Abstract
Simon Thomson discusses the masterful self-presentation of Cnut the Great, who is described as the scourge of the English in various sources, and is well known to have celebrated his Danish origins variously through art and architecture. However, as Thomson shows, once Cnut had established himself as ruler of the English, he consciously emphasized the degree to which his dominion represented continuity, and presented himself as a natural successor to the house of Wessex. Thomson identifies the extent to which Cnut succeeded in legitimizing his reign through the careful control of public perception, in such a way that the Cnut who emerges in this chapter is an immovable force, rather than a violent conqueror, and a living manifestation of the rightful order of things.
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Thomson, S.C. (2017). Configuring Stasis: The Appeal to Tradition in the English Reign of Cnut the Great. In: Bintley, M., Locker, M., Symons, V., Wellesley, M. (eds) Stasis in the Medieval West?. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56199-2_10
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