:40attack the Danish army
51:42but it's much better
51:44from their perspective
51:45to pursue their own interests
51:48and at this point
51:49I think that their interests
51:51are Iadrich Streona.
51:53So Knut is a problem,
51:55yeah, sure,
51:55but Iadrich's support
51:57for Knut is the big problem
51:58and I don't think
52:00at this point
52:00they necessarily have
52:01national interests
52:03at heart
52:05but, you know,
52:06in these circumstances,
52:07who could blame them?
52:16Facing the growing alliance
52:17between Edmund and Uhtred,
52:20Knut turns to strategy.
52:23A direct confrontation
52:25would be too great a risk.
52:28Together with his commanders,
52:29he devises a daring plan.
52:32At dawn,
52:34they will outmaneuver the enemy
52:35and strike deep into the heart
52:37of Uhtred's own lands.
52:41Of course,
52:42the Uhtred episode,
52:43glorious though it is
52:44for the English,
52:45is unfortunately short-lived.
52:47What Knut does,
52:48again,
52:48always the brilliant tactician,
52:51he himself and Erich,
52:52they go to Uhtred's house
52:53and they threaten him at home
52:54when he's taken
52:55most of his forces away
52:56with him to the south.
53:03Danish forces
53:04descend upon Northumbria,
53:07ravaging territories
53:09left dangerously undefended.
53:12In their wake,
53:14towns and villages
53:15fall one after another.
53:18Uhtred is panicked.
53:20He was not ready for this at all
53:22and he withdraws
53:23from the fight
53:24in the south of England
53:25and he heads home.
53:31Returning to Bamburgh,
53:33Uhtred discovers
53:34his stronghold
53:35already in Danish hands.
53:40In the great hall
53:42of his palace,
53:43Knut awaits him,
53:45seated upon the throne
53:46that once belonged
53:48to his host.
53:52Facing the young Dane,
53:54Uhtred immediately understands
53:55that there is no way out.
53:59Submission
54:00is his only hope
54:01of survival.
54:06The difference between
54:07Knut and Svein
54:08is clear.
54:09Svein relied on hostages
54:10and negotiated loyalty.
54:12Knut, however,
54:13had already experienced
54:14how fragile
54:15aristocratic allegiance
54:16could be.
54:17Shortly after submitting,
54:19Uhtred was most likely
54:20assassinated.
54:23Uhtred is gone
54:23from the picture.
54:24This mighty
54:25English warrior
54:26who could have
54:26turned the tide
54:27for Edmund,
54:28he's a piece
54:29that's off the chessboard.
54:30Click,
54:31and he's gone.
54:32And it's checkmate
54:33to Knut
54:33just for the moment.
54:36Wessex,
54:37Mercia,
54:38and much of northern England
54:39now lie under
54:40Knut's control.
54:44Edmund can rely
54:46only on his own strength
54:47if he hopes to prevail.
54:50As for Ethelred,
54:51sick and weakened,
54:53he remains confined
54:54within London.
54:57For Knut,
54:58the conquest of England
55:00now seems inevitable.
55:02And yet,
55:03once more,
55:05fate is about
55:06to intervene.
55:07Twins will be
55:10to
55:11And
55:13the you
55:23you
55:29have
55:31You
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