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<tr>
<td>'''Wives:'''</td>
<td>[[Aelgifu of Northampton|&AElig;lgifu]] (marriage in Danish manner; <br> not approved by the Church), [[Emma of Normandy|Emma]]</td>
</tr>
<tr>
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</table>
 
[[Canute]] (or Cnut) I, or '''Canute the Great''' (Danish <i>Knud den Store</i>) ([[994]]/[[995]] - [[November 12]], [[1035]]) was king of [[England]], [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]] and governor or overlord of [[Schleswig]] and [[Pomerania]]. He was the son of sea-king [[Sweyn I of Denmark | Sweyn Forkbeard]], also reputed to be a member of the [[Jomsburg]] Vikings, a military outfit of mercenary warriors with a fortress based in today's Poland. There is still some dispute among historians over the existence of the Jomsvikings. Canute's mother was [[Gunhild]] (formerly Swiatoslawa, daughter of [[Mieszko I of Poland|Mieszko I]] of Poland). While his father, Sweyn, remained pagan to the end of his life. Canute was reared by a mother whose own mother had been abducted from a religious house and married to the first Duke of Poland, Mieszko (or Miraslav, Mieczyslaw), who later adopted Christianity for political reasons. (Prince Mieszko I [[Christianized]] Poland after the wedding to Dobrowa, the mother of Swiatoslawa and Boleslaw Chrobry.)
 
Accompanying his father on his successful invasion of England in August [[1013]], Canute was proclaimed king by the Danish fleet on Sweyn's death the following February, but returned to Denmark (April [[1014]]) on the restoration of the defeated king [[Ethelred the Unready]] by the [[Witenagemot]] of English nobles.
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By dividing the country ([[1017]]) after the Danish fashion into the four great earldoms of [[Wessex]], [[Mercia]], [[East Anglia]] and [[Northumbria]], he instituted the system of territorial lordships which would underlie English government for centuries. In [[1018]] he felt secure enough to send the invasion fleet back to Denmark with a payment of £72,000.
 
In order to associate his line with the overthrown English dynasty and to insure himself against attack from Normandy (place of exile of Ethelred's sons [[Edward the Confessor|Edward]] and Alfred), Canute married (July 1017) Ethelred's widow [[Emma of Normandy]], later designating their son [[Harthacanute]] as heir in preference to [[Harold Harefoot|Harold]], his (illegitimate?) son by [[Aelgifu of Northampton]], (earliera Ethelred's first wife)concubine.
 
In [[1018]] (or [[1019]]) Canute succeeded his elder brother [[Harold II of Denmark|Harold II]] as king of Denmark, and in [[1028]] he conquered Norway with a fleet of fifty ships from England: his attempt to govern Norway through Aelgifu and Harold ended, however, in rebellion and the restoration of the former Norwegian dynasty under [[Magnus I of Norway|Magnus I]].
 
[[Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor]] was friendly with Canute and had his young son Henry married to Canute's daughter Cunigunde or (Gunhilda). The emperor gave Canute the Mark of [[Schleswig]] and [[Pomerania]] to govern. The later was probably the fief of Canute, since [[Boleslaus_I_of_Poland]] sendsent his army helping Canute to conquer England.
 
Canute is generally regarded as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributable to his good treatment of the church, which controlled the history writers of the day. Thus we see him described even today as a religious man, despite the fact that he lived openly in what was effectively a bigamous relationship, and despite his responsibility for many political murders.
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{| align="center" cellpadding="2" border="2"
|-
| width="30%" align="center" | Preceded by:<br>'''[[Harold II of Denmark|Harold II (Harald)]]'''
| width="40%" align="center" | '''[[List of Danish monarchs|King of Denmark]]'''
| width="30%" align="center" | Succeeded by:<br>'''[[Harthacanute|Canute III (Knud)]]'''
|-
| width="30%" align="center" | '''[[Edmund II of England|Edmund II]]'''