[Tax-chick]

From the BBC:
Invaders
Swein and Cnut 1013

Image from the Danelaw period In 1013, King Swein of Denmark (with his son Cnut) sailed up the rivers Humber and Trent to be accepted as king in the Danelaw. By Christmas, all England submitted to Swein, and King Ethelred had fled to Normandy. In 1014, Cnut became the leader of the Danes on his father's death. Ethelred returned to England, but was so ill that his son Edmund Ironside had to assume responsibility for defence of the country against Cnut.

At a truce after Ethelred's death, Edmund and Cnut agreed to divide the kingdom between them, but Edmund died shortly after, and Cnut became king of the whole country (marrying Ethelred's widow). The brief reigns of his two successors were undistinguished, and in 1042, Ethelred's son, Edward, was invited to return from Normandy as king, despite other claimants to the throne existing.

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They're still using "England" in an anachronistic usage, to some extent ... Ethelraed's kingdom wasn't exactly a united polity, as was demonstrated in the runup to 1066.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks, saved me a lot of typing.

[68skylark]

King Swein of Denmark (with his son Cnut) sailed up the rivers Humber and Trent to be accepted as king in the Danelaw.

Thanks for the background. From what you describe, none of these rules claimed to be on a secret mission to sail up rivers they never entered, or claimed to take friendly fire from drunken revelers during some pagan festival. Such things were never seared into their memories. That was back when candidates had some class.

[WoofDog123]

"They're still using "England" in an anachronistic usage, to some extent ... Ethelraed's kingdom wasn't exactly a united polity, as was demonstrated in the runup to 1066."

In fact, arguably, the 9th-century viking immigration/invasion of what became the danelaw, and the subsequent expulsion of danelaw rule from those areas by alfred and his descendents, in fact contributed greatly to earlier consolidation of the nominal rule of the major kingdoms that would have otherwise been the case.

[r9etb]

King Ethelred is known to history as "Ethelred the Unready." Based on your post, I guess we can see why....

[Martins kid]

"At a truce after Ethelred's death, Edmund and Cnut agreed to divide the kingdom between them, but Edmund died shortly after, and Cnut became king of the whole country (marrying Ethelred's widow)."

Edmund Ironsides was suposedly murdered by Eric Streon who hid in the King's new toilet and stabed him in the bottom with a sword.

[capitan_refugio]

Was this the same "Ethelred" who was better known as "Æthelred the Unready?"

[Leroy S. Mort]

Cnut became king of the whole country

There's sentence that just BEGS for no typo...

[Smokin' Joe]

I take it England, then (in 1013) did not include Scotland, Wales, or Ireland (as opposed to common useage today which is erroneously synonymous with Great Britain)?