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The English Monarchs
Cnut the Great
A seminal biography of the underappreciated eleventh-century Scandinavian warlord-turned-Anglo-Saxon monarch who united the English and Danish crowns to forge a North Sea empire
Historian Timothy Bolton offers a fascinating reappraisal of one of the most misunderstood of the Anglo-Saxon kings: Cnut, the powerful Danish warlord who conquered England and created a North Sea empire in the eleventh century. This seminal biography draws from a wealth of written and archaeological sources to provide the most detailed accounting to date of the life and accomplishments of a remarkable figure in European history, a forward-thinking warrior-turned-statesman who created a new Anglo-Danish regime through designed internationalism.
Historian Timothy Bolton offers a fascinating reappraisal of one of the most misunderstood of the Anglo-Saxon kings: Cnut, the powerful Danish warlord who conquered England and created a North Sea empire in the eleventh century. This seminal biography draws from a wealth of written and archaeological sources to provide the most detailed accounting to date of the life and accomplishments of a remarkable figure in European history, a forward-thinking warrior-turned-statesman who created a new Anglo-Danish regime through designed internationalism.
264 pages, Paperback
First published March 28, 2017
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367 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Bolton
5 books6 followersTimothy Bolton is the author of The Empire of Cnut the Great. He is an honorary fellow of both Cardiff and Aberdeen Universities.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 24, 2023
It is a useful account, but it is lacking overall.
Despite the brevity of and the challenges with sources on this period in history, Cnut is often absent from the pages for long periods. As such, the story of Cnut is interspersed with a number of wider aspects around marriages, alliances, and background details. This in itself is not wrong or misplaced, as the Danes, of whom Cnut was one, and those from what are now Sweden, Germany, France (Normandy and Franks), and Norway, all inter-marries, fought and gave sanctuary. But, one never really feels fully satisfied in what comes across as a detailed academic primer for students.
Despite the brevity of and the challenges with sources on this period in history, Cnut is often absent from the pages for long periods. As such, the story of Cnut is interspersed with a number of wider aspects around marriages, alliances, and background details. This in itself is not wrong or misplaced, as the Danes, of whom Cnut was one, and those from what are now Sweden, Germany, France (Normandy and Franks), and Norway, all inter-marries, fought and gave sanctuary. But, one never really feels fully satisfied in what comes across as a detailed academic primer for students.
February 17, 2025
If one wants to write a biography of Cnut, this well-researched and thorough analysis of Cnut’s life and the sources we have for it would be an excellent aid.
If one wants to read a biography of Cnut, however, I would not recommend this. It is lacking in narrative, and the over-saturation of details on marriages, land ownership, charters, and Skaldic poetry dulls the efforts to paint a picture of Cnut’s personality.
As a history this book is fantastic; as a biography it falls short.
If one wants to read a biography of Cnut, however, I would not recommend this. It is lacking in narrative, and the over-saturation of details on marriages, land ownership, charters, and Skaldic poetry dulls the efforts to paint a picture of Cnut’s personality.
As a history this book is fantastic; as a biography it falls short.
July 8, 2022
An engaging and scholarly biography of King Cnut, which combines Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian sources to create a portrait of a well traveled monarch who combined a variety of different European influences in his approach to kingship. The opening chapters about the emergence of kingship in Denmark under Cnut's grandfather Harald Bluetooth and father Sweyn Forkbeard are especially interesting.
Want to read
February 19, 2023For now I think I’ve decided I want to go through this history chronologically. Will decide after I read something in the series before I commit … I guess
August 10, 2019
An excellent example of how to turn a very small amount of information into a coherrent biography. Bolton is good on the sources, but equally aware that some of his readers will skip the detailed discussion of evidence, helpfully signposting his text with "To return to the Narrative'.
There's not a lot known about Cnut, hardly enough for a modern 'biography', a fact Bolton acknowledges in his introduction, but there is enough to rescue him from his role as interlude in the history of Late Anglo Saxon England.
There's not a lot known about Cnut, hardly enough for a modern 'biography', a fact Bolton acknowledges in his introduction, but there is enough to rescue him from his role as interlude in the history of Late Anglo Saxon England.
