General Notes

Hardecanute (Danish Hardeknud) (circa 1019-42), king of Denmark (1035-42) and
last Danish king of England (1040-42), probably born in Denmark. He was the
son of King Canute and Emma of Normandy and thus the heir to the English
realm. When Canute died, however, Hardecanute was in Denmark, and his
illegitimate half brother, Harold Harefoot, who was then in England, took
control of that country; he was accepted as King Harold I by the witenagemot
(royal council) in 1037. The ensuing struggle between the two brothers was
ended only by the death of Harold in 1040. Hardecanute, then officially chosen
as king by the witenagemot, was unpopular with his subjects and left the
control of the realm to his mother and the powerful Godwin, earl of Wessex.
Hardecanute was succeeded in Denmark by Magnus I (the Good), king of Norway,
and in England by his half brother Edward the Confessor.