Harthacanute

Harthacanute (Canute the Hardy, sometimes Hardicanute, Hardecanute; Danish: Hardeknud) (1018 – June 8, 1042) was King of Denmark from 1035 to 1042 as well as King of England from 1040 to 1042. He was the only son of Canute the Great and Emma of Normandy.He succeeded to the throne of Denmark in 1035, reigning as Canute III, yet a war against Magnus I of Norway meant he could not secure his claim to the throne of England. Consequently, it was agreed that his elder illegitimate half-brother Harold Harefoot was to be regent there.Harold, of course, took the English crown for himself in 1037 - Harthacanute being "forsaken because he was too long in Denmark" - and the Queen-mother, Emma, who had previously been resident at Winchester with some of her son's housecarls, was made to flee to Bruges, in Flanders. Harthacanute at last brought a settlement to the difficulties of his in Scandinavia, through a treaty he had made with his contestant, in 1038 or 1039, stateing that they agreed if one of them, either he or Magnus, were to die without an heir, his opponent should be his successor. At once he began to prepare for an invasion of England, and the deposition of his usurper from the kingship. Harold, however, died before any conquest could occur, on March 17 1040. It is thought, he was known to be ill, and the rightful claimant, Harthacanute, had made allowance for this in his plans, with anticipation of Harold's death, for he went first to the court of the Count of Flanders, his mother's host, in 1039. Harthacanute was then invited to England, and the landing at Sandwich, on June 17 1040, "seven days before Midsummer", with a fleet of 62 warships, was a peaceful one. He did though, with apparent scorn, command Harold's body to be taken from its tomb and cast in a  fen with the animals.
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