August 3, 2025
A wonderful academic overview biography of Cnut the Great balancing between his Scandinavian and English roots in spite of the fact that the English sources on Cnut are far more numerous than the Scandinavian sources. Cnut did, after all, spend most of his life in England. In seeking to cover anything relevant to the story of Cnut, the book does however get bogged down in land ownership, charters, etc. For the general reader, a much better general coverage of this period would be Tore Skeie's "The Wolf Age" (though Cnut is mostly covered in the second half of the book).
I appreciated Bolton's coverage (in the "Aftermath" chapter) of subsequent Danish attempts to invade England - in 1069 (when King Svend Estridsen's brother and three of his sons commanded an invasion that William the Conqueror paid off - Svend joined in the last moment when momentum had been lost); 1075 (led by two of Svend's sons at the time of the revolt of the three earls); and 1083 (led by one of the sons, Cnut the Holy, with support from Norway and Flanders - but interrupted by unrelated affairs with the Holy Roman Empire). Clearly, it took some time for the idea of a union between Denmark and England to die.
I appreciated Bolton's coverage (in the "Aftermath" chapter) of subsequent Danish attempts to invade England - in 1069 (when King Svend Estridsen's brother and three of his sons commanded an invasion that William the Conqueror paid off - Svend joined in the last moment when momentum had been lost); 1075 (led by two of Svend's sons at the time of the revolt of the three earls); and 1083 (led by one of the sons, Cnut the Holy, with support from Norway and Flanders - but interrupted by unrelated affairs with the Holy Roman Empire). Clearly, it took some time for the idea of a union between Denmark and England to die.
February 12, 2020
This book is part of the excellent Yale English Monarchs series. Every one of these has been top notch and this is no exception. A few months ago I read a different book on Cnut and that was disappointing, being a dull read, confusing and uninformative. This one is quite the opposite. In fact, I intend to tweet the author, thanking him for it, which is a habit I think I'll try to do more regularly, as it's got to be good to give praise where it's due.
This is a well constructed biography that runs in chronological order, taking in both the English and the Scandinavian aspects of Cnut's life, showing how events in one had an impact in the other. It takes into account the reigns of his successors (plus an appendix concerning a trip to the seaside) and has a feeling of copleteness. There are some very detailed footnotes that provide sources, further reading and also add information without interfering with the actual flow of the narrative and I much prefer these to endnotes, where I'm constantly flicking back and forth. There is also a good pun about being left Gormless by some naming discrepancies that he does the right thing by acknowledging it coming from Sawyer.
As is traditional, it opens with a fair few pages discussing the sources. This is worthy and there is some interesting stuff there, especially his comments on Skaldic poems. In fact this book is excellent on the Danish side particularly these Skaldic verses, which look to be very difficult to fully interpret. Bolton doesn't waste time covering Ethelred's reign, but just discusses the part that Cnut played in the downfall. Although as part of the context for Cnut's reign he does go into the parentage of Thorkell the Tall quite deeply and makes a great point about a motive for Sweyn's invasion of 1013.
There were hardly any errors that jumped out at me. The date of the Nottingham witan is wrong, it being 934 not 930 and his views of the locations of witans/councils differs to those recorded by Hill. However, when a witan is a witan and not a council or just a court is probably a judgment call and it doesn't alter the thrust of his point, which is that they seldom occurred in the Midlands and were even less frequent in Yorkshire. A few more maps and family trees would have been nice, though.
This is a very thorough work and it's hard to think of anything that might have been missed out. It's also incredibly readable. Considering that it is the second book I've read about Cnut, I made far more notes from this than I did the first one. It's going to be the standard work on Cnut for many years to come.
This is a well constructed biography that runs in chronological order, taking in both the English and the Scandinavian aspects of Cnut's life, showing how events in one had an impact in the other. It takes into account the reigns of his successors (plus an appendix concerning a trip to the seaside) and has a feeling of copleteness. There are some very detailed footnotes that provide sources, further reading and also add information without interfering with the actual flow of the narrative and I much prefer these to endnotes, where I'm constantly flicking back and forth. There is also a good pun about being left Gormless by some naming discrepancies that he does the right thing by acknowledging it coming from Sawyer.
As is traditional, it opens with a fair few pages discussing the sources. This is worthy and there is some interesting stuff there, especially his comments on Skaldic poems. In fact this book is excellent on the Danish side particularly these Skaldic verses, which look to be very difficult to fully interpret. Bolton doesn't waste time covering Ethelred's reign, but just discusses the part that Cnut played in the downfall. Although as part of the context for Cnut's reign he does go into the parentage of Thorkell the Tall quite deeply and makes a great point about a motive for Sweyn's invasion of 1013.
