Transcript July 10 King Canute IV

July 10, 1086;; King Canute IV of Denmark is killed by rebellious peasants. Canute was the King of Denmark for 6 years, from 1080 until 1086. 1000 - 80s, tough decade; King Canute the 4th of Denmark was an absolute ruler, who used the Catholic Church to enhance his claim to the Danish throne, was aiming for the English throne. Canute the 4th was overzealous in the collective of tithe, 10% of one's income, of the peasants produce, eggs, or coaldust, to the Church. Knut's, K-nude, Canute 4th had Egil Ragnarsen, the Jarl of Bornholm, Canute's hand-picked Jarl governor of Bornholm, hung because of his freelance Viking piracy; if ur going to be a pirating, it's easier to do it with an Imperial Royal Navy; Canute the 4th killed most of the Jarl Governor Egil Ragnarsen's household;; Canute's killing of the Jarl of Bornholm put the Danish noble aristocracy on notice. Then one day, Canute the 4th decided he wanted to invade England, to rape Britannica, to take the throne away from Sir William the First, aka William the Conqueror, who was feeble, old, and farted a lot. wait... who was Canute the 4th? Ok, lemme tell u. Canute the 4th was a martyred king of Denmark, sometimes called Knud. Canute the 4th was the illegitimate son of King Sven II Estridson of Denmark, & Canute succeeded his brother Harald III Hen in 1081. After marrying Adela, the sister of Count Robert of Flanders, Canute the 4th built churches and monasteries. ok... all caught up? Canute the 4th was related to Canute the Great, which made Canute's claim to England just as valid as that of William of Normandy's, aka William the conqueror aka William the Basterd. Canute the Great was famous for ordering the sea tides to stop, and then... they didn't. & Canute got salt water in his boots; Seriously, google his image. There's tons of pictures of him being escorted out in his throne by his yes-men underlings out to the ocean and then he ordered the tides to stop... that's when he realized the limits of his power. He could only control the humans, but nature didn't give a fuck about Canute the 1st. With the co-operation of Robert I, Count of Flanders, his father-in-law, Canute 4th ordered an armada of 1,000 Danish ships and 60 Norwegian ships to assemble at Struer in the Limfjord, northern Jutland, in the summer of 1085. As had been the tradition since the first Viking raid on England, local chiefs gathered ships, supplies, sailors, and warriors for a share of the profits, loot, slaves, and treasure taken during the raid. Canute in the meantime travelled from assembly to assembly in southern Jutland ordering his people to pay tithes, a tenth of all their produce for the church. At the same time he instituted a new poll tax (nefgjald) to raise money from the peasants for "leding", for the oncoming war with William the Conquerer for Great Britain. leding (Danish), ledung (Swedish), expeditio (Latin) or sometimes lething (English), was conscription of local men into the military in order to organize coastal fleets for seasonal excursions and in defence of the realm, typical for medieval Scandinavians;;; In Anglo-Saxon England, a different system was used to achieve similar ends, and was known as the fyrd. Knud Canute required leding of the population. Canute used his own local officials (fogeder) to collect tithes, a new tax; Canute's collection of fines for ledingsbrud that gave rise to the insurgency;;; Roskilde Chronicle argues specifically that the rebellion was due Canute's imposition of a "new and unheard of taxes, called nefgiald", fines issued to the peasants breaking the leding of 1085 as specified in the Chronicon Roskildense, plus the Canute's vigorous tithe policy; BOTH; The tithes and new tax were not well received, and when his brother, Olaf, protested, Canute had him arrested and exiled to Flanders in chains, believing that Olaf was responsible for the growing unrest. Canute blamed Olaf for stirring up trouble, and Olaf was put in chains by their brother Eric, the later king Eric I Evergood. Olaf was banished to Flanders, under the supervision of Robert I of Flanders. Canute was afraid of a German invasion too... plus Canute was a pussy, and he really didn't want to go thru with attacking William the Conqueror. It took so long to pacify the south that Canute was unable to come north to Struer, in the Limfjord, northern Jutland, where the 1000 Danish ships & 60 Norwegian ships were, for weeks. tired of waiting for Canute 4th, the sailors went home. When Canute 4th arrived at Struer, and found the fleet disbanded, he was furious. Canute blamed the wives of several leading chiefs from Jutland of causing bad weather right, because those damned witches are the ones who fucked the weather up, and therefore, fucked up Danute 4th's invasion. Canute's abortive invasion of England "marked the end of the Viking Age." it was the last time a Viking army was to assemble against Western Europe. Danute ordered his officers to collect such heavy fines from their families that it would bankrupted them. Then he proceeded from assembly to assembly to outlaw any man, sailor, peasant or noble who left Struer until they paid a heavy fine, more than the annual income of any but the wealthiest nobles. Within days the peasants in Vendsyssel, the most northern part of Jutland, rebelled. Royal property