Canute

views updated May 17 2018

Canute (d. 1035), Danish king of England 1017–35, Denmark 1018–35, and Norway 1028–35, who became king of England after Edmund Ironside's murder. He is remembered for the legend of his demonstrating to fawning courtiers his inability to stop the rising tide; this has become distorted in folklore to suggest that Canute really expected to turn back the tide.