Editing Cnut (section)

=== Statesmanship ===
[[File:Cnut 1016 1035 b.jpg|thumb|Silver penny of Cnut the Great dating to the period {{Circa}}1024–30<ref>{{Cite web |last=Museum |first=The British |last2=Street |first2=Great Russell |last3=T: +4420 73238618 |first3=London WC1B 3DG |title=Record ID: LEIC-3E8CC4 – EARLY MEDIEVAL coin |url=https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/414218 |access-date=16 July 2024 |website=The Portable Antiquities Scheme |language=en}}</ref>]]

Cnut was generally remembered as a wise and successful king of England, although this view may in part be attributable to his good treatment of the Church, keeper of the historic record. Accordingly, he is considered, even today, as a religious man despite the fact that he was in an arguably [[sin]]ful relationship, with two wives, and the harsh treatment he dealt his fellow Christian opponents.

Under his reign, Cnut brought together the English and Danish kingdoms, and the Scandinavic and Saxon peoples saw a period of dominance across [[Scandinavia]], as well as within the [[British Isles]].{{sfn|Forte|Oram|Pedersen|2005|p=198}} His campaigns abroad meant the tables of Viking supremacy were stacked in favour of the English, turning the prows of the longships towards Scandinavia. He reinstated the Laws of [[Edgar the Peaceful|King Edgar]] to allow for the constitution of a [[Danelaw]],{{sfn|Graham-Campbell|Hall|Jesch|Parsons|2016|p=3}} and for the activity of Scandinavians at large.

Cnut reinstituted the extant laws with a series of proclamations to assuage common grievances brought to his attention, including: ''On [[Inheritance]] in case of [[Intestacy]]'', and ''On [[Heriot]]s and Reliefs''.{{sfn|Coke|Hargrave|1853|p=20}} He also strengthened the currency, initiating a series of coins of equal weight to those being used in Denmark and other parts of Scandinavia.{{Citation needed|date=January 2013}} He issued the [[Law codes of Cnut]] known now as I Cnut and II Cnut, though these seem primarily to have been produced by [[Wulfstan of York]].{{sfn|Richards|2010|pp=137–156}}

In his royal court, there were both Englishmen and Scandinavians.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bolton |first=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CV-1H24C_MwC |title=The Empire of Cnut the Great: Conquest and the Consolidation of Power in Northern Europe in the Early Eleventh Century |date=2009 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-16670-7 |pages=41–42 |language=en |access-date=19 March 2020 |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414015607/https://books.google.com/books?id=CV-1H24C_MwC |url-status=live}}</ref>