Gone Medieval - King Cnut & the End of the Viking Age

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Dr. Cat Jarman concludes her month-long series about her favourite, specialist subject - the Vikings.Cnut the Great became King of England in 1016, King of Denmark in 1018 and King of Norway in 1028, creating the North Sea Empire. In today’s episode Cat talks to Dr. Caitlin Ellis about Cnut, his impact and legacy, and the end of the Viking Era.The Senior Producer on this episode was Elena Guthrie. It was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.For more Gone Medieval content, subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store.For your chance to win five Historical Non-Fiction Books (including a signed copy of Dan Snow's On This Day in History), please fill out this short survey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From long-loss Viking ships and kings buried in unexpected places to tales of murder, power, faith, and the lives of ordinary people across medieval Europe and beyond. Join me, Matt Lewis, Dr. Eleanor Jarniger, and some of the world's leading historians as we bring history's most fascinating stories to life only on history hit. With your subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand-new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world,

to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. Hello and welcome to Gone Medieval. I'm Dr. Kat Jarman. The Viking Age was filled with Scandinavian rulers and kings, successful both at home in Scandinavia and abroad. One of the most successful of these was the Danish king Knut the Great who conquered England in 1016 and created a North Sea Empire, ruling Denmark and Norway as well. You might even argue that Knoot's reign represents the peak of the Viking Age. How could Knoot achieve so much? And what exactly was this impact and legacy?

Today's guest on the podcast is Dr. Katelyn Ellis, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Caitlin, thank you so much for joining me and welcome to the podcast. Thank you very much for having me. So I think Knoot is such a fascinating person and the fact that his reign was so long, so successful, And I do often get the question, you know, what is the sort of peak of the Viking age? What would you say? And I always feel like this is sort of very much a sort of height of it in many ways because you have somebody who has a Scandinavian king who is so successful for such a long time. And so to me, this is kind of it. Would you agree with that? Yeah, I think so that, as you say, the fact that a Scandinavian ruler is actually able to completely take over England and oust the previous dynasty.

That's the dynasty of the West Saxons, the dynasty of Alfred that was the last dynasty standing in a way after the Great Army in the 9th century. So the fact that he's able to kind of take the for himself rather than it just being small hit and run raids. That's what we're used to at the beginning of the Viking Age or even more localized settlement. But yet this does feel like a very significant moment in English and Scandinavian history as well. Yeah, and also it's pretty closer to the end of what we call the Viking Age really, isn't it? It's not after his death, there's really not that long. We're just talking a couple of decades, really, and then we get to the end of the Viking Age. So it probably is a sort of culmination, I think.

And one thing that I wanted to ask you, first of all, before we go a little bit more into detail about Knewt himself and his background, is before he gets to power in 1016, what sort of groundwork? like had sort of been lain by the generations before him that enable this to happen. So in Scandinavia itself, we've also had a lot of changes. So Denmark, where Canoeu is from, seems to unify and be a stronger kingdom earlier than Norway and Sweden. We're talking about a lot greater scale so they can maybe be more ambitious in what they're trying to achieve rather than just taking away some shiny stuff and going home. But then in England as well, obviously England too is kind of more unified,

which in some ways makes it stronger, but I suppose also makes it a more attractive prize as well. This is a very wealthy country. It's definitely something to be won and coveting it in a way. We've had this renewed period of raiding that starts to weaken England as well. It's quite costly. They start maybe paying them off as well to try and get them to go home. But I suppose that means that they realise quite how wealthy England is as well.

Sven Fortbyard, as the king of Denmark, hasn't been the only person who's been attacking England and profiting from all of this, but probably at a certain point he decides that actually he maybe shouldn't let other people. And he brings Canute along with him, Canoe as his son. One of the sources says that Canute is the older son, but that's the Encomium, MI, Regina, which is commissioned by Canute's wife later on. So that puts a very positive spin on kind of Canute and their family. So most historians now think that Canute is actually maybe the younger brother, that he's Sven's younger son and that his older brother Harold actually inherits Denmark first.

