Original subtitles

On the shores of Sandwich, a man walks in silence.

His name is Knut, a Viking prince born into a line of kings who have

ruled Denmark for more than half a century.

A few days earlier, He believed he could rely on a pact his father had forged

with the English nobility.

An agreement that he thought would make him king of England.

But the lords turned their backs on him.

And today it is their sons who will pay the price.

Many of these hostages may have been young men not much older than him.

In many ways, that highlights the ruthlessness Knut was wishing to

in this particular action.

He is only 20 years old, but Knut does not tremble.

With a single gesture, he orders the hostages to be mutilated.

Noses.

Ears.

Hands.

Just enough for England to understand.

He's not killing them. He wants these people to go back and send the message,

Don't underestimate me.

In his eyes burns a cold fury.

He swears he will return.

And this time...

He will take England.

On the shores of the Roskilde Fjord, Canute watches the longships

On board stands his brother, Harald.

As always, a single glance is enough to spark a furious race.

Not for the thrill of the game, but out of defiance.

Between the two brothers, everything already seems written.

It is not Canute, but Harold, who will wear the crown.

Canute is the second son, and I think that's important in understanding the

and understanding his ambitions, because he can be Prince Harry to Prince

William. As long as Harold stays alive, Canute is not really going to be in a

substantial position of power in Denmark.

So there was a lot to play for, and that probably explains some of the kinds of

jockeying and competitiveness we often see amongst heirs in this period.

Ideally located at the crossroads of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the

Kingdom of Denmark is one of the most powerful and feared realms in

Its coastline, scattered with islands and carved out by fjords, shelters

harbours where hundreds of merchant ships converge.

Like in Roskilde, the capital, the merchant stores overflow with riches

east and west.

Amber.

Furs.

weapons, and slaves.

For Canute, who has never left his homeland, these treasures are a call to

adventure.

The kings of the Danes could be divided into two main categories, kings of the

land and kings of the sea.

Those who stay in the country and govern it, and the younger sons, often chose

the sea, setting out for adventure in England, in West Francia, or elsewhere.

It seems Canute was raised with that very purpose in mind, to conquer, to

war, to amass wealth abroad, and then return home to carve out his own share

power. by force or by strategy.

Canute's thirst for power comes from an extraordinary lineage.

Her grandfather, Harald Bluetooth, who for the first time united the kingdom

under a single crown, and a father, Hvein Forkbeard, a feared Viking

warlord who has ruled Denmark for more than 20 years.

A lineage forged in blood and betrayal.

Harold Bluetooth was a long ruling and highly successful king and therefore his

son Swain was chomping at the bit because it's of course in the interest

Swain to gain as much power and authority as possible as quickly as

it's in Harold's interest to prevent him doing so because only one can be king

at the same time.

And it ends up in battle.

Again we don't know where the battle was but we do know that Harold is injured

and he retreats to his allies in the Baltic where he died.

Venice sees power through the murder of his father. This is not a strong

beginning. This is a weak and wobbly start.

It is in a world where loyalty hangs by a thread and power is won by the sword

that Canute comes of age.

A ruthless world that one morning comes knocking at his door.

King Thane summoned him to his hall.

Canute does not yet know it, but his father has made his decision.

Within weeks, they will march on England.

The 11th century was a major target for the Vikings. It's wealthy, it's

organised. It's bureaucratic.

The English have produced a money -making machine.

Trade is going well. There are large amounts of gold and silver lying around,

and it's close.

This time, it is no mere raid.

Thane is aiming for the entire kingdom, and above all, the crown of England.

And so one way of solving the problem of only having one Danish kingdom that you

can give to your sons and heirs is to conquer another kingdom and to offer

prospects to Canute. So at the back of his mind probably is that he'd like to

have and control England himself, but if he takes England, England can then be

Canute.

Canute is stunned. To conquer England?

Never before had a Viking dared to imagine it.

For the first time in his life, Canute glimpses a spark of hope.

