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Harthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017. [2] Cnut had put aside his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton to marry Emma, and according to the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a book she inspired many years later, Cnut agreed that any sons of their marriage should take precedence over the sons of his first marriage.
Harthacnut or Cnut I (Danish: Hardeknud; Old Norse: Hǫrða-Knútr) was a semi-legendary King of Denmark. The old Norse story Ragnarssona þáttr makes Harthacnut son of the semi-mythic viking chieftain Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye , himself one of the sons of the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok .
Cnut (/ k ə ˈ nj uː t /; [3] Old Norse: Knútr Old Norse pronunciation:; [a] c. 990 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, [4] [5] [6] was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. [1]
Harthacnut succeeded Harold as king of England (he is sometimes also known as Cnut II). He died two years later, and his half-brother Edward the Confessor became king. Edward was the son of Æthelred and Emma, and so with his succession to the throne the House of Wessex was restored.
When Cnut died (and after the brothers of Harthacnut also had died), Harthacnut became king of Denmark and England. Upon his death, Edward the Confessor became ruler of England in 1042. [ 14 ] Sweyn Forkbeard also had a daughter, Estrid , from whom all ruling kings and queens of Denmark after 1047 descend.
Harthacnut prepared an invasion fleet to wrest England from his half-brother, but the latter died in 1040 before it could be used. Harthacnut then became king of England, reuniting it with Denmark, but made a generally bad impression as king. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said of him that he never did anything royal during his entire reign. [52]
His claim to the throne was based on an agreement between his predecessor Magnus I of Norway and the earlier English king, Harthacnut, whereby if either died without heir, the other would inherit both England and Norway. [7] William and Harald at once set about assembling troops and ships to invade England. [8]
Harthacnut quickly developed a reputation for imposing high taxes on England. [140] He became so unpopular that Edward was invited to return from exile in Normandy to be recognised as Harthacnut's heir, [141] [142] and when Harthacnut died suddenly in 1042 (probably murdered), Edward (known to posterity as Edward the Confessor) became king. [141]