And it would kind of make sense that usually you'd name your eldest son after your father. That's the sort of usual tradition. So it seemed to make sense that Sven would leave, sort of heir apparent in Denmark to make sure that there would be the succession there. It kind of takes the younger son with him to England maybe as a training exercise in some ways. This is a good way to make sure that your children get that experience of being in involved in leading an army. So Knute then, at this point where he comes in,

the groundwork really has been lain for him. His other training by his father directly. And actually, we're talking about a period of England, although, as you say, it's a good kingdom, but it is pretty weak and they are being battered and they're being paying out fortune in all these sort of tributes to make them go away, which of course they never do. That sort of blackmail never really works.

So this all culminates in 1016 then with Knut's taking power. Canute sort of very briefly summarised, what happens? How does he do that? Yeah, so exactly, as you say, there's been this kind of attrition, basically, of England. And I suppose even if England is quite strong from sort of an administrative point of view, one of the issues that they have is these quite powerful nobles. And sometimes they kind of turn against the king, or they're sort of infighting and squabbles, which, to an extent, Sven and Canute are able to capitalise on or sort of turn to their own ends by getting some of the English nobility also to come over to their side. There probably had been some tensions. in the previous king, in Effelred's reign as well, that they may be able to exploit. So, yeah, the Danish conquest is a little bit more complicated. It's sort of the Norman conquest, I suppose, in comparison, seems quite straightforward and quite swift. But the Danish conquest ends up being a little bit more piecemeal. So we have the English king, Effelred, fleeing into exile initially, and Sven Forkbeard,

king of England, although quite short-lived, because then he dies. So then Efforead obviously sees a chance and kind of comes back, but then he also dies. So in some ways things just happen to go quite well for Canute in some senses that he's then able to kind of push back at kind of a new invasion attempt. And he briefly has to share, like divide up England with Effored's kind of eldest surviving son and with Edmund Ironside. But then Edmund Ironside also dies potentially of his wounds from maybe one of the battles and that they've been involved in. So after all of that has happened, that believes Canute as the kind of sole ruler. of England. And then in 1018, Canutes, as I said, probably older brother in Denmark also passes away. So he ends up inheriting Denmark as well. So that leaves him in this unique position

of ruling both of those kingdoms at the same time. Yeah, which is really quite unique. And I think what is so special is that he is so successful because he manages to hold on to England for a really very long time, well, until he dies. And I wanted to talk a little bit about that now. And one of the aspects, which I know you've written articles about as well, is a very deliberate use of religion or use of Christianity. And you wrote an article about this, and I like that. You open it by saying that we tend to have this stereotype of these Vikings as pagans, and that being a huge big part of their success and their whole sort of, I suppose,

style of power and all of that. But with clear, it's absolutely not that at all. And in fact, his role with a Christian church in England especially, is a huge part of his success. So his grandfather, Harold Bluetooth, became really the first Christian king of Denmark or any of the Scandinavian countries, really. So actually, Knutte has presumably been raised a Christian, hasn't he?

Yes, so exactly. The stereotype, as you say, is obviously of these terrible heathen marauders who are attacking all these churches and massacring monks, and obviously that does happen, particularly at the start of the Viking Age. But during the course of the Viking Age, things do change as well.

it's not monolithic. So by this period, we're actually getting the Vikings, the Scandinavians, sort of patronising the church and kind of donating things to them. And that's something that Canoe definitely does as King of England. He's really a third generation Christian on both sides, actually, because we don't have a lot of information about his mother, but we think that she's the daughter of the Polish ruler, Meshko I, the first. So he also converts to Christianity.

So that would mean on both sides of his family that he would be raised Christian. So obviously it's not as long a tradition of Christian kingship as we find in England, which obviously is converted a lot earlier than that. But yeah, I think it would be a bit naive to sort of assume that he's really clueless about Christianity or sort of doesn't know what's going on. Obviously it's difficult to really kind of get a sense of someone's personality, obviously, from this period. But he does seem like quite a shrewd operator that, as you say, he's able to use that to his own end, probably. Yeah, so I mean, I think that's such a good point, isn't it?

Because isn't he actually using Christianity and using the church to actually, hold on to his position of power. Is it a little bit of a cynical way or is it just completely spiritual and devotional for most believe? Is it more of a cynical use of it, do you think? I mean, ultimately we'll obviously never know how genuine his own personal belief was. I think it is certainly useful to him giving that sense of continuity, you know, even though there's been this quite big change in power. But I suppose it does help him on the European stage as well, maybe not just in that kind of English context. So he goes on pilgrimage to Rome. and he's in the procession for the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor, who, you know,

confusing me is actually German. And, you know, he engages his daughter to the Emperor's son. So he then is really able to be quite a major player on the European stage as well. Yeah, and that is such an important point, isn't it, that the world, the sort of northwestern Europe we're talking about at this point in time is really connected, it's really international. So the fact that he's got these links to Scandinavian countries, but also to other parts of continental Europe. It's actually, that's quite important, isn't it? So he's sort of, he's recognized quite wildly as this king.