The chance to break free from his place as the younger son, and finally forge

his own destiny.

In his palace, King Æthelred hastily gathers his counsellors.

They confirm what many feared.

A massive fleet is assembling in Denmark.

There is no longer any doubt.

The Vikings are coming back.

It's very likely that Æthelred would have known about Fenn's invasion

I think with the amount of...

traffic across the North Sea during the late Viking Age, rumours that something

was afoot would be very likely to reach the English court at this time.

The nobles know it. They can no longer rely on Æthelred.

Rarely in the kingdom's history has a king faced such open doubt.

For over 20 years, men from the Northmen have ravaged his lands.

And for over 20 years, Ethelred has failed to stop them.

And of course, paying tribute has almost become the default solution.

Whenever a fleet appeared, Ethelred seemed to offer greater and greater

He is often portrayed as the archetypal weak king, a ruler who preferred to pay

off his enemies, rather than fight them.

Ever heavier tributes have drained the kingdom.

His subjects are weary of a king unable to put an end to this infernal spiral.

But this time, Ethelred believes the outcome may be different.

He has secured a powerful new ally.

The Dane Thorkell the Tall.

One of the most feared Viking leaders of his age, and above all,

a sworn enemy of Svein Folkbeard.

Thorkell the Tall is the greatest worry for the Danish kingship. He is a member

of the elite.

of eastern Denmark, so the southern tip of Sweden. This is an area that Knut's

dynasty have pushed aggressively into, and he's seen his power and his wealth

and his privilege being eroded, and he's not happy.

Four years earlier, in 1009, Thorkell had fled Denmark with 45 ships.

For three years, he ravaged England, leaving death and chaos in his wake.

To stop him, Ethelred once again chose to pay.

But this time, there was a condition.

At this point in 1013, Thorkell had signed up with Ethelred the Unready. He

taking Ethelred's money, providing protection.

He pays them to be his... private bodyguard. If you've got one of the

and scariest Viking armies, and you pay it to work for you, sitting in England,

frightening off other Vikings, well, this is a brilliant idea.

And so the strategy here, really, is to set a thief to catch a thief, to use a

Viking to stop future Vikings. And that's his hope, really, is that

his formidable army will be able to stop people like Sway.

Æthelred and Thorkell struck a pact.

In exchange for a generous tribute, the Dane would place his men and his 45

ships at the king's disposal.

Thane and Cnut would now face not only Æthelred's army, but a seasoned Viking

force hardened by years of raiding.

Vayne learns of the alliance between Etelred and Thorkell, and immediately

understands that time is running out.

He knew that his old rival's loyalty belonged to no one but himself.

Behind this alliance of convenience, Thorkell is pursuing only one cause, his

own.

Thorkell clearly poses a threat to Swain and Canute because he's shown just how

weak the English regime now is, and he's come within a whisker of conquering

England himself.

So it may well be that he himself is harbouring ambitions, that at some point

might just move from being the leading general to being the ruler of England.

And so for Swain, it's a matter of trying to take England before Thorkell

the thing.

At the start of spring, Sweyn issues a great call to arms across Scandinavia.

Each noble is ordered to provide men, weapons, provisions, and to join the

gathering fleet.

This is the first time that a king of Scandinavia has called for such a

campaign. And he's drawing in people from all across Scandinavia. It's an

invasion. It's not raiding. And that's the key difference.

On foot and on horseback, thousands of Danes, Norwegians and Swedes converge on

Roskilde.

Soon they are joined by hundreds of fortune seekers.

Within a few weeks, several thousand men and more than a hundred ships gather

under the king's banner.

So we are looking at a scale of attack which is certainly very different to

those England had traditionally seen in the earlier Viking ages. So this is a

very, very large army that can rival any of the English army.

Canute watches the constant movement on the docks and the forest of moths

stretching across the horizon.

He could feel it.

Everything in his life had led to this moment.

