The Battle of Helgeå (Norwegian: ''Slaget ved Helgeå'', Swedish: ''Slaget vid Helgeå''), or Battle of the Holy River, was a naval engagement which took place in 1026 between joint Danish and English forces and a combined Norwegian and Swedish force, at the estuary of a river called '' Helge'' (Holy River) in Denmark or

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. King

Olaf II of Norway Saint Olaf ( – 29 July 1030), also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he w ...

and King

Anund Jacob Anund Jacob, also Jakob or James (Old Norse: ''Ǫnundr Jakob''; c. 25 July 1008/10 - c. 1050), was King of Sweden from 1022 until around 1050. He is believed to have been born on 25 July, in either 1008 or 1010 as ''Jakob'', the son of King Olof ...

of Sweden took advantage of the commitment of Danish King

Cnut Cnut ( ; ; – 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 rul ...

in England and began to launch attacks on the Danish in the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. The Swedish and Norwegian navies led by kings Anund Jacob and Olaf II lay in wait up the river for the navy of King Cnut, which was commanded by Danish earl Ulf Jarl. Cnut's navy was massive; his own ship is said to have been 80 metres long. The Swedish and the Norwegian kings ordered a large dam be made of

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

and lumber on the river. When the Danish navy sailed in, the water was released and a great many Danes and Englishmen drowned in the deluge. However, the main strength of Cnut's fleet lay outside the river harbour. After the ships in the harbour were destroyed, the rest of the fleet gathered together from all quarters. The kings Olaf and Anund Jacob, seeing they had got all the victory that ''fate permitted them to gain'' for the moment, let their ships retreat. If the battle had been renewed, they would have suffered a great loss of men, because Cnut had more ships. King Cnut did not pursue them. This left Cnut as the dominant leader in Scandinavia. It has been speculated that the Swedish city

Sigtuna Sigtuna is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in the eponymous Sigtuna Municipality, in Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,689 inhabitants in 2020. It is the namesake even though the seat of the municipality is in another locality, Märsta. S ...

was held by Cnut; there were coins struck there that called him king, but there is no narrative record of his occupation. These coins are however usually regarded as copies of coins minted in Denmark. Coins stating that the Swedish king

Olof Skötkonung Olof Skötkonung (; – 1022), sometimes stylized as Olaf the Swede, was King of Sweden, son of Eric the Victorious and, according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid the Haughty. He succeeded his father in c. 995. He stands at the threshold of record ...

was King of England have also been found in

Primary sources

The battle is retold in skaldic poetry and in sources such as the Danish ''

Gesta Danorum ("Deeds of the Danes") is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th-century author Saxo Grammaticus ("Saxo the Literate", literally "the Grammarian"). It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essentia ...

'' by

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author ...

and the Icelandic ''Saga of Olaf the Holy'' by

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...

. Opinions are divided as to whether the location was at the

Helge River The river Helge or, in Swedish, Helgeån, alternatively Helge å (lit. The Holy river), is a river which flows through Småland and Skåne in southern Sweden. The course of the river takes it through Kristianstad and out to the Bay of in th ...

of eastern

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, Denmark or Helgeå in

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The name literally ...

, Sweden. In the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'', the battle is dated to 1025 and the Swedes won the battle.The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (Part 4: A.D. 1015 - 1051), at the Medieval and Classical Literature Library
/ref> :''A.D. 1025. This year King Cnut went to Denmark with a fleet to the holm by the holy river; where against him there came Ulf and Eglaf, with a very large force both by land and sea, from Sweden. There were very many men lost on the side of King Cnut, both of Danish and English; and the Swedes had possession of the field of battle''.

References

Other sources

*Rosborn, Sven ''Den skånska historien'' (Vikingarna. Malmö: 2004) * The Battle of Helgå, as told in the ''Saga of Olaf Haraldsson'', by Snorri Sturluson. {{DEFAULTSORT:Helgeå 1026 Cnut Naval battles involving the Vikings Naval battles of the Dano-Swedish wars Naval battles involving Norway Conflicts in 1026 Naval battles involving England 1026 in Europe 11th century in Sweden Denmark–England relations Denmark–Norway relations England–Norway relations England–Sweden relations