Cnut (Penguin Monarchs): The North Sea King

by Ryan Lavelle

'A reputation as a ruthless ruler was sealed that would last beyond his lifetime. In that respect, at least, Cnut had succeeded...'

Cnut, or Canute, is one of the great 'what ifs' of English history. The Dane who became King of England after a long period of Viking attacks and settlement, his reign could have permanently shifted eleventh-century England's rule to Scandinavia. Stretching his authority across the North Sea to become king of Denmark and Norway, and with close links to Ireland and an overlordship of Scotland, this formidable figure created a Viking Empire at least as plausible as the Anglo-Norman Empire that would emerge in 1066.

Ryan Lavelle's illuminating book cuts through myths and misconceptions to explore this fascinating and powerful man in detail. Cnut is most popularly known now for the story of the king who tried to command the waves, relegated to a bit part in the medieval story, but as this biography shows, he was a conqueror, political player, law maker and empire builder on the grandest scale, one whose reign tells us much about the contingent nature of history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Medieval History, Medieval, British Literature, Denmark

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Ryan Lavelle is Reader in Early Medieval History at the University of Winchester. He is Convenor of the Wessex Centre for History and Archaeology and a member of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Research.

Reviews

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surprisingly dry biography of a king famous for ordering the seas to obey him! Lavelle addresses major themes and incidents in Cnut's reign but I found that the book was missing valuable context concerning the Viking invasions and the differences between Danish and English ideas of kingship. In contrast to the biography of Athelstan in the same series, there was little information about the formative influences over Cnut and how they might have shaped his kingship. There were some fascinating sections in the second half of the book, however, concerning the king's complicated personal life and his relationship with the church.

[Catherine Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dull. Academic. What we definitely know about Cnut could probably have been recounted in a few pages and been more interesting than this book. I came to the conclusion that medieval and Dark Age leaders were not that nice, and Cnut was not as interesting as I had hoped.

[Peter Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cnut Ryan Lavelle, Penguin Monarchs series, 88 pages, 112 with bibliography, further reading, index, etc

This is an excellent book on so many levels. It's incredibly easy to read. It's the sort of book that you can sit down to with a hot drink and some good biscuits that you've been hiding from other people, and then suddenly discover you've half finished a few hours later. In fact it shouldn't take even a day to read if you're at a loose end.


That's not to say Lavelle skimps on the detail. He doesn't. There's plenty in here, but not so much to get bogged down in. You get a grand overview of Cnut's reign, an idea of the areas that aren't fully understood and quite a nice grounding in the wider issues of his era. It's nice that it isn't just Cnut as king of England and assorted other places; this book gives attention to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and the rest.


You won't see any Sawyer numbers referenced, but in some ways, that's not a bad thing. By keeping it brief, this book works well and you can always peel back the next layer of the onion to take a deeper dive. This is a good book to read before Bolton's, which I'd say is now the standard work on Cnut, or before reading Emma and the Vikings by Harriet O'Brien. It also fits in nicely with Æthelræd the Unready by the ever reliable Levi Roach.


This probably isn't an essential book to buy if you've got Bolton's. It's certainly far more enjoyable than Lawson's. However, it's a nice book to read, it's quite reasonably priced as these things go and it's one that is a pleasure to read.

[Best British Biographies · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I noted in my introduction to Cnut, I approached Ryan Lavelle’s contribution to the Penguin Monarchs series with a degree of anticipation shaped by his previous book on Æthelred. In it, Lavelle spent several pages describing his Scandinavian opponents, which I found very helpful in understanding the external threat facing that ill-advised king. Having devoted as much attention to the Scandinavians in a book on Æthelred as Lavelle did, I expected his biography on Æthelred’s Danish successor to provide more on his background than I had received in Lawson’s book.

For the rest of my review, click on this link:

https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent royal appraisal from the Penguin Monarchs series. Far too short to be a blow-by-blow of the reign of Cnut, this book still presents a powerful picture of the man and the king. It dedicates considerable space to refuting the idea that he was a casual Christian or a lingering pagan, as he has sometimes been made out to be, but rather that he was reasonably pious. At the same time, he was ruthless in his removal of obstacles on his way to the thrones of his empire. I will read more on Cnut thanks to this introduction, and because it provides a useful "further reading" page, I know to start with the Yale Monarchs bio.

