Home > Harthacanute

Harthacanute (sometimes Hardicanute, Hardecanute; Danish Hardeknud, Canute the Hardy) ( 1018/ 1019 - June 8, 1042) was a King of Denmark ( 1035 - 1042) and England ( 1035 - 1037, 1040 - 1042). He was the only son of Canute the Great and Emma of Normandy.

He succeeded his father as King of Denmark in 1035, reigning as Canute III, but he soon agreed to leave his elder illegitimate half-brother Harold Harefoot as regent in charge of Canute's realm of England.

Harold took the English crown for himself in 1037, but died ( 1040) as Harthacanute was preparing to invade. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Harthacanute then landed at Sandwich in June, "seven days before Midsummer", and was quickly accepted as king. Being unable to exact vengeance upon his brother while he was still alive, he ordered Harold's body exhumed and thrown into a marsh.

Harthacanute was a harsh and very unpopular ruler: he greatly increased the rate of taxation, and perhaps the most notable event of his reign in England was a revolt at Worcester in 1041 against these high taxes. This revolt was crushed, with the near-destruction of Worcester. The story of Lady Godiva riding naked through the streets of Coventry to persuade the local earl to lower taxes may come from the reign of Harthacanute.

Harthacanute did, however, make one concession to popular feeling: he invited Edward the Confessor (Emma's son by Ethelred the Unready) back from exile in Normandy to become his co-ruler and heir. He was unmarried and had no children. While drinking at a wedding party in London in 1042, he went into convulsions and died, and this raises the possibility of poisoning. He was buried at Winchester. Edward assumed the throne on Harthacanute's death, restoring the Saxon royal line for his lifetime.