Shows that he is gaining some recognition and I guess that's also a benefit to him of ruling England as well, kind of not just Scandinavia, that maybe some places on the continents or Scandinavia is this slightly sort of distant backwater, but that obviously brings him in slightly kind of closer proximity to them and maybe just strengthens his position as well, that there are earlier points even with how a Bluetooth that we get the sense that, you know, the Danes have to be a little bit wary of the Germans kind of on the border as well who are very powerful but now he's kind of got an extra weapon in his arsenal I suppose in some ways. Absolutely. And also I mean so you're talking about these places being further out and further

reaches. So another example that you give is quite interesting and it's relates to Orkney, which is of course pretty much as far north more or less as you can get in Britain. And Orkney had, I think at this point at Knutzer time was already under the power of the Norwegian kings, I believe, but he took an interest. didn't he, in Orkney specifically and in relation to the church? Yeah, so we have the earldom of Orkney, so we do have these kind of independent earls of presumably kind of Norse origin.

So notionally, they're under the Norwegian kings are sort of difficult to tell kind of how much power the Norwegian kings really would have had in reality or if that's maybe slightly sort of back projected from the later situation. presumably some of the more powerful earls don't really think of themselves as being sort of underlings. But it seems like it's kind of part of Canoops

policy with the church that previously sometimes the German church is sort of trying to claim dominance over the Danish church, have all of Northern Europe under its sway. But actually, this gives Canute a kind of another option. So he has one Danish archbishop consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. So then that would kind of mean that, I suppose, that the ecclesiastical organisation at the church structure might kind of mirror his own rule potentially as well by kind of being based around England and Denmark, that sort of North Sea connections. And then, yeah, the situation in Orkney is a little bit difficult because we don't really have so many sources.

But we do hear something about this Bishop Henry. At some point, Henry is obviously a bishop in Orkney. I guess it's quite tempting to think that maybe this is sort of part of Canute, the Danish church and the British church as well. And obviously, yeah, he probably hasn't it. Even though he's King of England, the even previous kings of England, have liked to sort of portray themselves as maybe being kings of Britain or sort of having that wider sway kind of over the kings of in Wales and in Scotland who are maybe a bit less powerful than them.

Yeah, so he sort of really trying to reach out and get as much as he can, I suppose, quite ambitious. So another thing I wanted to talk to you about, to something else that can he does. He seems to very actively use saints and cults dedicated to saints around England to his own benefit, so he gets really rather involved in these. Could you say something about what he does with these cults and how that sort of benefits him? Yeah, certainly. So I suppose it's useful to bear mind as well that saints are just sort of quite an important part of medieval Christianity in general. They're also quite useful to the churches as well. As a given church, you want people to come and visit you. You want pilgrims and your little fame and renown of your particular establishment.

But yes, as I say, Canute does get quite actively involved in patronising some of these cults. And I suppose on the face of it, some of those cults sort of seemed quite surprising maybe to us. So there's an Archbishop of Canterbury who a Viking army had killed in 1012. I sort of martyred this St. Alphea. And I guess maybe to us that seems kind of strange that, you know, it's people like Canute who killed him. But then he then patronises it. And I suppose, as we were saying earlier, you know, maybe that's quite a cynical move to sort of

maybe diffuse any potential kind of backlash that might be associated with that cult perhaps. But maybe to him it didn't seem as strange as it does to us. I suppose he didn't kill that archbishop. So I'm just because some of his kind of countrymen maybe had. And then we also have the cult of St. Edmund, the martyr, particularly at Bury St. Edmund's, who was killed by the Great Army in around 870. So I think perhaps it is relating to managing all these things quite sensitively in his his new realm about how to keep his new subjects on board in a way, whereas in other ways he's

