Cnut

Cnut (Old Norse: Knútr; c. 990 – 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 rule are referred to together as the North Sea Empire by historians.

Quotes

• Merie sungen the muneches binnen Ely
  Tha Cnut Ching rew there by:
  Roweth, cnihtes, noer the lant,
  And here we thes muneches saeng.
  • Merry [sweetly] sung the monks within Ely
    That [when] Cnut King rowed thereby:
    Row, knights, near the land,
    And hear we these monks' song.
    • Cnut is said to have composed this song on hearing the music of Ely Abbey, as he was sailing by in a boat. This one verse of that song has been preserved by a monk of Ely in the Historia Eliensis (c. 1166). Reported in Chambers's Cyclopædia of English Literature, 3rd ed, vol. 1 (1876) p. 4
      • Merrily sung the monks of Ely when Cnut King rowed by...
        Row, boatman, near the land, and hear we these monks sing.
        • J. R. Green, A Short History of the English People (New York: Harper & Bros, 1875) ch. 2, p. 95
      • Merrily sang the monks in Ely
        When Canute the king was sailing by.
        Row, my knights, near to the land,
        And let us hear the brethren sing.
        • S. A. Dunham, Europe During the Middle Ages, vol. 4 (London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1834) p. 21
      • Merrily sang the monks in Ely
        When Cnut, King, rowed thereby:
        Row, my knights, near the land,
        And hear we these monkes’ song.
        • Richard Garnett, English Literature: An Illustrated Record, vol. 1 (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1903) p. 62