There were hardly any errors that jumped out at me. The date of the Nottingham witan is wrong, it being 934 not 930 and his views of the locations of witans/councils differs to those recorded by Hill. However, when a witan is a witan and not a council or just a court is probably a judgment call and it doesn't alter the thrust of his point, which is that they seldom occurred in the Midlands and were even less frequent in Yorkshire. A few more maps and family trees would have been nice, though.
This is a very thorough work and it's hard to think of anything that might have been missed out. It's also incredibly readable. Considering that it is the second book I've read about Cnut, I made far more notes from this than I did the first one. It's going to be the standard work on Cnut for many years to come.
January 22, 2021
Cnut/Canute is an interesting King. A Scandinavian conqueror balancing widely separated holdings, he's a What If of English History.
This book is not about Cnut. It's about carefully picking source materials, from the Encomium Emmae Reginae, written for Cnut's second wife:
[A]s a rule of thumb it is perhaps sound practice when one wants to understand a man's first wife to take all comments from the second wife (or produced for her) with a pinch of salt.
...right down to local histories, writs, charters, lawcodes, letters, hagiography, and scaldic verse. Bolton presents us with running arguments in respect of the source material.
That's cool, I guess. We get to watch the sausage of historiography get made, with interpretations turning on name, after name, after name, here's some lovely coin dies... ...back to another name, or set of names.
The list ends with seven Scandinavian names ('Aizor, Turchil, Swen, Theustul, Euston, Tovi, Turgil'). 'Aizor' is probably Azor Thoredsson, who held estates in Wiltshire and whose father consistently attested Cnut's charters...
...and my eyes have rolled to the back of my head.
It's too many characters doing too little for only 200 odd pages. I don't want to be too harsh on Bolton, who's made a genuine attempt to show us what makes history and is perfectly serviceable as a writer. But his conclusion that Cnut was surprisingly modern is undetectable from the narrative.
Will probably have vegetarian tonight.
This book is not about Cnut. It's about carefully picking source materials, from the Encomium Emmae Reginae, written for Cnut's second wife:
[A]s a rule of thumb it is perhaps sound practice when one wants to understand a man's first wife to take all comments from the second wife (or produced for her) with a pinch of salt.
...right down to local histories, writs, charters, lawcodes, letters, hagiography, and scaldic verse. Bolton presents us with running arguments in respect of the source material.
That's cool, I guess. We get to watch the sausage of historiography get made, with interpretations turning on name, after name, after name, here's some lovely coin dies... ...back to another name, or set of names.
The list ends with seven Scandinavian names ('Aizor, Turchil, Swen, Theustul, Euston, Tovi, Turgil'). 'Aizor' is probably Azor Thoredsson, who held estates in Wiltshire and whose father consistently attested Cnut's charters...
...and my eyes have rolled to the back of my head.
It's too many characters doing too little for only 200 odd pages. I don't want to be too harsh on Bolton, who's made a genuine attempt to show us what makes history and is perfectly serviceable as a writer. But his conclusion that Cnut was surprisingly modern is undetectable from the narrative.
Will probably have vegetarian tonight.
November 30, 2022
Source: Owned Kindle
I must admit I am not the correct audience for this and I found it a rough introduction to Scandinavian history. Bolton gave exactly what he promised - a deep dive into Cnut's reign and all the important players [including back stories of Thorkal the Tall, King Olaf of Norway, King Anud Jacob of Sweden, and many other Scandinavian immigrants to England whom Cnut placed into key positions though tout England.] Some of hese people were briefly mentioned in my previous Anglo Saxon reading, so it was fascinating to hear their histories. Greatly enjoyed Bolton's take on the power plays amongst these powerful Vikings! That said, as someone without any background in Danish politics, I often struggled to figure out what exactly was going on. Bolton would often jump from the time period to give a lengthy aside, a history with many names (in Danish form) and dates and then jump back. I spent much time re-reading and also on Wikipedia.
To sum up: Bolton does amazing work with what little documentation exists. Despite my unfamiliarly with much of the material I still found this to be engaging and readable. He places Cnut firmly within the power struggles of Scandinavian politics, points out the problems with his sources, discusses other author's points of view and argues his own beliefs competently.
