Page "Constitutional status of Cornwall" Paragraph 57

During the latter part of the pre-Norman period, the eastern seaboard of modern day England became increasingly under the sway of the Norse.

Sweyn Forkbeard, the first Danish King of England, died a few weeks after his English opponent Ethelred the Unready had fled, so it is probable that he never properly took control of Cornwall.

His son Canute never properly conquered or controlled Scotland or Wales, but he appears to have had some authority in Cornwall, for in 1027 his counsellor Lyfing ( already bishop of Crediton ) was appointed as bishop of Cornwall ( St Germans ), beginning the merger which would later form the See of Exeter.

The map pictured, by William R. Shepherd ( 1926 ), shows Cornwall as not part of Canute's realm, but this approach is not followed by more recent scholarship, such as David Hill's An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England ( 1981 ).

Ultimately, the Danes ' control of Wessex was lost in 1042 with the death of both of Canute's sons ( Edward the Confessor retook Wessex for the Anglo-Saxons ).