In Praise of King Canute: Norse Poetry from England (The Helen Thirza Addyman Lecture)

Canute’s conquest of England in 1016 brought major literary changes as well as the more obvious political ones.

The Viking conqueror’s court in England became, for a period, the most important and flourishing centre for Scandinavian poetry anywhere in the Viking world, with Norse poets seeking the king’s patronage.

Most of our contemporary sources for Canute’s conquest of England and his reign come from the Anglo-Saxon perspective but a remarkable body of Norse praise-poetry offers us a unique Scandinavian view on King Canute and his North Sea Empire. This lecture will explore the content, style, and ideology of the poetry composed in Canute’s honour.

Matthew Townend is Reader in English at the University of York. His most recent book is Viking Age Yorkshire (2014).

Tickets: http://digyork.com/event/in-praise-of-king-canute/