Editing Cnut (section)

== Influence in the western sea-ways ==
In 1014, while Cnut was preparing his re-invasion of England, the [[Battle of Clontarf]] pitted an array of armies laid out on the fields before the walls of [[Dublin]]. [[Máel Mórda mac Murchada]], king of [[Leinster]], and [[Sigtrygg Silkbeard]], ruler of the Norse-Gaelic [[kingdom of Dublin]], had sent out emissaries to all the Viking kingdoms to request assistance in their rebellion against [[Brian Bóruma]], the [[High King of Ireland]]. [[Sigurd the Stout]], the [[Earl of Orkney]],{{sfn|McGettigan|2013|pages=61–63}} was offered command of all the Norse forces, while the High King had sought assistance from the [[Albannaich]], who were led by [[Domnall mac Eimín meic Cainnig]], the [[Mormaer of Mar]].{{sfn|Ní Mhaonaigh|2018|pages=131–156}} The Leinster-Norse alliance was defeated, and both commanders, Sigurd and Máel Mórda, were killed. Brian, his son, his grandson, and the Mormaer Domhnall were slain as well. Sigtrygg's alliance was broken, although he was left alive, and the high-kingship of Ireland went back to the [[Uí Néill]], again under [[Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill]].<ref name="Ellis, ''Celt & Saxon'', p. 182">Ellis, ''Celt & Saxon'', p. 182.</ref>

There was a brief period of freedom in the [[Irish Sea]] zone for the Vikings of Dublin, with a political vacuum felt throughout the entire Western Maritime Zone of the North Atlantic Archipelago. Prominent among those who stood to fill the void was Cnut, "whose leadership of the Scandinavian world gave him a unique influence over the western colonies and whose control of their commercial arteries gave an economic edge to political domination".{{sfn|Forte|Oram|Pedersen|2005|p=227}} Coinage struck by the king in Dublin, Silkbeard, bearing Cnut's [[quatrefoil]] type – in issue c. 1017–25 – sporadically replacing the legend with one bearing his own name and styling him as ruler either "of Dublin" or "among the Irish" provides evidence of Cnut's influence.<ref>Hudson, ''Knutr'', pp. 323–25.</ref> Further evidence is the entry of one ''Sihtric dux'' in three of Cnut's charters.<ref>Hudson, ''Knutr'', pp. 330–31.</ref>

In one of his verses, Cnut's court poet [[Sigvatr Þórðarson]] recounts that famous princes brought their heads to Cnut and bought peace.{{sfn|Townend|2012|p=660}} This verse mentions Olaf Haraldsson in the past tense, his death at the [[Battle of Stiklestad]] having occurred in 1030. It was therefore at some point after this and the consolidation of Norway that Cnut went to Scotland with an army,{{sfn|Forte|Oram|Pedersen|2005|pp=197–198}} and the navy in the [[Irish Sea]],{{sfn|Lawson|2004|p=102}} in 1031, to receive, without bloodshed, the submission of three Scottish kings: [[Malcolm II of Scotland|Maelcolm]], the future King [[Macbeth, King of Scotland|Maelbeth]] and Iehmarc.<ref name="Trow, p. 197-98">Trow, ''Cnut'', pp. 197–98.</ref> One of these kings, Iehmarc, may be one [[Echmarcach mac Ragnaill]], an [[Uí Ímair]] chieftain and the ruler of a sea-kingdom of the Irish Sea,{{sfn|Forte|Oram|Pedersen|2005|p=198}} with [[Galloway]] among his domains. Nevertheless, it appears that Malcolm adhered to little of Cnut's power, and that influence over Scotland died out by the time of Cnut's death.<ref name="ASC, 1031"/>

Further, a ''[[Lausavísa]]'' attributable to the [[skald]] [[Óttarr svarti]] greets the ruler of the Danes, Irish, English and Island-dwellers<ref>''Lausavisur'', ed. Johnson Al, pp. 269–70</ref> – use of ''Irish'' here being likely to mean the [[Norse–Gaels|Gall Ghaedil]] kingdoms rather than the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] kingdoms. It "brings to mind Sweyn Forkbeard's putative activities in the Irish Sea and Adam of Bremen's story of his stay with a ''rex Scothorum'' (? king of the Irish){{sfn|Lawson|2004|pp=31–32}} [&] can also be linked to... Iehmarc, who submitted in 1031 [&] could be relevant to Cnut's relations with the Irish".{{sfn|Lawson|2004|p=102}}{{clarify|date=June 2013}}