The interval generally known as the ‘second Viking Age’ witnessed a brand new intensification of Scandinavian assaults on England, beginning with the English defeat on the Battle of Maldon in 991 and culminating, two and a half many years later, within the Danish conquest. This turbulent period of Anglo-Scandinavian entanglement bequeathed to historical past a vibrant forged of characters, together with Svein Forkbeard, Cnut the Nice, Æthelred ‘the Unready’ and Emma of Normandy.
There’s one other determine whose position within the second Viking Age was equally pivotal: Thorkell the Tall. Arguably essentially the most profitable viking of the early eleventh century, by the top of his life Thorkell had performed a vital position within the Danish conquest of England and had made himself a strong magnate in Cnut’s North Sea empire.
The 990s noticed the primary assaults on England led by Scandinavian rulers. Particularly, Svein Forkbeard of Denmark’s damaging raids led the English beneath Æthelred to start out paying out monumental sums of silver as tribute to would-be attackers. England had develop into a tempting goal for Scandinavian warleaders in quest of their fortune.
Thorkell launched his assault on England in 1009. His life earlier than this level is hazy. It’s unclear what his household origins might have been: whereas later sources declare that he was the son of an earl of Zealand, many historians regard this as a fabrication. Lots of the feats attributed to his youth, that are likewise solely attested in later sources, ought to nearly actually be thought-about legendary, together with his supposed participation within the battles of Hjörungavágr with the semi-legendary Jomsvikings and Svolder in opposition to King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway.
Thorkell’s arrival in England on the head of a viking military in 1009 is, conversely, nicely attested within the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in modern Norse poetry and within the chronicle of the monk John of Worcester (d.1140). Thorkell’s military, these sources report, was a various amalgamation of smaller teams, together with a contingent from Norway led by the nation’s future patron saint, Olaf Haraldsson, in addition to fighters from Sweden. In response to John of Worcester, Thorkell’s military was additionally quickly joined by a Danish fleet led by commanders named Hemming and Eilaf.
For the following three years Thorkell’s military ravaged broadly by central, southern and japanese England. He gained a formidable victory in opposition to Ulfcytel, the chief thegn in East Anglia, and acquired a modest tribute of three,000 kilos of silver in Kent. In spring 1012 Thorkell’s military captured Archbishop Ælfheah of Canterbury. Though a truce had already been organized, involving a really large tribute of £48,000, a few of Thorkell’s males demanded to be paid an extra private ransom for the archbishop. When Ælfheah refused to permit this, he was killed, evidently in a drunken brawl.
Though Thorkell’s culpability within the incident is unclear, Ælfheah’s homicide was a critical political blunder and made a martyr of the archbishop. Shortly thereafter, Thorkell’s patchwork military dispersed, and a brand new stage within the second Viking Age started: 45 ships beneath Thorkell’s management remained in England and – probably sensing a possibility to learn financially – entered the service of King Æthelred, supported by a brand new tax referred to as heregeld, or ‘military tax’.
Thorkell’s fleet was now being paid to shore up England’s ragged defences. The need of such a transfer would quickly develop into obvious. In summer time 1013 Svein Forkbeard returned to England. This time, nonetheless, he meant not merely to raid, however to beat. Although Thorkell particularly put up a robust resistance, by the top of the 12 months Svein had acquired the submission of the whole nation and compelled Æthelred into exile in Normandy. Solely Svein’s premature demise 5 weeks later allowed Æthelred to return and drive out Svein’s son Cnut, whom the Danish military had tried to raise in his father’s place.
Thorkell’s association with Æthelred apparently survived Svein’s invasion. In summer time 1014 Æthelred paid his fleet one other £21,000. Nevertheless, in September 1015 Cnut returned to England and as soon as once more compelled the English to undergo a Danish king. By April 1016 Æthelred was lifeless, and by the following 12 months Thorkell had been established because the earl of East Anglia, one of the distinguished males in Cnut’s England, whose title appeared as the primary witness to a lot of Cnut’s early diplomas.
When did Thorkell enter Cnut’s service? Did he proceed to serve Æthelred till his demise, or did he in some unspecified time in the future abandon Æthelred to serve Cnut? The query has divided historians. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is silent on the matter and the Encomium Emmae Reginae, written on the behest of Emma of Normandy – spouse of each Æthelred and Cnut – within the early 1040s, is deeply unreliable. Nevertheless, the percentages appear good that Thorkell performed a vital position in Cnut’s marketing campaign. He and Cnut are co-subjects of a Norse reward poem celebrating Cnut’s seize of London in 1016, and it’s evident that Cnut confirmed Thorkell important honour as he labored to consolidate his rule over England in 1017. Thorkell spent the remainder of his life in Cnut’s service, excluding a short interval of exile. By the point he died, most likely round 1023, Thorkell had been made governor of Denmark and guardian of Cnut’s son.
Over the course of 14 years, Thorkell had elevated himself from a viking commander to an awesome man of two realms. A mere two centuries later, nonetheless, he had handed almost completely out of historic reminiscence. Whereas he seems in passing in some late-Twelfth- and Thirteenth-century sagas, his title is hardly to be discovered within the magisterial histories of Angevin England. Plainly Thorkell was considerably overshadowed by the formidable princes of his period who relied on historical past writing to legit their campaigns. What is obvious is that Thorkell performed a vital position within the reshaping of energy in England within the many years earlier than the Norman Conquest. With out the navy would possibly Thorkell and his military provided Æthelred and Cnut, England’s tumultuous eleventh century might have regarded very completely different.
Elizabeth Hasseler is a historian of medieval Scandinavia. She earned her PhD from the College of North Carolina.
