The Danish Conquest of England
The Danish conquest of England was not a singular event, but a series of large Viking invasions of England between 1013 and 1016, which eventually overthrew the native English dynasty. As a result, four kings from the House of Denmark ruled England between 1013 and 1042.
The North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, 1016 - 1035
Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)
The Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard (also spelt Swein, r. 986-1014) initially conquered England in 1013, driving out the English king, Aethelred the Unready (r. 978-1013 and 1014-1016). Upon Sweyn's death in 1014, though, Aethelred returned with a show of force and temporarily reversed the Danish conquest. Sweyn's son, Cnut the Great (r. 1016-1035), fought against Aethelred and his successor, Edmund Ironside (r. 1016), from 1014-1016. After decisively defeating Edmund at the Battle of Assandun on 18 October 1016 – and Edmund's death a few weeks later – Cnut became England's second Danish king. At the height of his power in the late 1020s, Cnut ruled England, Denmark, and Norway and was heavily involved in wider European politics.
After Cnut's death, his sons, Harold Harefoot (r. 1035-1040) and Harthacnut (r. 1040-1042) ruled in England for seven more years. The dynasty reached a dead end upon Harthacnut's death in 1042, and Aethelred's line was restored to power under Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-1066). However, the Danish conquest continued to affect English politics after Harthacnut's death, as Scandinavian claimants threatened the kingdom during and after the events of the Norman conquest of England.
The Vikings: No Strangers to Britain
Although Vikings are most prominently associated with Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, Norse influence stretched across northern Europe and into North America by the time of the Danish conquest. After the legendary settlement of Iceland, the Vikings in Iceland established settlements, Viking Age Greenland was thriving, and Vinland (Newfoundland) was explored by the Vikings by the early 11th century. Dublin was controlled by the Vikings in Ireland, and Strathclyde and the Isle of Man were also Scandinavian-influenced areas.
Much like the rest of northern Europe, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had dealt with Viking raids in Britain since the end of the 8th century. A particularly fierce struggle took place during the reign of the West Saxon king Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, while the northern kingdom of York was frequently under Norse rule. Only in the 10th century did something resembling 'England' emerge as one entity, and its mid-10th-century kings frequently saw their kingdom break apart at the hands of rulers from Ireland and Scandinavia. A lull in Viking activity in England in the 960s and 970s allowed the kingdom some time to stabilize. In the 980s, small raids began again in England, but it is unlikely that these minor incursions were from Scandinavia itself or had any connection with the Danish conquest that would follow decades later.