been quite active in kind of advancing his own cause. So in terms of sort of the nobility, he does bring in a lot of his followers. He kind of replaces a lot of them with Scandinavians, people who fought in his army, who kind of knows that he can trust. We also get that example of Aedrich Strainer, the English nobleman who had kind of had switched sides from the English king from Effelred and kind of weakened the war effort. And he sort of defects with this fleet that he's attacking Danish armies. But it seems like Canute doesn't trust him. So even though he switches sides to Canute, Canute still chops his head off afterwards anyway. So he can obviously be quite ruthless sometimes, but yeah, at the same time, he obviously went sort of piety. I suppose the

famous image is from the Libre Vitae of Winchester, from the sort of New Minster, where we have this image of Canute and Emma kind of side by side. And there's a huge cross in the middle. So he's sort of really showing his kind of commitment to Christianity that, you know, maybe he gave them this cross, but at the same time, he's still got a very large sword at his hip as well. So he's kind of, he's got both of those aspects. Hi there, I'm Don Wildman, the host of the brand new podcast, American History Hit. Join me twice a week as I explore the past to help us understand the United States today. You'll hear how codebreakers uncovered secret Japanese plans for the Battle of Midway.

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Okay, so he's doing, he's got all this interest and involvement with Saints in England. Is that something he does anywhere else as well? in any of his other territories? Yes, definitely. So we've kind of maybe mentioned that he has some control over Norway, kind of during his rule over England and Denmark. He doesn't hold it in the same way that he's clearly king of those two places. But one of his rivals for control of Norway is Olaf Haraldson,

who had also been raiding in England kind of earlier in his career. And he's maybe able to use that to try and get some power in Norway. But he's not actually that popular with the Norwegian people. it turns out. I mean, Canute probably has some role to play in all of this. So we have some references to maybe him kind of bribing some of the Norwegian nobility and kind of turning them against St Olaf, who becomes St Olaf. So he's killed in battle by Norwegians. But I suppose we do get the sense that Canute is sort of involved, albeit indirectly. So he's very quickly proclaimed a saint because he'd been trying to kind of Christianize Norway. And obviously,

he's martyed in a sense. But so nowadays, even later in the medieval period, the cult of St Olaf is really sort of associated with Norway as this sort of kind of national saint, the kind of protector of Norway. But it seems like early on when the cult is kind of first getting going, that Canute is also involved kind of encouraging this cult as well and his son who's ruling over Norway for him also.

So again, whenever we see this as a clever ploy in a way to try not to make it just be this focus of kind of anti-Danish hostility. They're showing they're also involved in strengthening the cult. And then we do get that cult spreading back to England as well, probably associated with these Scandinavians who are really active in England. And a lot of those are kind of quite closely connected to Canute and his family. So there's quite a few St. Olaf churches in London and in some other places in England as well. And some of those do seem to date right back to Canute's reign as well. It does seem to me that he is doing this very deliberately as a strategic,

way of getting support. I mean, there must be something quite deliberate there, I would say, but maybe I'm just being cynical here. No, I think he definitely seems to be a kind of, yeah, quite a shrewd, calculated rule of, you know, as much as we can kind of reconstruct that. I say he is obviously very successful and maybe in kind of balancing these different factions and these different players in his reign. You know, he's got some of the preexisting powerful nobles and churchmen,

but then he's obviously bringing in new people as well. And I suppose that seems to be something that he's able to keep a handle on and keep it all under control. But then after his death, that does seem to kind of become a problem for all of his successors again. And, you know, it's definitely a problem for Edward the confessor when he comes back, having been in exile in Normandy during this period of Anglo-Danish rule, that even though he's from the English royal line, he's actually a bit foreign as well. So we think of Canute being the foreign ruler in a way. But in a way, Edward is also quite foreign in the sense that he's got all of these Norman and French friends.

and then there's kind of tension with the existing ones there. And then so there is certainly a sense in which the seeds of the Norman conquest are may be sown by all these events in Canute's reign as well. Yeah, and that is such an important point. This is a sort of Christian warrior king sort of scenario, isn't it? And especially sort of really showing his power and his abilities, but also reflecting that understanding that a Christian king is a very powerful king. And I think that's something that helps back in Scandinavia as well,

with actually the end of the Viking Age. start to get the countries, don't we, of Norway, Sweden and Denmark actually forming. And a big part of that is Christianity coming in. It's all linked political kingship and power and religion. So I guess he's the sort of peak example of that happening, I suppose. Yes, definitely. And I think after him, maybe we get other Scandinavian rulers who kind of hope to copy that kind of example.

