Harthacanute

Harthacnut (c. 1018 – 8 June 1042) was King of Denmark from 1035, and King of England from 1040 until his death in 1042. He was the last monarch of the North Sea Empire, an empire consisting of England and Denmark, and was also the last monarch of the House of Knýtlinga. Harthacnut was the son of King Cnut the Great, who ruled Denmark, Norway, and England, and Emma of Normandy. After Cnut's death in 1035, Harthacnut faced challenges in retaining his father's territories. Magnus I seized control of Norway, while Harthacnut succeeded as King of Denmark. In 1040, following the death of his half-brother Harold Harefoot, he became King of England. Harthacnut died suddenly in 1042 and was succeeded by Magnus in Denmark and Edward the Confessor in England. He was the last Dane to rule England. Early lifeHarthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017. Cnut had set aside his first wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, to marry Emma, and according to the Encomium Emmae Reginae, a book she commissioned many years later, Cnut agreed that any sons from this marriage would take precedence over the sons of his first marriage. In 1023, Emma and Harthacnut played a