was burned, and royal officials were tortured and murdered. The Jute chiefs decided to cast their lot in with the peasants for once, and the rebellion spread rapidly. Canute's regime was overthrown by a rebellion in Jutland, when a peasant revolt broke out in Vendsyssel, where Canute was staying, in early 1086. The name "Vendsyssel", the city where the rebellion began, may be derived from the Germanic tribe of the Vandals. The peasant rebellion in Vendsyssel, which the nobles joined, got King Canute 4th on the run; Canute was sailed to Funen & Schleswig before finally resolving to going back to the royal farm (gård) at Odense by his trusted adviser, Asbjørn Blak, Canute and his household and other loyal followers fled from Jutland with the intention of returning to Zealand, where Canute had more support. Asbjorn Blak also persuaded the king canute the 4th that he could reconcile with the great landowners, & their peasants. Canute and his brothers, Benedict and Erik, and their housecarls went to the king's farm outside Odense. When the peasants and their leaders realized King Canute the 4th was at Odense, they raced to the king's farm, but Canute and Benedict fled into the little timber church of St. Alban's Priory/church near the river for sanctuary. The rebels refused to recognize sanctuary. "Come out to us, you devil. Too long you have used the edge of your sword to hurt your own people. Now you will feel the edge of our weapons!" Prince Benedict and several others defended the doors. The mob hurled stones and arrows through the windows shouting, "This is for stealing my cow! This is for taking my horses!" Since they couldn't get through the heavy outer doors, the mob tried to set fire to the church, but a light rain kept the fire from taking hold. They began tearing at the timber walls to get access. Prince Benedict shouted, "It would be better that you go home to thresh your grain than stand here and exchange blows with the king's men!" The remaining defenders retreated to the choir door which separated the altar area from the nave of the church. "There he is!" shouted Asbjorn Blak, & Prince Benedict killed the 1st man in the mob to come thru the door,.. but then the mob hacked Prince Benedict to death. King Canute the 4th just stood there at the main altar, speared from the front, and Canute's skull was smashed in. Prince Erik, later King Erik Ejegod, managed to talk his way out of the king's farm and fled to Zealand and then with his wife and child to Skania. The seventeen housecarls (a member of the bodyguard of a Danish or English king or noble; like Secret Service) loyal to Canute were massacred in St. Alban's Church on July 10, 1086 in Odense, Denmark with King Canute 4th & his brother Benedict too. According to chronicler Ælnoth of Canterbury, Canute died following a lance thrust in the flank. When Canute was killed, Queen Edel & son Charles fled to Flanders. Canute 4th was succeeded by his brother Prince Olaf; Olaf I of Denmark. ;;;Olaf 1 was a son of king Sweyn II Estridsson, and the third of Sweyn's sons to rule. He married Ingegard, the daughter of Harald Hardråde, but did not have any children. Olaf was proclaimed king at the Viborg landsting assembly, though he was still in Flanders. An arrangement was made to swap Olaf for his younger brother Niels, the later king Niels of Denmark, to permit Olaf to return to Denmark. Upon the return of Oluf, Eric fled to Scania. Olaf was the third of Sweyn's sons to become king of Denmark. Olaf I, was given the nickname Hunger because he was unable to do anything about the famine that ravaged Denmark for years after Canute the 4th's assassination. Olaf's reign was plagued by years of crop failure and famine. Springtime was so dry that the fields looked as if they had been burned. The hunger of the people grew so great that they dug the earth looking for roots. The wealthy grew thin, and the poor died of starvation. The famine was sent by God as divine punishment for the sacrilege killing of King Canute the 4th. Olaf died on 18 August 1095 under mysterious circumstances. Saxo Grammaticus writes that Olaf "willingly gave himself to loose the land of its bad luck and begged that all of it (guilt) would fall upon his head alone. So offered he his life for his countrymen." King Olaf is the only Danish monarch whose burial site is not known b/c King Olaf's body was divided among the regions of Denmark as a scapegoat for the blood guilt of Denmark. King Olaf was succeeded by his brother Eric I Evergood. Canute the 4th was buried in St. Alban’s Church, that original church was destroyed; During the Danish civil war between Eric IV and his brother Abel, Odense and St. Alban's cathedral was burned down in 1247ad; it was rebuilt with Brick Gothic architecture. & renamed c. 1300 St. Canute’s Cathedral. St. Canute's Cathedral still exists today; in fact, Canute the 4th was beatifed as a saint by the Catholic Church. Pope Paschal II authorized Canute's cult in 1101. St. Canute's church's most visited section is the crypt where the remains of Canute and his brother Benedict are on display. their bones & all; In Spain, Canute's feast day has become a tongue-in-cheek "holiday" for the marijuana legalization movement, appropriating the Spanish version of his name, Canuto, which coincidentally is also the word for a marijuana cigarette xxx