England in 1030 (Ethelred the Pious)

Overview:

One hundred and fifty years after the Danish conquest, thirty years after its unification, England basked in a much-deserved period of peace and prosperity. The endless feuds and assassinations that had characterized the last century and a half gave way to benevolent Christian monarchy and feudal predictability. Plenty remained that was Viking or Anglo-Saxon, but a new cultural synthesis combining the two defined the country.

Politics and War:

's conquests of the 990s had a huge stabilizing effect on the entire British Isles. What had been a volatile collection of rival states was transformed into a single great power and its circle of vassals. Through the person of the king, England is also united with Denmark, Norway, and some parts of Sweden.

England's disunity had allowed for its easy conquest a generation earlier by a Danish army. Now England is clearly the senior member of Cnut's empire. It outstrips the mainland Scandinavian kingdoms both in economic power and military potential. Cnut has had to spend much of his reign in Sweden, Denmark and Norway to fight for his royal claims, but England is his preferred residence and the country that he has done the most to develop.

Court politics have replaced warfare as the main way for noble warriors to compete for dominance. But tensions lie below the calm surface. Cnut is already elderly and everyone knows he can't live forever.

The restless energies that drove the of the last century are not yet spent. Nowadays the most common outlet is fighting in the constant petty wars of Ireland. A large contingent of loyal noble English warriors accompanied Cnut on his campaigns in Scandinavia, and some remain there in charge of towns and forts. Other English have set out for the North Atlantic, to Iceland and beyond.

Religion:

A solid majority of English are now Christians. The and Midlands are almost entirely so, the Norse newcomers having converted long ago. The most pagan region is still the land around Jórvik in the north of the country. There the independent small-holding peasantry clings to the old gods, ignoring royal pressure to convert.

Cnut has strongly promoted Christianity in England. Through donations of land and treasure he has enriched the archbishopric of York, which for so long had been impoverished under Viking rule. In 1033 he will go on a very public pilgrimage to the holy shrine of in Spain.

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