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388 and Lyfing, whom he promoted to be abbot of Tavistock and, later, bishop of Crediton. The most notable of his works of piety are perhaps the rebuilding of the minster of Bury St Edmunds, and its conversion from a college of canons into a house of monks; the foundation of the monastery of St. Benet at Holme in Norfolk; and the presentation of the port of Sandwich and other gifts to Canterbury to atone for the murder of Archbishop Aelfheah. There were few minsters in fact which Knut did not enrich, for he wished to pose as the great Christian king and civiliser of his people, and he firmly believed that the Church was the only instrument which could effect his purpose.

Meantime across the North Sea, Knut was gradually extending his influence. In 1022 we hear of an expedition to Witland in Esthonia, and a little later, of demands on Olaf the Stout that he should hold Norway as Knut's vassal and pay a tribute. This led to an alliance between Olaf and Anund Jacob, the King of Sweden, who together in 1026 invaded the Danish realm, taking advantage of a dispute which had arisen between Knut and his brother-in-law Ulf. The danger brought Knut over to Denmark. He found the allied kings ravaging Scania, but so damaged their fleets in a fight at the mouth of the Helge River that they had to give up their enterprise. He next had Ulf put to death, whether justly or in a fit of passion it is difficult to say, and then in 1028, after a pilgrimage to Rome to witness the coronation of the Emperor Conrad II, invaded Norway with a considerable force including an English contingent. The result was that Olaf was driven out, his constant efforts since 1015 to christianise his subjects having rendered him unpopular. From this time onwards Knut could call himself King of England, Denmark, Scania, Witland, and Norway. Olaf, however, returned in 1030, but only to be defeated and slain at Stiklestad, near Throndhjem, after which Knut placed his eldest son Svein in charge of Norway under the guardianship of his mother Aelfgifu of Northampton. The remainder of Knut's reign need not detain us. The king lived constantly in England and busied himself energetically with legislation designed to reinforce Edgar's laws and stamp out any remains of heathenism which still lurked in the country. It would seem too that he received some kind of homage from Malcolm II of Scotland, who in 1018 had driven the Bernician earls out of Lothian by a decisive victory at Carham. Knut's interference, however, did not really retrieve that disaster or prevent the River Tweed becoming henceforth the permanent northern limit of England.

Knut died at Shaftesbury in 1035, when still under forty, and was buried in the old minster at Winchester. At once his newly formed empire fell to pieces. He had apparently intended that England and Denmark should remain united under Harthacnut, his son by Emma of Normandy, even if Svein, his son by Aelfgifu, obtained Norway. But the choice of Harthacnut, who was at the moment his representative in Denmark, did not commend itself either to the corps of hus-carls or the