[Adam]

Quite informative given the page count, there's quite a lot here on contextualising Cnut, although it does feel that scant historical records leave little detail to write about. The struggle of where his alligence lay, wanting both Christian and Viking is looked at, I guess the length of his reign is notable against that of his sons. Its his latter life where the detail is fragmentary, his illness, the journey to Rome, the end in Shaftesbury.

[Geoff Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the interesting name Cnut and knowing of his trying to command the tide myth. Politics were complex even in 1019.

[JD · Rating 1 out of 5]

No

I think the books in this series are meant for the general reader and the tone of the book seems to confirm this. It’s a great idea to fill all the gaps in a general readers knowledge in bite sized accessible chunks - history on a level that a school syllabus won’t provide, and a degree is a step too far. 110 pages as a format is also a good idea as not every monarch is an Eleanor of Aquitaine or Richard III. They are also attractive little hardbacks which might look nice as a set (I like a nice Penguin set) but I’m not sure they would line up on a shelf with anything else and I’m not sure I would buy any more. The jacket looks like a 1960s school book, a nice nostalgic aesthetic, but I’d be surprised if schools were the intended market. My conclusion is then that it should be an informative entertainment. It’s clearly written with scholarship but it isn’t written to be read. It’s a shame no one at Penguin read it before publishing. It’s like someone was given a brief to fill 110 pages whether or not there was 110 pages worth of material and so devised tortuous sentences full of padding to achieve it. There should be some scene setting and some story telling but there isn’t. When something is asserted it’s backed up with a source - that’s good - but really it’s all over the place. Tell a story and use footnotes so the flow isn’t interrupted would be my tip - it might make it look more academic but would make it a better read. Don’t mess about with the time line either. The story needs to be linear even if he material is sparse.

[Megan Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cnut is one of the great ‘what ifs’ of English history. The Dane who became King of England after a long period of Viking attacks and settlement, his reign could have permanently shifted eleventh-century England's rule to Scandinavia. Stretching his authority across the North Sea to become king of Denmark and Norway, and with close links to Ireland and an overlordship of Scotland, this formidable figure created a Viking Empire at least as plausible as the Anglo-Norman Empire that would emerge in 1066. Ryan Lavelle's illuminating book cuts through myths and misconceptions to explore this fascinating and powerful man in detail.
This is the second book I have read in the Penguin Monarchs series and if I am honest I struggled to connect with this one. Lavelle charts the story of Cnut and his role in English history, unfortunately I just could not connect with this for the majority of the book. I did eventually, and then I was really interested in what was written but the first half or so of this was a slog for me to read.
Of course this is still interesting, I just did not connect with it as much. Still, on to the next one!

[Miki Persson Caracciolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty decent summary of Cnut’s reign. However, I’m sure if this is my favourite period of history.

[Paul Godwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ryan Lavelle’s Cnut – The North Sea King in the Penguin Monarchs series faces an unenviable challenge: bringing to life a king who has left behind precious little in the way of narrative history. The problem, however, is that while the series as a whole aims to combine academic rigour with accessibility for the general reader, this volume leans too heavily toward the former.

What we get is a patchwork of incidental information, Cnut’s journeys between England, Denmark, and Norway; the movements of his family and followers; but not much sense of narrative momentum or character. Some of this ground has already been covered in the series with the earlier biography of Æthelred the Unready, and here it feels like retreading old paths.

The lack of vivid storytelling becomes especially apparent in the penultimate chapter, ‘Into Realms Beyond’, which drifts into a general discussion of faith, paganism, and literature in the period. It’s fascinating in an academic sense but rather dry for the non-specialist reader. At times, Lavelle seems to be searching for filler and devotes lengthy passages to speculation about Cnut’s baptismal name, Lambert, or conjecturing about his mother’s exile. When the sources are so thin, such passages feel like padding.

Perhaps the most revealing section comes when Lavelle writes, “Cnut died in Shaftesbury in November 1035 at about 40 years of age. We don’t know why he died there or what he was doing at the time.” Isn’t the

Another sentence — “We will not, alas, be able to find out whether thoughts of salvation were in his mind when Cnut’s final moments came” — reads like something that would have drawn red ink from my own school history teacher for overreaching. If we don’t know of Cnut’s final thoughts, what is the point of this woolly generalisation?

Ultimately, this is a disappointing entry in an otherwise excellent series — nowhere near as engaging or satisfying as the volumes on Athelstan or Æthelred the Unready. I sympathise with the author’s task, but sympathy isn’t enough to make this thin and often speculative book come alive.

