#it's a very Much Adooooo sort of a message

[nimblermortal]

Fine we can talk about the English

So. King Knut (Canute) was ruling in England, at least the York area. He conquered him some Denmark. He conquered him some Norway too, and drove Olaf and son Magnus to outlawry. Olaf made a bid to reclaim his kingdom, failed. Knut installed his sons as kings in England, Denmark, and Norway, and, being an old man, promptly died. (Charles take note.)

So in England, Knut's son Harald takes over, but then he dies and Knut's next son Hortha-Knut comes back from Scandinavia to rule, and he sticks around for a few years. Long enough for Magnus Olafsson to come back from Kiev and retake his country, and make a deal with Hortha-Knut that they are such good buddies that if one of them dies without a male heir, the other will inherit.

Ynglings are. Very accustomed to sharing crowns, I have discovered.

So Hortha-Knut dies. Magnus is a bit busy with this dude Svein who keeps trying to conquer Denmark on the grounds that Magnus gave it to him as jarl and who cares if Svein declares himself king and independent, it's his now, don't you know who his father is?? Anyway Edward (Eadward) takes over in England.

Magnus gets shut of Svein, finally, largely by inspiring his army with stories of how Svein's daddy might be a king but Magnus's daddy is a saint, and God is on their side, the daddy of all daddies. So once he's feeling confident in his hold over Norway and Denmark, he sends a message back to England all, "Hey, remember this deal I had with Hortha-Knut?"

And Eadward, that badass pushover, sends a message back, saying, "Look. My dad was king of England, and I was well. When he died my eldest brother Eadmund was king, and I was well. After him my stepfather Knut ruled England, and I was well. And when he died my brother Harald ruled, and I was well. And when he died my brother Hortha-Knut ruled, and I stood by, and all was well, but let me remind you that I yet of the brothers had no kingdom to govern.

"So now you want to come over here and declare yourself king? Let me just say, over my dead body.

"And I will make it easy for you. If you come, I will not raise an army, you can march right in. But you will very much have to kill me with your own hands."

Which Magnus abstains to do.