25.3 Europe: a.d. 1001 to 1100  (Page 10/11)

Harald II Hardrada (Harold Hardruler) came to the throne in 1046 after having spent many years in the Mediterranean serving the East Roman emperor as commander of a mixed Latin and Norwegian force fighting Moslems along the north African coast. He decided to conquer England but was defeated by the English King Harold in 1066 at the battle of Stamford Bridge in September, just before the Norman invaders landed on the English coast. After Hardrada there was another period of confusion with wars of succession and struggles of the aristocracy against the growing powers of the clergy. In spite of these troubles, increasing trade brought prosperity. (Ref. 119 , 8 , 95 , 117 )

Sweden

In this and the next century Sweden's Christianity relapsed and the Uppsala stronghold of the old Norse gods was again resplendent. Internecine wars were common, particularly between the Goths and the Sveas and some of these were probably precipitated by religious differences. Additional Notes

Denmark

Upon the death of King Sweyn his son Harald was proclaimed king of Denmark, while another son, Canute, at 18 years of age was supposedly king of England. Even though he had to fight England's Edmund, when the latter died Canute was accepted as king of all England, in reality. Shortly thereafter Harald died in Denmark and Canute suddenly became king there, also, so that he was monarch over a large empire. When he died in 1035, however, this empire deteriorated rapidly. One of Canute's sons, Hardicanute, became king of Denmark but he was not very competent and did not live long anyway. It appears that he was poisoned by a Danish chieftain living on a fine estate on the Thames, in England. At any rate, the Danes then allowed Magnus the Good, the new young king of Norway, to become the Danish monarch also. He made a great name for himself as he personally led a Dano-Norwegian force against some tremendous hordes of Wends who suddenly poured northwards into Jutland. But then Sweyn Estridson (or Sweyn Ulf son), a nephew of Canute the Great and who had been made the earl of Jutland by Magnus, turned against him and these two young men fought year after year for the crown of Denmark. After Magnus was drowned, Sweyn continued to battle the new king of Norway, Harald Hardrada, who also had an eye on Denmark. In the end Sweyn was the victor and then he sent several fleets across the North Sea to England to help the Danish colonists who alleged that they were being suppressed by William the Conqueror. In each instance, however, the commanders of the Danish fleets allowed themselves to be bought off with the old method – payment of Danegeld. The Viking Age came to an end in Denmark during the time of Sweyn Estridson, but the Vikings had brought Christianity back with them from western Europe. (Ref. 117 )

Christianity did not have quite the same meaning in Denmark that it did in other parts of Europe. It was felt to be quite natural for noblemen and kings to have any number of mistresses. Sweyn had three or four wives in succession but none of the five sons, who succeeded him in turn, was by any of these lawful wives. But the religion did make some headway and in 1060 three bishoprics were set up in Denmark by the pope. (Ref. 117 , 66 ) One of Sweyn's successor sons was Canute the Holy, a strong-willed man who defended the legal system, clarified taxation, introduced a tax for the benefit of the church (10% of all harvested grain), worked to liberate all slaves and sent to England for relics of St. Alban. His greatest resolve, however, was to reconquer England and for this purpose he assembled a great fleet in the Limfjord, consisting of 60 Norwegian, 600 Flemish and 1200 Danish vessels. But once again William the Conqueror foiled the expedition by sending emissaries with large amounts of money for bribes, and the fleet was disbanded before it could sail. The peasants turned against Canute as he tried to tax them further and they finally murdered him inside his church, allowing his brother Olaf to become king. Crops failed throughout his nine year reign and he was given the name "Olaf Hunger". The crops began to grow again only upon the ascension of his brother Eric in 1095. (Ref. 117 )