He was the first Viking to seize the English crown, yet history remembers only his son. Sweyn Forkbeard laid the foundation for an empire that would change Europe.

Viking Sweyn Forkbeard conquered England in 1013, forcing King Æthelred of the English House of Wessex, today known as “The Unready”, to go into exile. But Sweyn died in February 1014, and ...

He managed to oust Forkbeard, but Cnut, eager to regain his father's prize, landed on the Wessex coast with a large army in 1015. Cnut besieged London, which then fell to the Dane. The new King of ...

Following the bloody St Brice’s Day Massacre, of the 13th of November 1002, which saw King Æthelred brutally exterminating the Danes from England, the Vikings were hungry for revenge. None more ...