CANUSIUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of Apulia, on the right or south side of the Aufidus, to the west of Cannae, whither the Romans fled after the defeat sustained there. It was famous for its red shining wool, whence those who wore clothes made of it were called Canusinati. Now called Canosa. Canute, the first Danish king of England after Ironside. He married Emma, widow of King Ethelred, and put to death several persons of quality who stood in his way to the crown. Having thus settled his power in England, he made a voyage to his other kingdom of Denmark, in order to resist the attacks of the king of Sweden; and he carried along with him a great body of the English under the command of the Earl of Godwin. This nobleman had there an opportunity of performing a service by which he both reconciled the king’s mind to the English nation, and, gaining to himself the friendship of his sovereign, laid the foundation of that immense fortune which he acquired to his family. He was stationed next to the Swedish camp; and observing a favourable opportunity, which he was obliged suddenly to seize, he attacked the enemy in the night, drove them suddenly from their trenches, threw them into disorder, pursued bis advantage, and obtained a decisive victory over them. Next morning, Canute, seeing the English camp entirely abandoned, imagined that these disaffected troops had deserted to the enemy; but he was agreeably surprised to learn that they were at that time engaged in pursuit of the discomfited Swedes. He was so pleased with this success, and the manner of obtaining it, that he bestowed his daughter in marriage upon Godwin, and treated him ever after with the most entire confidence and regard.

In another voyage which he afterwards made to Denmark, Canute attacked Norway, and expelled the just but unwarlike Olaus from his kingdom, of which lie kept possession till the death of that prince. He had now by his conquests and valour attained the utmost height of his ambition, and having leisure from wars and intrigues, he felt the unsatisfactory nature of all human enjoyments; and equally weary of the glory and turmoils of this life, he began to cast his view towards that future existence, which it is so natural for the human mind, whether satiated by prosperity or disgusted with adversity, to make the object of its attention. Unfortunately the spirit which prevailed in that age gave a wrong direction to his devotion; and, instead of making atonement to those whom he had formerly injured by his acts of violence, he entirely employed himself in those exercises of piety which the monks represented as most meritorious. He built churches, he endowed monasteries, he enriched ecclesiastics, and bestowed revenues for the support of chantries at Assington and other places, where he appointed prayers to be said for the souls of those who had there fallen in battle against him. He even undertook a pilgrimage to Rome, where he sojourned a considerable time; and, besides obtaining from the pope some privileges for the English school erected there, he engaged all the princes through whose dominions he was obliged to pass to desist[7:6:106] from those heavy impositions and tolls which they were accustomed to exact from the English pilgrims. By this spirit of devotion, no less than by his equitable and politic administration, he gained in a good measure the affections of his subjects.

Canute, who was the greatest and most powerful prince of his time, being sovereign of Denmark and Norway as well as of England, could not fail to meet with adulation from his courtiers; a tribute which is liberally paid even to the meanest and weakest of princes. Some of his flatterers breaking out one day in admiration of his grandeur, exclaimed that every thing was possible for him; upon which the monarch, it is said, ordered a chair to be set on the sea shore while the tide was flowing; and as the waters approached, he commanded them to retire, and obey the voice of him who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but when the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with one Being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature, who could say to the ocean, “Thus far shalt thou go and no farther,” and who could level with his nod the most towering piles of human pride and ambition. From that time, it is said, he never would wear a crown. He died in the twentieth year of his reign, and was interred at Winchester, in the old monastery, β