Vem gifte sig med Cnut the Great?

Cnut ( kə-NYOOT; Old Norse: Knútr; c. 990 – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rule are referred to together as the North Sea Empire by historians.

As a Danish prince, Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 in the wake of centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. His later accession to the Danish throne in 1018 brought the crowns of England and Denmark together. Cnut sought to keep this power base by uniting Danes and English under cultural bonds of wealth and custom. After a decade of conflict with opponents in Scandinavia, Cnut claimed the crown of Norway in Trondheim in 1028. In 1031, Malcolm II of Scotland also submitted to him, though Anglo-Norse influence over Scotland was weak and ultimately did not last by the time of Cnut's death.

Dominion of England lent the Danes an important link to the maritime zone between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, where Cnut, like his father before him, had a strong interest and wielded much influence among the Norse–Gaels. Cnut's possession of England's dioceses and the continental Diocese of Denmark – with a claim laid upon it by the Holy Roman Empire's Archdiocese of Hamburg-Bremen – was a source of great prestige and leverage among the magnates of Christendom (gaining notable concessions such as one on the price of the pallium of his bishops, though they still had to travel to obtain the pallium, as well as on the tolls his people had to pay on the way to Rome). After his 1026 victory against Norway and Sweden, and on his way back from Rome where he attended the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor, Cnut deemed himself "King of all England and Denmark and the Norwegians and of some of the Swedes" in a letter written for the benefit of his subjects. Medieval historian Norman Cantor called him "the most effective king in Anglo-Saxon history".

He is popularly invoked in the context of the legend of King Canute and the tide.

Aelfgifu av Northampton, född omkring 990, död efter år 1040, var gift med Knut den store och mor till Sven Alfivasson och Harald Harfot. Hon var Norges regent från 1030 till 1035.

Aelfgifu var dotter till en engelsman av nordiskt ursprung. Hon blev gift med Knut under Sven Tveskäggs invasion av England 1013 som en symbolisk gest av fred mellan de två folken. Då Knut blev Englands kung gifte han om sig med Emma av Normandie. Vid denna tid var det ännu accepterat av kyrkan att kungar försköt en fru och gifte om sig medan den första fortfarande levde. Aelfgifu var aldrig drottning, men hon tycks inte ha förskjutits.

År 1030 placerade Knut hennes son Svein på Norges tron, men på grund av Sveins ålder blev hon hans regent. Hennes regeringstid kallades Álfífuǫld och beskrivs som så hård att hon och hennes son avsattes och tvingades lämna Norge 1034–1035.

Hon och hennes son återvände då till England, där hennes närvaro är bekräftad år 1036. Hon levde obemärkt efter sin sons död 1040 och hennes död är okänd.

Emma de Normandie ou Ælfgifu (début des années 980ou vers 990 – 6 ou 7 mars 1052, Winchester) est une princesse normande devenue reine en tant qu'épouse successive de deux souverains anglais. Elle est d'abord l'épouse d'Æthelred le Malavisé (1002-1016), puis celle de Knut le Grand (1017-1035) et aussi roi de Danemark à partir de 1018. Elle est la mère des rois Knud le Hardi (1035-1042) et Édouard le Confesseur (1042-1066).