Encomium Emmae Reginae

Abstract

The Encomium Emmae Reginae is a Latin text commissioned by Emma of Normandy and written during the reign of her son Harthacnut, king of England and Denmark, in 1041 or 1042. It deals with the Danish conquest of England by Svein Forkbeard and his son Cnut, Emma's second husband, and with the political turmoil which followed Cnut's death in 1035. In its selective narrative of these events the Encomium reflects the unique perspective of its female patron, a powerful influence at Harthacnut's court, and presents her as a pivotal figure in the establishment of the Anglo‐Danish regime.

Gunhild's Cross: Seeing a Romanesque Masterwork through Denmark

“…For he went to Rome by way of these countries'. 10 This seems to have been Cnut's policy from the outset. For example, Bishop Fulbert of Chartres, writing to thank the King for a donation towards the rebuilding of his cathedral destroyed by fire in 1020, declared 'You whom we had heard to be a prince of pagans we acknowledge not only to be a Christian but a most generous benefactor to churches and to the servants of God'.…”