And none of them, I guess, are ever quite as successful as he was. So as you say, we often kind of think of the Viking Age kind of ending only a few decades after Canute's deaths are sort of in the middle of the 11th century. I guess anglo-centricly we've often thought 1066 as being the end of the Viking Age, which is partly because of the death of Howard Hardrathis, means Howard's kind of hard ruler or Harold the Resolute, something like that. His death in 1066 was also trying to invade England. But then, of course, instead we get the Norman conquest, so we get a bit of a shift in

kind of sort of political and kind of cultural situation in England. But even then, I think as was discussed in the earlier episode of the podcast, that, you know, we also think of 793, the raid on Linder Svarn being kind of the very clear, like pivotal kind of start of the Viking Age. But there are some earlier things going on as well, some earlier raids. So it's not quite as clear cut. This wasn't even if we're thinking about in the middle of the 13th century, we get the Battle of Lags and the Firth applied. So, you know, the Scottish forces do manage to defeat the Norwegian forces and the Norwegian king dies in Orkney afterwards. It's only at that point that Scotland gets kind of possession of the Hebrides and man with the Treaty of Perth. And even after the Norman conquest, I suppose it's easy for us in retrospect to see that that's kind of it in a way,

that that's the big change in the English rulership, that it becomes kind of cross-channel rulership across the English channel with France. But maybe it wasn't quite so obvious at the time that that was kind of so definitive. So we do get some sort of attempted Danish invasions or at least sort of Danish expeditions that are. maybe trying to support some rebels against William the Conqueror. But usually by time they arrive, William the Conqueror has already kind of quashed the rebellion. So then they just burned some things and go home. So it doesn't work out. So obviously in hindsight, we know that, you know, there's never another Scandinavian ruler of England.

But maybe at the time that that wasn't necessarily so apparent. And in 1085, we're told that another Canute, a sort of descendant of the Canute that we've been talking about, who becomes known as Canute the Holy, that he's planning a really large, invasion. You know, he's massing like hundreds of ships in Denmark to come and invade England, but then he gets delayed. Partly he seems to be a bit worried about Germany and then there's sort of some internal issues in Denmark prevent him that actually maybe some of the people in Denmark maybe aren't that happy about having to pay for all of this potentially. So there seems to be a rebellion led by his brother. So he gets marty as well. But we're told in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that

when William the Conqueror hears of these plants that there is this fleet massive. there's going to be an invasion that he spends a lot of effort kind of devastating the coastline and making fortifications and getting infantry and cavalry imposition. So it seems like even though that didn't end up being necessary at all because the invasion fleet didn't launch, I guess that shows that William was still maybe taking that threat seriously that he was concerned to actually shore up the defences.

That's such a good point, isn't it? That this is very much an ongoing thing really. We tend to be so keen on having. these clear periods and categories and dates where things happen. But actually, I think it was certainly at the time far less well defined. And I think these ongoing Scandinavian connections, especially in the North Britain, shall I say, and Ireland, are extremely interesting. But I think just to sort of wind up a little bit, just to sort of try and think of some of the legacies that Knew left behind, I suppose, and the impact it had. Oh, and actually one thing we have forgotten about is one story that, I think most people, when I mentioned Knewit, who don't really study the Viking Age, there's one story that they all seem to know about him that they learn at school, which is the story about Knoot and the waves.

So can we just, because that seems to be the thing that people sort of take from him and take from his rules, Knoot and the waves. What was that story all about? Yeah, so it's a story that we only have quite a bit later than Knoot's reign, so we're kind of not really sure of the reliability of that account. It's in the writings of one of the kind of Anglo-Norman historians of Henry of Huntingdon. So yeah, he sort of tells this story about Canute saying that he's going to hold back the waves and obviously he's not able to do that. But I suppose we get very different interpretations of that, then I suppose maybe particularly in the modern retellings,

that is maybe just an example of his pride and kind of hubris that it's ridiculous, obviously, that he could think that he could hold back the waves. But I suppose actually in the original version, it does seem like actually that's the point that's being made is that Canute himself, says, I might be a great king, you know, but obviously I'm also not able to have such a great power, you know, only God would have that kind of power. So actually the original story, again, seems to be more about proving kind of Canute's piety and maybe wisdom in a sense that he's sort of trying to show his followers and the people who are with him at the time.