From a very young age, Canute would have been trained up. to be a warrior. So

crucial to his upbringing would have been learning those skills of war,

them through things like hunting, but also alongside that, learning the tricks

of the trade at court, where also politics was an important consideration,

making deals, where hard -nosed realpolitik was also something to be

a very young age.

Setting aside their rivalry, Harold greets his brother one last time.

Their father had entrusted him with the regency of Denmark, confirming his

status as the rightful heir.

Knut has no choice.

If he ever wished to rule, he would have to carve out his own kingdom.

At dawn, The armada weighs anchor and turns west.

On board, father and son share the same dream, to conquer one of the richest

kingdoms in the west.

The task is immense, and Thane expects Canute to stand by his side.

The role that Thane...

Once for Canute, as a junior partner, it's very handy to have a member of your

family who's able to provide some leadership within the Danish army.

But Thane also knows that his son still has much to prove.

His first lesson will be to earn the loyalty of his men.

At the heart of any Viking expedition lies the ability to reward followers.

And obviously, if a leader is able to distribute wealth, gold and precious

metals, it tends to secure his men's loyalty.

The second essential factor is prestige, delivering victory and being able to

lead military operations successfully.

Within days, the fleet will reach the English coast.

There, the young prince is about to shed his former self and embrace his destiny

as a warrior, a Viking, a war leader.

Once again, Ethelred prepares to face the fury of the Northmen.

All his hopes now rest on Thorkell.

He orders him to deploy his fleet at Greenwich, along the Thames, hoping to

Canute and Thane into a trap.

But one question torments him. Could he really be trusted?

Æthelred knew his own fleet would be powerless to stop the Danes.

Yet just five years earlier, that same fleet had seemed invincible.

Æthelred had, amongst his attempts to face down the Viking threat, sought to

reinforce England's naval capabilities, and he raised a very, very large navy

with the prospect of preventing future invasion.

Shipyards across the kingdom had been mobilized.

Within months, an armada of 300 brand -new ships gathers along the southern

coast of England.

Never before had an English king achieved such a feat.

Everything seems to be going well, since 300 ships are more than the Danes seem

capable of assembling at that time.

But there's a major problem, the leadership within the Anglo -Saxon

Æthelred entrusts command of the fleet to two close nobles of his inner circle,

Wulfnott and Beotrick.

But one evening, a quarrel broke out.

The two men accuse each other of treason.

In a fit of rage, Wolfnott seizes 20 ships and

rebels.

And so he takes a portion of the English fleet off with him, the rest goes to

try to chase them, and then a storm dashes them entirely.

Many of the ships sink. The survivors who manage to reach the beach are

slaughtered, and the ships are set on fire to Wolfnott's initiative.

A single dispute was enough to set the royal fleet ablaze, along with the

last hopes of the English people.

The irony is that in 1009, shortly afterwards, Thorkell the Tall arrived at

Sandwich with barely 50 ships, a relatively small force, and he meets no

resistance at all. And so, what was?

In essence, a very good strategic plan is completely undermined due to

within the English camp rather than any battle being offered with the Vikings.

After ten days at sea, the fleet finally reaches the English coast.

The island has more than 12 ,000 kilometres of coastline, countless

landing points for the Vikings.

Geography of the English coastline contributed enormously to the success of

Viking raids because Vikings could move very rapidly around the coastline.

And so consequently, it's virtually impossible to defend. So it is

perfect for Scandinavian attack.

An unfamiliar landscape.

and yet strangely familiar.

He remembers the evenings of his childhood, lulled by tales of raids and

battles.

And one name keeps coming back.

Sandwich, an English town invaded many times.

Among the entry points into England, the port of Sandwich is extremely

important, as it allows ships to be sheltered quite easily.

It also offers easy access to the mouth of the Thames.

It is difficult to secure for defenders and easy to access for attackers.

An ideal place to launch an invasion.

Canute leaps from the ship and for the first time sets foot on the soil of the

Kingdom of England.

What does he feel?

Excitement?

Rage?

