[November 12] Cnut II, king of Denmark, Norway & England

Local Name: Knút inn ríki
Surnamed: "The Great"
Parents: Sweyn, king of Denmark & Norway, and Sigrid
Born: circa 985
House: Hairhair
Predecessor: Harold II (Denmark), Edmund II (England), and Olaf II (Norway)

Reign: 1018 – 1035
Brief: Cnut decisively entered history with his father's invasion of England in 1013 which left the prince in control of thee Danish fleet and army. A year later, Sweyn died and Cnut found himself on the defensive, fleeting to Denmark as an English army chased him out of England. He negotiated with his brother, Harald, and took a second fleet to England in 1015, fighting with Edmund II of England for fourteen months before finally forcing the Anglo-Saxon king's capitulation. Edmund died a few weeks later, leaving all of England under Danish control. He quickly consolidated his rule, marrying the queen mother Emma of Normandy and tracking down all surviving members of the house of Wessex. Though he originally sought to rule through his own men, Cnut eventually allowed local lords to rule in his name. In 1018, Harald in Denmark died and Cnut returned to claim the throne. There was no rebellion there, so Cnut went on a pilgrimage to Rome to witness the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II. On his return trip, Cnut rallied forces in England and Denmark and claimed the Norwegian throne from Olaf II, who abdicated. Cnut was kind to the church and restored local institutions in all three kingdoms that he ruled over. He eventually died in 1035 and was buried at Winchester, leaving the entire kingdom to Harthacnut, who was unable to maintain control over England or Norway initially.

Date of Death: 12 November 1035
Successor: Harthacnut

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Boniface III, pope of Rome (607)
• Duncan II, king of Scots (1094)
• Louis III, king of Naples (1434)

[September 25] Harald III, king of Norway

Surnamed: "Hardrada" ("Hard Ruler")
Parents: Signurd Syr, king of Norway, and Asta of Vestfold
Date of Birth: circa 1015
House: Hardrada (Fairhair)
Spouse(s): (1) Elisiv, daughter of Yaroslav I, grand prince of Kiev, and Ingegerd of Sweden, and (2) Tora, daughter of Torberg and Ragnhild
Predecessor: Magnus I

Reign: 1046 – 1066
Brief: For many years, Harald served as a military commander in the Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. As early as 1030, he fought against Cnut the Great who had dispossessed his family two years prior. In 1043, now older, militarily experienced, and wealthy, Harald returned to Kiev to begin his bid to reconquer Norway from his illegitimate nephew, Magnus I. He joined with the Danish pretender Sweyn II and began raiding the Danish coast. Magnus agreed to joint rule of Norway, but Harald renegged on the deal and Magnus died soon after. Harald III, now sole king of Norway, moved on to conquer Denmark for himself, fighting his former ally, Sweyn. In 1066, Harald gave up on Denmark and set his sights on England instead to depose Harold II. He arrived in England in September and won the battle of Fulford before being killed at the battle of Stamford Bridge. His death generally marks the end of the Viking Age, and it directly led to the defeat of Harold II at the battle of Hastings the next month.

Date of Death: 25 September 1066

Successor: Magnus II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• William VIII, duke of Aquitaine (1086)
• Morikuni, shogun of Japan (1333)
• Felipe I, king of Castile (1506)
• Clement VII, pope of Rome (1534)
• Go-Yozei, emperor of Japan (1617)
• Léopold III, king of Belgium (1983)

[March 9] Sverre, king of Norway

Sverre's trek across the Voss Mountains, by Peter Nicolai Arbo, c. 1800s

True Name: Sverrir Sigurðarson

Parents: Unås and Gunnhild

Date of Birth: c. 1145

House: Fairhair

Spouse: Margareta, daughter of Eric IX, king of Sweden, and Christina Björnsdotter

Reign: 1184 – 1202

Predecessor: Magnus V

Summary: Sverre grew up in the Faroes Islands far north of Scotland. He became a Catholic priest and received an excellent education in these early years. His mother revealed to him that he was the son of King Signurd Munn of Norway in 1175 (which was probably a lie) and Sverre set out for Norway to claim his throne. Norway, at the time, was recovering from a long civil war caused by successive claimants to the throne. Sverre went to Sweden to rally support from relatives of Sigurd's sister, Brigit. The group he joined was known as the Birkebeiners, and Sverre turned them into an army capable of conquering Norway. Sverre was crowned king at Øretinget in June 1177, and spent the next two years running west and east trying to take over Norway.


Magnus Erlingsson was the technical king of Norway at the time of Sverre's coronation, and Magnus was extremely angry that Norway was falling into civil war again as increasing number of factions joined Sverre's side of the conflict. The two rival kings fought on for five years, on land and sea, until Magnus fled to Denmark in 1183. Sverre them built a great ship to thwart his rival's inevitable return. At the Battle of Fimreite in 1184, Magnus's fleet was destroyed and the king drowned. Sverre was now the undisputed king of Norway. The king worked quickly to fill the political offices of Norway with his loyalists. Sverre, to legitimize any lingering doubts to his claim, married the daughter of the Swedish king. Still, with so many changes in so little time, civil war was inevitable. New factions arose in 1185 to challenge the king. Each faction presented their own royal descendant as their figurehead monarch, and each was put down by Sverre in turn, though not without much bloodshed. Then, in 1197, a new group arose and invaded Norway from Denmark. For the first time in recent history, Sverre was unable to defeat the pretenders. His capital city was besieged and the king was finally forced to flee. He rallied support in Trøndelag and was finally able to destroy the invaders, forcing them to flee back to Denmark in 1199. But peasants loyal to the invaders rose up the next year and the invaders returned with renewed strength and financing. Sverre spent his last two years fighting invasion from Denmark and uprisings from his peasants, eventually dying suddenly and leaving his son, Håkon, to finish his war for him.

Date of Death: 9 March 1202

Successor: Håkon III

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• William I, emperor of Germany (1888)