Harthacanute - King of Denmark

King of Denmark

In the 1020s, Denmark was threatened by Norway and Sweden and in 1026, Cnut decided to strengthen its defences by bringing over his eight year old son to be the future king under a council headed by his brother-in-law, Earl Ulf. However, Ulf alienated Cnut by getting the Danish provinces to acknowledge Harthacnut as king without reference to Cnut's overall authority and by failing to take vigorous measures to meet Norwegian and Swedish invasions, instead waiting for Cnut's assistance. In 1027, Cnut arrived with a fleet. He forgave Harthacnut his insubordination in view of his youth but had Ulf murdered. He drove the invaders out of Denmark and established his authority over Norway and in 1028, returned to England, leaving Denmark to be ruled by King Harthacnut.

Cnut had left Norway under the rule of Håkon Eiriksson but he was drowned in 1029, and Cnut appointed his son Svein to rule Norway with the assistance of Ælfgifu, Cnut's first wife and Svein's mother. However, they made themselves unpopular by heavy taxation and favouring Danish advisers over the Norwegian nobles, and when King Magnus I of Norway, the son of the former King of Norway, Olaf, invaded in 1035, they were forced to flee to Harthacnut's court. Harthacnut was a close ally of Svein, but he did not feel his resources were great enough to launch an invasion of Norway, and the half-brothers looked for help from their father, but instead they received news of his death in November 1035.