When King Cnut died in 1035, his successor to the English throne was supposed to be Harthacnut, his son by his second wife Emma. However, because Denmark – of which Harthacnut was also monarch – was threatened with invasion from Norway, he was unable to travel to his coronation and instead sent as regents Emma and his half-brother Harold Harefoot (so called because of his fleetness of foot), son of Cnut and his first wife Elgifu.
Harold and Emma bitterly argued over who should govern the kingdom. The powerful Earl Godwin sided with Harold, and in1037, Emma having fled, Harold seized the treasury at Winchester – and thus the throne – and was crowned at Oxford. Little is known about his reign, and other than the fact that he usurped the throne, he appears to have been a colourless and weak character.
Furious at his half-brother's actions, Harthacnut sent a fleet to invade the kingdom. But the 24-year-old Harold Harefoot died before it arrived and Harthacnut was accepted as his successor. After his coronation at Canterbury, he had Harold's body disinterred, beheaded and flung into a marsh. He also punished the English for having allowed Harold's usurpation by imposing a savage 'fleet tax' to pay for Harthacnut's expedition from Denmark.
Harthacnut was universally disliked by his new subjects – according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, he 'never did anything worthy of a king while he reigned'. His time on the throne is really only notable for the fact that he invited his other half-brother Edward (son of Emma and Ethelred the Unready) to return to England as his heir.
Harthacnut died suddenly – and childless – at a wedding feast at Lambeth. Edward succeeded him peacefully.
|
|
 Harold Harefoot
www.nndb.com/people/744/000093465/
Harthacnut
www.nndb.com/people/743/000093464/
Concise biographies of the two brief kings.
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
|