He probably has no time to wonder.

On the beach, English soldiers are trying to stand in their way.

For the young Dane, it is a baptism of fire.

and perhaps his first chance to prove himself.

All of these great Scandinavian leaders are warriors and lead troops into

battle, and clearly are battle -hardened and known for this fact, and that is an

essential part of their reputation.

At the same time, they are almost certainly not normally in the front line

the fray, so as a Scandinavian leader, you need to have the respect of your

You need to be known to be a formidable warrior, but you also need to not be

silly and ridiculous and take unnecessary risks.

And Knut is an excellent example.

We rarely see him fighting, except when he knows he will win, which is quite

wise of him.

The English troops are quickly defeated.

The Vikings set up camp for the night.

Around the fire, Thane and Canute ponder their next move.

England is divided into several Anglo -Saxon kingdoms.

Mercia to the west, Northumbria to the north, East

Anglia to the east, and Wessex, the centre of power, to the south.

That is where Thorkell deployed his fleet to defend London.

Sweyn knows that attacking head -on would be suicidal.

Thorkell is very frightening for Sweyn, presumably because he's slightly scared

that he might either not win or damage an enormous part of the Danish royal

forces. If we add to this the fortifications of the city of London,

clearly becomes very difficult for Sweyn.

He could go straight for it, but that would involve a real risk. Avoiding

Thorkell is therefore the logical choice.

At first light, Svein and Knut weigh anchor.

They sail north, and at the mouth of the Thames, they turn away, leaving London

behind.

They head toward the Danelaw.

a vast territory stretching from East Anglia to Northumbria, where Viking

influence runs deep.

Dane law is a term which is used to refer to the areas in England

which were settled by Scandinavian settlers from the early Viking age.

It does mean to say that there was a significant Scandinavian, particularly

Danish, influence.

These people are both simultaneously Scandinavian.

and English.

They don't see themselves, I think, as allied to either party. Sometimes they

work with the Danes, sometimes they work with the English.

But they see themselves as a unit in themselves.

And I think that's what attracts Sven Fortbeard. He recognises the Dane law as

somewhere that looks like home. And he knows how to rule that area. He knows

to control this.

Sven and Knut are taking a gamble.

If there is one place in England ready to welcome them, it's there.

Here, resentment towards King Æthelred runs strong.

A resentment born of a past neither Thane nor Canute has forgotten.

As England buckles under Danish attack and the ever -growing weight of tribute,

the nobility grows restless.

Determined to regain control, Æthelred makes a drastic decision.

In November of the year 1002, he sends messengers across the kingdom.

On St. Brice's Day, the 13th of November, armed men slipped silently

sleeping streets of towns and villages across the Danelaw.

The St. Brice's Day massacre becomes one of those very storied events of

Æthelred's reign.

And it's the first real sign that panic is starting to grip Æthelred's court.

logical, perhaps more sensible, measured responses have failed.

And so he starts looking to more extreme measures.

And what he fastens upon is the idea that the Danes who are resident in his

kingdom, the Scandinavians resident in his kingdom, are plotting against him.

And so he decides to kill them all.

In York, the Danes are hunted down and enter into a church where they seek

refuge.

But outside, torches arc through the air towards the sacred building.

The St. Price's Day Massacre is quite a stain on the reputation of King

Ethelred, because whatever the scale of the St. Price's Day Massacre, it had an

impact across the world.

connected with the Danes. It must have been in the back of the minds of some of

the Vikings who were present in England in Sven's army.

Æthelred believed he was securing his kingdom.

Instead, he unleashed a terrible storm.

Now, who can say whether the people of the Danelaw will remain loyal to him?

Fane and Knute's ships sail up the estuary of the River Humber.

They then enter the calm waters of the River Trent.

On deck, Knute remains watchful.

He scans the riverbanks, alert to the slightest movement.

He has not forgotten the tales of the elders.

Venturing deep into the English countryside is never without danger.