[Ivan Monckton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The least enjoyable book of this series that I have read up to now, and the driest. The fact that England was only one of this monarch’s kingdoms, and large chunks of the book are devoted to other parts of his mini empire, coupled with the very limited documentary sources available to researchers makes this quite a boring read.

[Lawrence Bricher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed account and enjoyable to read. It cited a lot of its sources which I really liked. It is a little dry, but I honestly really don't mind that, I don't think it's possible to make this period of history juicy without taking liberties against that which is actually demonstrable, so think it is pitched exactly where it needs to be.

[Alex Dzuirban · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just finished it this morning. I read the Penguin Monarch book on Richard 1 and really enjoyed it. I understand they have different authors for different monarchs but I was not expecting to be this disappointed. Dry and boring.

[Paging Snidget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and interesting. Has a good amount of discussion on the possible veracity of source information which I always appreciate. Gives a fair portrait of this Danish ruler.

[Lonnie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brief, but dense.
My first foray into the time period, so could probably use a reread when I’m more familiar with the general setting and accompanying cast of characters.

[Denise Gossow · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry but still informative.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly boring and repetitive - could and should have been 5 pages long.

[Amber Hardisty · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read.

[Ian Parke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed but very tedious.

[Jack Kavanagh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone's favourite Viking pillager

[Shayla Rainwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dry but informative.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short overview of the life of an important king in the last century of Anglo-Saxon England. Cnut was, with Alfred, Æthelstan, and Æthelred, one of the most important kings in the transition of England from a patchwork quilt of rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the so-called heptarchy), to a single English kingdom (Wessex under Alfred), to a united England (Æthelstan's achievement), and finally to an England intimately connected to the outside world and finally subjugated by it (first by Cnut, then by William).

Ryan Lavelle's entry in the Penguin Monarchs series is a fairly straightforward, semi-academic summary of Cnut's life. I say "semi-academic" because there's a lot we don't know about Cnut's life—like where he was for years at a time, or what he was doing in Shaftesbury when he died—owing to the paucity of sources for this period. That means that a discussion of sources is necessary at some point in any attempt at a biography of Cnut.

To give you an idea of how difficult it can be to reconstruct someone's life from the available sources at this time, the Penguin Monarchs series has made the barest possible commitment to the pre-Conquest monarchy, offering only Æthelstan (r. 924-39), Æthelred (r. 978-1013, plus 1014-16), Cnut (r. 1016-35), and Edward the Confessor (r. 1042-66). For large chunks of these reigns we have only the terse entries of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and post-Conquest sources to go by. It's tough, but I'm glad they got in at least these four (though, as usual for the last thousand years, Harold Godwinson gets the shaft).

This treatment of Cnut is short, gives you a good sense of the complexity of his world without getting bogged down, and offers some insight into Cnut as a man. It is, however, all a bit dry, and Lavelle jumps backward and forward in time too much when explaining passing details. A bit of streamlining into a coherent narrative would have been welcome.

Still, it's a good entry in the series, especially if you want to familiarize yourself with a major figure from this period and some of what goes into the difficult and frustrating historiography of the time.

Recommended.

[Laurens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love viking history. I would have liked to see more of his ruling beyond the politics of blood though. 7/10

[Sally O'wheel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I struggled to read this last year but this year, after I'd re-read 'Athelstan' by Tom Holland and watched 'The Last Kingdom' on Netflix, and so had a better understanding of what had gone before, I managed to get my head around it. The Wessex Kings, that is those who descended from Alfred, are complex, with brothers and uncles and so on, and different wives, so half brothers thrown into the mix, all milling around and vying for the thrown. Those of us who watched 'The Last Kingdom' will know that England was split between Saxons and Vikings. Cnut was the grandson of Harold Bluetooth, the Danish Viking who became a Christian. Cnut's father, Sven Forkbeard, ruled the kingdom of Northumbria. Cnut shared English rule with Edmond Ironside (named after Biorn Ironside - of 'Vikings' fame). Edmond was from the Wessex line - perhaps he was a grandson of Alfred's son, Edward - who we met in 'The Last Kingdom'. But he died young and Cnut took over the rule of England. He then inherited the rule of Denmark from his brother, Harold. He was a Christian king and even went to Rome. He married Emma, who was the widow of Ethelred, the Unready - Edmond's father. Her sons from Ethelred sheltered in Normandy but they came back. That is the next part of the story. Altogether a tantalising read. So much to learn. My next book will be about Edward the Confessor.