Page "Cnut the Great" Paragraph 8

Some hint of Cnut's childhood can be found in the Flateyjarbók, a 13th-century source, stating at one point that Cnut was taught his soldiery by the chieftain Thorkell the Tall, brother to Sigurd, Jarl of mythical Jomsborg, and the legendary Joms, at their Viking stronghold on the Island of Wollin, off the coast of Pomerania.

His date of birth, like his mother's name, is unknown.

Contemporary works such as the Chronicon and the Encomium Emmae, do not mention it.

Even so, in a Knútsdrápa by the skald Óttarr svarti, there is a statement that Cnut was " of no great age " when he first went to war.

It also mentions a battle identifiable with Forkbeard's invasion of England, and attack on the city of Norwich, in 1003 / 04, after the St. Brice's Day massacre of Danes by the English, in 1002.

If it is the case that Cnut was part of this, his birthdate may be near 990, or even 980.

If not, and the skald's poetic verse envisages another assault, with Forkbeard's conquest of England in 1013 / 14, it may even suggest a birth date nearer 1000.

There is a passage of the Encomiast's ( as the author of the Encomium Emmae is known ) with a reference to the force Cnut led in his English conquest of 1015 / 16.

Here ( see below ) it says all the Vikings were of " mature age " under Cnut " the king ".