Editing Harthacnut (section)

== Early life ==
Harthacnut was born shortly after the marriage of his parents in July or August 1017.{{sfn|Lawson|2004}} Cnut had put aside his first wife [[Ælfgifu of Northampton]] to marry Emma, and according to the ''[[Encomium Emmae Reginae]]'', a book she inspired many years later, Cnut agreed that any sons of their marriage should take precedence over the sons of his first marriage. In 1023, Emma and Harthacnut played a leading role in the translation of the body of the martyr [[Ælfheah of Canterbury|St Ælfheah]] from London to Canterbury, an occasion seen by Harthacnut's biographer, Ian Howard, as recognition of his position as Cnut's heir in England.{{sfn|Howard|2008|pp=15, 27}}

In the 1020s, Denmark was threatened by Norway and Sweden, and in 1026 Cnut decided to strengthen its defences by bringing over his eight-year-old son to be the future king under a council headed by his brother-in-law, [[Ulf the Earl|Earl Ulf]]. Ulf alienated Cnut by getting the Danish provinces to acknowledge Harthacnut as king without reference to Cnut's overall authority and by failing to take vigorous measures to meet Norwegian and Swedish invasions, instead waiting for Cnut's assistance. In 1027, Cnut arrived with a fleet. He forgave Harthacnut his insubordination in view of his youth but had Ulf murdered. He drove the invaders out of Denmark and established his authority over Norway, returning to England in 1028 and leaving Denmark to be ruled by King Harthacnut.{{sfn|Howard|2008|pp=29–38}}

[[File:Knut syni.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Cnut, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, and his sons [[Harold Harefoot]] and Harthacnut]]

Cnut had left Norway under the rule of [[Haakon Ericsson|Håkon Eiriksson]], who drowned in a shipwreck in 1029 or 1030. Cnut then appointed his son [[Svein Knutsson|Svein]] to rule Norway with the assistance of Ælfgifu, Cnut's first wife and Svein's mother. They made themselves unpopular by heavy taxation and favouring Danish advisers over the Norwegian nobles, and when King [[Magnus the Good|Magnus I of Norway]], the son of the former King of Norway, [[Olaf II of Norway|Olaf]], invaded in 1035, they were forced to flee to Harthacnut's court. Harthacnut was a close ally of Svein, but he did not feel his resources were great enough to launch an invasion of Norway, and the half-brothers looked for help from their father, but instead they received news of his death in November 1035.{{sfn|Howard|2008|pp=42–51}}