But inevitably, he is only human, even if he's a very powerful king, he's nothing in comparison to God. It's not a story about him actually being Philly and a bit dumb and thinking he can hold back the way. which is why it's quite often presented, I think, when people use these comparisons in news and things. But in terms of then, his actual sort of impact and legacy, what do you think is the most important impact that he had on this sort of point in time? Yeah, I think it saves in Scandinavia, maybe he's this example that they hope they might be

able to replicate again. But I think in England, he does really have an impact on the country as a whole. So even though in some ways, as I said, there's a lot of continuity, you know, this kind of well-oiled, machine of government that he can just slot in and use himself. But maybe culturally, as I said, he does replace a lot of nobles with Danes and Scandinavians, but probably lower down as well, there would have been a lot more movement of people, of craftsmen and so on. So there's a memorial slab from St. Paul's in London, which we sort of associate with Canute's time, and it's got a classic Scandinavian art style, this big kind of beast in the Ringerika style and a runic inscription.

So it seems that maybe even at the slightly lower level of society, you know, there's obviously these people who are patronised that. And maybe Scandinavian craftsmen are here as well, or at least if they're English craftsmen, they've obviously had to train quite well or get used to this new style and to carving runes. We also have lots of scalding verse, so there's sort of traditional Norse kind of praise poetry for rulers.

So there's a lot of that in praise of canoe, and we think probably some of that would have been performed in England, which think is really interesting. So in his court at Winchester or maybe at London as well. So I think he does change the character of England. So when we're talking about the events of 1066 and these kind of rivals kind of dates of who's going to get the throne, is it going to be William?

Is it going to be Harold King of Norway? Or is it going to be Harold Godwinson? And then we obviously see that as then things become a bit more French and a bit more Norman because William wins and it's not the English. But even if it hadn't been won by Harold's carderathie and kind of become more linked to Norway, Howard Godwinson himself is still Anglo-Danish, so he's not actually purely English because his mother is the daughter of a Danish chieftain and her brother in turn is kind of married to Kanoot's

sister. So actually his family, the Godwinton, were also kind of quite connected to a lot of this. So it's still not the England that was there kind of before Kanoot took over. But as you say, we do get the sense of him being the real high point because it all seems to kind of fall apart, I guess after his death that he's kind of got these different sons who were competing. And in 1042, England goes back to that previous, to the West Saxon dynasty, goes back to them. And to Edward the confessor and the whole that they had on Norway is also kind of lost as well. So sometimes we talk about this idea of like a North Sea empire that Canute maybe ruled. But it definitely kind of gradually kind of falls apart.

And I suppose that's what we were saying about the end of the Viking Age. there maybe isn't one really dramatic fall and moment, it just maybe fizzles out more and sort of peters out. It's not as dramatic, but it just gradually lessens. And a lot of the rebellions against William the Conqueror potentially come from some of those areas that did have quite a lot of Scandinavian settlement, this area that we sort of refer to as the Dane Law and sort of Northern Eastern England. So I think even, I think Knoot's legacy doesn't end immediately, you know, when he dies and maybe not even immediately with the Norman conquest, but probably by the end of the 11th, century, it has been decreased in England at least because I think it's 1075 that William

the Conqueror kills Wolfeiof, who's kind of the last like really powerful Anglo-Danish noble. So then we do get that lessening of the Scandinavian element in England as a whole. That's been absolutely brilliant. And I love this idea that we've got Newton and the fizzling out of the Vikings rather than the fall of the Vikings. I'm going to think of it like that. But thank you so much for coming along and sharing all your knowledge back newts. Thank you very much having me.

It's really fun. this brings us to the end of this episode and actually before you go do look back over our archives as well because if any of you listeners haven't heard them already we've got quite a lot of other episodes that link to what we've been talking about today we've got one on Ethel Red Theum ready

so if you want to hear that other side of what happens before Knute I'd absolutely recommend you go back and look at that. We've got a little bit like the Great Army we have episodes on the Great Army of course we also have one on St Edmund and the cult of St Edmund in Berry St Edmund so that's another one that links quite nice to this. But thank you all so much for listening to Gone Medieval. I'm Dr. Kat Jarman. I do also

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