Since the 9th century, the Anglo -Saxons have established a network of

fortifications known as the burghs, which were a kind of fortified

Some were old restored Roman fortresses. Others were exceptional natural sites,

headlands or cliffs, that were walled off to create a fortified point that was

difficult to seize.

Their purpose was to protect merchants, shelter populations, and above all, to

create a defensive mesh across the territory.

When you look at the map of these berths, it really gives the impression

tight mesh, designed to prevent any Viking army from slipping through the

The fleet reaches Gainsborough, a small fortified town south of York.

Thane orders the landing.

For Canute, who is experiencing his first military campaign, everything

too easy.

Since leaving the North Sea, nothing has stood in their way. No traps, no

ambushes.

This is an area of England which has often been distant from royal control

power, which is naturally suspicious of English monarchs at the best of time.

And that means that when Canute and Swain land at Gainsborough, they're

able to gain the support of the local population. And they almost certainly

that in advance. It's no accident that they, instead of attacking the south of

England, the heartlands of the English kingdom, they go to precisely where

is the chink in Æthelred's armour.

A group of horsemen approaches the camp.

At their head rides the powerful Uhtred of Northumbria.

He comes to request an audience with Svein.

Knut watches him in silence.

Here stands the enemy he expected to fight.

But Uhtred has not come for battle.

Instead, he offers his submission, that of Linthe and the five boroughs.

To Knut, raised in the Viking code of honour, this surrender without battle or

glory speaks volumes about his adversary.

What we have to realise at this time is that the idea of English unity...

is only a relatively recent construction of the 10th century.

And for Utrecht, it was probably his interest to submit to a Danish lord

rather than a distant English king in the south of the island.

It seems he was caught off guard, that he's defending his own interests in an

unstable situation.

Separated from the main Anglo -Saxon army, he knows no help is coming.

For him, it becomes a matter of real politic. If he does not submit, he knows

will die.

Thus, he becomes Swain's ally, at least in the short term.

As a pledge of good faith, Utrecht does not come alone.

He brings with him the sons of the great northern families sent to serve as

hostages.

Young men, barely older than Knut himself.

And yet...

Everything separates them.

On one side, the young conqueror.

On the other, an unarmed youth, handed over as collateral for an oath.

If you come to an agreement with anybody in politics in this period, you try to

take a hostage to make sure the man is going to do what he's going to do. And

those hostages...

or then a token of their seriousness.

They have to be very high -ranking individuals, and they are your

And this is saying, well, we're not going to leave them tied up to a

with handcuffs on. We will treat them with honour, with dignity.

But if anything should happen, then it's the end of your son here.

You know, this is a very practical guarantee, but it's also playing on this

of honour as well.

Without spilling a drop of blood, Thane and Canute seize control of northern

England.

But for Thane, this is only the beginning.

What he wants is the crown.

The northern nobility gathers and proclaims Thane king of England,

Æthelred.

But the rest of the realm still has to be persuaded to accept such a dramatic

change of allegiance.

And what better way to seal that bond than marriage?

A union between Knut and a young noble woman from a powerful Anglo -Danish

lineage could ease tension and seal alliance.

Her name is Elgifu from Northampton.

Here's the woman that Sven Fortbeard looks at the political landscape of the

North and says, that one.

She's the one that's going to marry my son because she's the one who can help

control this region. She's the heiress to this old political machinery.

She is the daughter of Alfhelm, who had been a alderman, so the leading man in

the southern part of Northumbria. But he had been murdered in Æthelred's court

in 1006 in a purge. But that family nonetheless remains important and very

alienated from Æthelred. And so, in a sense, she can be a lightning rod for

channeling that descent towards support for...

Swain and Canute. And so for Canute coming in with Swain, perhaps also at

back of his mind, the prospect may be of becoming an eventual king of England or

an under -king of England under his father. She is the perfect match to make

that moment.

Canute knows exactly what Swain expects of him.

Without hesitation, he leads this perfect stranger to the altar.

