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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Danish prince who became King of England in 1016, and restored stability and prosperity to the troubled country he inherited.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Danish prince who became a very effective King of England in 1016.

Cnut inherited a kingdom in a sorry state. The north and east coast had been harried by Viking raiders, and his predecessor King Æthelred II had struggled to maintain order amongst the Anglo-Saxon nobility too. Cnut proved to be skilful ruler. Not only did he bring stability and order to the kingdom, he exported the Anglo-Saxon style of centralised government to Denmark. Under Cnut, England became the cosmopolitan centre of a multi-national North Atlantic Empire, and a major player in European politics.

With

Erin Goeres
Associate Professor of Old Norse Language and Literature at University College London

Pragya Vohra
Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of York

and

Elizabeth Tyler
Professor of Medieval Literature and Co-Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of York

Producer Luke Mulhall

Available now

51 minutes

Last on

Thu 6 Apr 2023 21:30
±«Óãtv Radio 4

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LINKS AND FURTHER READING

CONTRIBUTORS

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READING LIST

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Timothy Bolton, Cnut the Great (Yale University Press, 2017)

Timothy Bolton, The Empire of Cnut the Great: Conquest and Consolidation of Power in Northern Europe in the Early Eleventh Century (Brill, 2008)

Ryan Lavelle, Cnut: The North Sea King (Penguin, 2017)

M. K. Lawson, Cnut: England's Viking king, 1016-35 (The History Press, 2011)

Richard North, Erin Goeres, Alison Finlay (eds.), Anglo-Danish Empire: A Companion to the Reign of King Cnut the Great (Medieval Institute Publications, 2022)

Alexander R. Rumble (ed.), The Reign of Cnut: King of England, Denmark and Norway (Leicester University Press, 1994)

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Broadcasts

  • Thu 6 Apr 2023 09:00
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4
  • Thu 6 Apr 2023 21:30
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4

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