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King Canute

Winchester Cathedral

Alfred the Great's success was both to resist the Danes, and also to find a way of living with them. He helped negotiate the division of the country into a Saxon territory in the west, and a Danish territory, The Danelaw, in the East. Alfred's son and successor Edward the Elder, conquered all Danish territory south of the Humbar. His successor Athelstan defeated a coalition of Celtic and Norse people around 937 at the battle of Brunanburh. The site of this battle is not clear. It could have been on the Mersey shores of the Wirral, in Northumberland, or even Scotland. Wherever the battle took place it has a reputation for being a terrible on, withthe deaths of many promient Danes and saxons. Following Brunanburh Athelstan also conquered Northumbria from Eric Bloodaxe. The power of the Saxon kings of Wessex was now unmatched. When King Edgar took the throne of Wessex in 959, he was rowed down the river Dee by eight regional kings as a sign of their submission to his overall power. It was in this period that England came into being. A tenth century chronicler said "Britain is now called England (Engla land)." Communities within the country still thought of themselves as separate, but there now existed the over-arching idea of one country.

Almost immediately, however, the fledgling country seemed to fall apart. A new wave of Norse offensives began, with attacks in 1003, 1014, 1066 and 1098. The early part of this period saw Athelred the Unready struggling with the crisis thrown up by the invasions. In 1002, fearing the enemy within, he gave the desperate order that all Danes living in England were to be killed. This caused a general Danish rising. In 1003 Sveyn Forkbeard, king of Denmark landed in the Humbar, drove Athelred into exile, and took over the country.

Sveyn's son Knutr, or Canute in modern spelling, succeeded him and split England into four earldoms, Northumbria, East Anglia, Mercia and Wessex. The famous legend of Canute trying to keep back the sea was supposedly Canute's demonstration of the limits of a king's power, and the necessity of relying on the skill of the earls to help rule the four kingdoms.

Canute died in 1035 and was succeeded by his two sons, Harold and then Harthacnut. When Harthacnut died unexpectedly the throne was offered to Edward the son of deposed Atheldred. Edward had been living in Normandy, and with Norman support Edward, later known as the Confessor, was crowned king in Winchester on Easter Day in 1043. When Edward died childless in January 1066 the succession crisis broke. Harold Godwinson the leader of England's Danes, took the throne, while Harald Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy planned their own challenges. By October 1066, Harold would be killed at Hastings, and William of Normandy would be king of England, ushering in the Norman period. William was crowned in Westminster Abbey, which had been built by Edward. Every coronation since then has taken place at Westminster Abbey.