Cnut: The North Sea King by Ryan Lavelle was a short read that I started on the second leg of my trip back home from Cape Town. Following a 15-hour, 22-minute flight to Washington, DC, I started this book on the hourlong flight back to Toronto.
Tiny print crammed all the basics of Cnut’s life into 88 pages. I was interested in his life as Cnut was King of England in the early eleventh century, ruling from 1016-1035. That there are documents from nearly a millennium ago that refer to him, and artwork, runes and coins as well, made the flip through the photos insert a fascinating read. If only the pictures were larger and in colour.
Since so much information was provided, many of which was introduced, to my unfamiliar mind, by yet another meaningless name, I could not grasp the importance of what was going on. I learned to just accept what was happening regardless of who was doing it, whether he was named Æthelred, Harald Bluetooth or someone else. The read soon lost interest and I was left with a few dozen pages which felt like an exercise in merely turning pages.
Prisoners at that time suffered under barbaric ruthlessness, as cutting off noses, ears and genitals of one’s enemies was not unknown. I suppose mutilation of that order sent a stronger message than by simply killing your prisoners.