And under his father's watchful eye, he takes Elgifu as his wife.

The young prince understands that his destiny is now lying here.

The path is set.

Canute will not look back.

At the end of summer, Thvane orders his army to prepare.

supplies, reinforcements, horses.

To his seasoned warriors are added the levies raised in the Danelaw.

Before departing, he entrusts his son with the reins of the conquered

Canute might have preferred to march to war, but instead another trial awaits

him.

In his father's absence, He must guard the fleet, watch over the hostages,

and raise the funds needed to sustain the war.

Sons are expected to be trained up in kingship and to learn the tricks of the

trade as soon as possible.

And one of the best ways to do this for someone like Swain, to ensure his sons

that experience, is to allow them an element of rule while he's still alive.

So we're seeing him potentially setting up Canute as his...

under king, his representative in England. And the sense of responsibility

this new conquest, this new land, this new world, as it were, that they've

struck into is now his to control.

It must be overwhelming, but simultaneously, simultaneously steps up

plate. Is it a mark of trust being placed in him?

Partly, perhaps.

But what always strikes me is that Knut still does not fight.

He's not on the front lines learning how to lead an army.

He really gives the impression of being kept safe and reserved by his father.

In a way, he's already being shaped into an administrator who's learning

governance, which is, in fact, rather wise.

For the young Viking, the moment of truth has come.

Knut watches his father disappear in the distance.

Now alone, he must prove himself worthy of the task.

More than anything, he must ensure his father will be proud of him.

Thane's long column of troops stretches southward, towards the heart of the

kingdom.

But instead of heading for London where Æthelred awaits,

Swain leads his men west towards Oxford.

Swain's decision to attack Oxford rather than London almost certainly is

suggestive of serious strategic calculation.

While Ethelred's regime has shown itself to be toothless in many respects, not

very successful on the battlefield, it remains capable of deploying armies of a

large scale and it still has the forces.

of Thorkell the Tall at Greenwich. If Sven had rushed his campaign and gone

that, then potentially this might have been game over for Sven too early. And

made sense to essentially take the pieces on the playing board first of all

before going to London.

In early autumn, the invading army crosses Watling Street.

This ancient Roman road runs across England from east to west and marks a

symbolic frontier between the Danelaw and the southern lands, still loyal to

Æthelred.

Sweyn's orders are clear.

Beyond this line, there will be no mercy.

From farm to farm, village to village, his army unleashes its

full destructive force.

There's no Geneva Convention, so the objective is obviously to put pressure

the enemy, to scare them.

Men loot, kill and burn as they please.

It's a phrase frequently used to describe Viking armies.

Psychological warfare is nothing new. It exists in every conflict, in every era.

And for civilian populations, it has always meant the same thing throughout

history. Raiding the countryside, seizing resources, living off the land,

killing a few people in a particularly dramatic way are all part of the usual

practices.

After a few days, Svein and his men reach Oxford.

The troops take position before the fortified town.

The city gates slowly open.

A man steps forward and speaks a few words.

The city surrenders without a fight.

The inhabitants of Oxford had already suffered greatly over the previous

Resisting now would mean a second full -scale plundering or another round of

mass destruction.

Clearly, not everyone is eager to turn their city into another Stalingrad.

Surrendering is the logical choice if it spares lives and avoids crushing

tribute.

Fein and his men enter the city after a victory won without a single sword

stroke.

The strategy of fear worked.

The local nobility submits.

But for Thane, it is not enough.

Sven Fortbeard is trying to terrorise the south of England.

He has to subdue that part. He's got to do this with big public displays.

The lords of each region must essentially kneel before him in public.

He needs Wessex.

to be seen to be beaten and to be under the heel of the Danish oppressor.

In the days that followed, the southern cities fell one after another.

Exeter, Winchester, all surrendered without resistance.

In London, Ethelred remains barricaded in his palace.

More cut off from his people than ever, he watches helplessly as his kingdom

collapses.

