Bosham, Sussex, 1017 AD
Surely a man should base his antipathies on actual experience? In the case of Queen Emma, I confess aversion arose at a distance out of sympathy for another. During the brief presence of Sweyn Forkbeard in England, his son, Knut, met a beauty from Mercia and fell in love with her on the instant. The lady, a young noblewoman from Northampton named Aelfgifu, was equally smitten. Fatefully, they married by performing the hand-clasping ceremony, as was Danish custom – a pagan rite. Later, she bore him two sons in quick succession.
I flatter myself that I was Knut"s closest friend and confidant. I am, therefore, in a position to state without doubt that he never stopped loving his wife. After Aethelred"s death in April 1016, the royal council in London – the Witenagemo
