One of Cnut’s first tasks following his coronation at Christmas 1016AD, was to strengthen his grip on the new realm. He divided England into four parts with himself in Wessex, Thorkil the Tall in East Anglia, Eadric Streona in Mercia and Eric Hlathir in Northumbria. Eric Hlathir or Hakonarson had been Regent in Norway, ruling on behalf of Cnut’s father Forkbeard until 1015AD, when the Norwegians threw off Danish rule at the Battle of Nesjar and Olaf Haraldsson regained the throne.

Many have read Bernard Cornwall’s exciting stories of Uhtred and the warring Danes in his Saxon Stories. Some may not be aware that there was a real person of that name living in those turbulent times.

Uhtred was born in times of great turmoil when Britain was emerging from the chaos of 200 years of attacks and invasions from the norsemen and beginning to unite under the Wessex king, Ethelred. He was the son of Waltheof, Ealdorman of Northumbria and grandson of Osulf who had first been given the title for his help in the murder of Eric Bloodaxe, the last independent Viking King of Northumbria.

Arthur was born in Nantes, Brittany on 29th March 1187, the son of King Henry’s fourth son Geoffrey and Constance of Brittany. In 1190, on his way to the holy land, King Richard had named Arthur as his heir, a move which no doubt first turned Richard’s younger brother John’s mind to rebellion. It is thought that Richard’s declaration was little more than symbolic in that he was about to be married to Berengaria and could have expected heirs of his own.

English history would have had a different course had King Henry I insisted on his sons travelling with him from Barfleur.

Henry was born in 1068, the third son of William the Conqueror. He is described as a strong muscular man with thick black hair, a cruel temper and, as Henry of Huntingdon relates, “Ruthless, violent and vicious”. His life combined all the virtues of military success, wisdom, diplomacy and wealth with the Norman streak of greed, cruelty and lust. He was said to have fathered 29 illegitimate sons and 11 illegitimate daughters in addition to the three children by his wife Matilda.

As the youngest son, he would almost certainly be expected to become a bishop and received a somewhat better education than was normal for a young noble of the time, causing later historians to refer to him as “Beauclerc”. He was the first Norman king to speak fluent English and once remarked that “an unlettered king is a crowned ass”.