Ethelred's passivity has really damned the reputation of Ethelred. The

12th century William of Malmesbury referred to him as being lazy,

and not getting out of bed.

But I think we also have to remember that he had to rely on regional

to raise forces.

And his commanders, his eldermen, are just unwilling to act on his behalf

he's in London. So it's something of a difficult situation for Æthelred at this

time.

As autumn begins, the noose tightens around Æthelred.

From the rampart, he observes Svein's troops across the river.

He knows his survival may depend on what happens here and now.

Losing the city, the last stronghold of resistance against the Danes, would mean

losing the crown.

Beyond the walls, Svein knows the confrontation will be harsh.

For more than a century, London has remained unconquered.

London benefits from its Roman walls that survived throughout the Middle Ages

and were extensively restored for defense.

It is the nerve center of Ethelred's defense.

This is where he resides, likely with his household troops.

Thorkell is there as well, probably with his fleet.

And then there's London, large, wealthy, powerful.

The inhabitants do not seem at all inclined to surrender to the first

Svein knows a frontal assault would be doomed to fail.

So, to bypass the English defences, he orders his men to ford the Thames.

It's possible that they tried to cross the river.

to the west of london at low tide but you have to know the river in order to

this the maneuver turns into a disaster hundreds of men are

swept away by the current and the river's tumultuous waters

The likelihood that many men drowned while trying to do this would have been

likely to cause Sven to think about changing the direction of his campaign.

Sven is forced to face the truth.

To persist would cost countless warriors and endanger the entire campaign.

The Siege of London.

ultimately is going to fail. London is just too tough a nut to crack in Sven's

time. So Sven pulls out and he heads to the west.

If he cannot force London to yield, Sven may try to isolate it from the rest of

the kingdom.

To do that, he must seize the last key stronghold of Wessex, Bath.

This city, where Ethelred's father was crowned, enjoys near imperial prestige

and is home to one of the kingdom's most influential noble families.

This, if you're going to crack an easier nut and you're going to make an

enormous political splash, do it with these people. They're related to the

kingship, they're long related to the kingship, and that is a huge money

area for Anglo -Saxon England. If you can break the West...

Maybe you don't have to break London. Maybe London will fall on its own.

By the end of 1013, the nobles of Bath, weary of Æthelred's chaotic rule, rally

to the Dane.

Soon, the rest of the kingdom follows.

Ethelred will have seen it sitting in London as the lights going out one after

another across the entire country as they just stopped talking to him. And

you've got nothing left except the city of London, then I think you leave.

Abandoned by all, Ethelred, the last king of a five -century -old dynasty,

toward Normandy.

And there he can remain king in exile, awaiting his moment to reappear. So he's

kind of a bit like the free French government in London in World War II, if

will. He's potentially there in Normandy as the, to his mind, genuine English

king and the real government waiting for an opportunity to step back into those

shoes.

Aboard the ship carrying him into exile, Æthelred watches the English coastline

fade into the mist.

His defeat tastes of betrayal.

His people did not raise their weapons to defend him.

The nobles abandoned him for a king from the north.

But Æthelred is not broken. He swears he will return.

whatever the cost.

In Lincoln, Canute awaits his father.

The man he finds is no longer only king of Denmark.

He is now king of England.

Before him, stands a transformed son, seasoned and hardened by the demands of

power.

It's a new world. It's the conquest of somewhere for him to rule.

Harald will now have Denmark, he will have England, and he is the second son,

and he's got the conquest. But what a conquest.

There is far more money there in England than there will ever be in Denmark.

And that wealth will be used by his dynasty to... push its ambitions far

into Scandinavia to rule what we have to use the modern word empire.

If he ever dreamed of being an emperor, he did so on the day they conquered

southern England.

Together, Thane and Canute have achieved the unthinkable, seizing the richest

kingdom in the Western world.

For the young prince, the future now seems set.

But history is far from finished with him.

England will soon slip from their grasp, and Canute will be forced to face a new

enemy, far more formidable than any before.