I must admit I am not the correct audience for this and I found it a rough introduction to Scandinavian history. Bolton gave exactly what he promised - a deep dive into Cnut's reign and all the important players [including back stories of Thorkal the Tall, King Olaf of Norway, King Anud Jacob of Sweden, and many other Scandinavian immigrants to England whom Cnut placed into key positions though tout England.] Some of hese people were briefly mentioned in my previous Anglo Saxon reading, so it was fascinating to hear their histories. Greatly enjoyed Bolton's take on the power plays amongst these powerful Vikings! That said, as someone without any background in Danish politics, I often struggled to figure out what exactly was going on. Bolton would often jump from the time period to give a lengthy aside, a history with many names (in Danish form) and dates and then jump back. I spent much time re-reading and also on Wikipedia.
To sum up: Bolton does amazing work with what little documentation exists. Despite my unfamiliarly with much of the material I still found this to be engaging and readable. He places Cnut firmly within the power struggles of Scandinavian politics, points out the problems with his sources, discusses other author's points of view and argues his own beliefs competently.
February 15, 2020
One of the challenges I have with some of the books I am reading for my project is approaching them without expectations. I’m starting to recognize my need to address this, especially as it’s one that I expect will grow over time as I become familiar with certain authors and series and develop assumptions that apply to any related volumes that I read. I expect this to be especially true with the biographies in the Yale English Monarchs series. The successor to the English Monarchs series started by the University of California Press in the 1960s, its volumes are coming to represent the gold standard for me in terms of studies of English monarchs, thanks to the high level of scholarship and editorial quality that they display. This proved as true for Timothy Bolton’s biography of Cnut as it did for Sarah Foot’s study of Æthelstan and Levi Roach’s account of Æthelred’s life and times.
For the rest of my review, click the link:
https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...
For the rest of my review, click the link:
https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...
July 23, 2020
Absolutely enjoyed this book. It strikes a good balance between being academic and readable. It’s accessible yet it also manages to do two things.. it tells you about Cnut and his reign(s) and it also tells you about how and why it is difficult to compile information from first, second, thirdhand texts and later analysis of those text into a coherent narrative (Even the author has doubts with some of his conclusions.. and, almost lovingly, explains why in the footnotes). Having just ended reading an Anglo-Saxon related biography, that on comparison to this book, was the polar opposite. It was nice to read something that was well written (and constructed) based on very different cultural sources, even if they require a little in depth, but worthwhile, examination, which the author has done well.
June 29, 2023
The author does his best with the material available. The problem is, there simply isn't enough material available. We know where Cnut's battles were fought, but not how they were won. We can guess why he went to Cologne, and why he was chosen to accompany Conrad II to his coronation, but we just don't know.
The Saxon and Danish names are very difficult to follow. (What kind of idiot calls his daughter Ælfgifu?) Imagine how relieved the recording monks must have felt after the Norman Conquest, when everyone had respectable names like William, Robert and Henry!
The Saxon and Danish names are very difficult to follow. (What kind of idiot calls his daughter Ælfgifu?) Imagine how relieved the recording monks must have felt after the Norman Conquest, when everyone had respectable names like William, Robert and Henry!
March 21, 2020
An interesting account of a ruler I didn’t know much about beforehand. Bolton’s use of sources seems judicious; he takes enough from them to form a coherent argument and illuminate the past, but remains critical of the sources, and of loopholes in his own and others’ arguments. Particularly enjoyed learning about skaldic verse.
July 12, 2022
3 1/2 stars rounded up. A bit dry and dense sometimes (with a lot of tangents masking the fact that there’s just not a lot of historical data to draw from), but some interesting anecdotes and, all in all, probably a pretty fair assessment of an 11th-century Scandinavian second son/warlord turned empire-builder.
October 5, 2021
A bit academic, but I knew that when I bought it, so can't complain. Very thoroughly researched, and added a lot to what I knew from before about Cnut (my 26th great uncle if my family research is correct).
June 28, 2023
I mean it’s maybe the best book you can read if you want to learn about Cnut and get a general idea about him. He’s a very interesting figure and maybe one of my favorites. Plus this whole time period is just epic.
Finished this one in about a week or two.
Finished this one in about a week or two.
July 13, 2020
Not as good as Aethelred, the Unready!
March 15, 2025
Very informative history of the rise of the Anglo-Danish empire. A period full of what if questions.
September 11, 2021
An interesting tale of a Danish boy who became a king of England and Denmark.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews